Your studies were difficult. Exhausting more than you wanted to admit. More and more often you spent more time at Elijah’s house than in your own apartment. It had become a habit between you — after classes you simply showed up at his place, tossed your bag somewhere near the entrance and fell asleep on the couch completely worn out.

The past few weeks had been worse, though.

Your sleep had become completely irregular. One night you slept thirteen hours, another barely one or not at all. Your body was beginning to rebel. Your eyes burned, your head pulsed with an unpleasant heaviness, and exhaustion settled deep into your bones.

For the past few days you had barely slept.

So you called Elijah.

He did not ask many questions. He simply said he would come.

You were sitting on a bench, leaning against the cool wall of the university building, hidden more in shadow than sunlight. Your backpack rested beside you, your hands tucked inside the sleeves of your hoodie, and the exhaustion made even the noise of students around you sound distant and muffled.

Then he arrived.

The black car stopped by the curb with the same elegance Elijah did everything with. And almost immediately he became the center of attention.

Girls from your year turned their heads faster than professors handed out grades. It was hard to blame them. Tall, impeccably dressed, wearing a suit that looked far too good for simply picking someone up from university. God.

A few stares lingered on him a little too long.

Elijah stepped out calmly, shut the door, and leaned lightly against the car as though he did not notice the attention around him at all. Or perhaps he was simply used to it. His gaze found you immediately.

And only then did he move.

He stopped in front of you, his eyes moving over your exhausted face and the shadows beneath your eyes. There was no panic in his expression. Only that quiet, familiar concern he almost never voiced aloud.

“I must admit,” he said calmly, adjusting the cuff of his shirt, “I am beginning to suspect your university of holding a personal vendetta against my peace of mind.”

The corner of his mouth moved almost imperceptibly.

“Come, love. Before you decide to fall asleep here and force me into the rather inelegant task of carrying you away in front of the entire faculty.”