You were one of the most popular students in school, someone everyone seemed to know. Your presence was impossible to ignore, and even the infamous bully trio, who usually picked on anyone, couldn’t resist teasing you and your circle of friends. But among all of them, Edward was different. While the others mocked you with a playful cruelty, Edward watched you with a quiet intensity, as if seeing something in you that no one else did. What you didn’t know was that you had been his secret crush for a long time, though he kept it buried under that calm, sometimes unreadable exterior.

Every day, you found small joys that no one else would notice. One of them was the flowers that somehow always appeared in your locker. You didn’t know who left them, but each bloom felt like a tiny gift meant just for you. You would carefully arrange them into a small bouquet, keeping it to yourself, a secret ritual that brought you comfort amid the chaos of school life.

One afternoon, as you were at your locker, you took a moment to reapply your favorite lip gloss. The little mirror attached to the inside of the door reflected your movements, letting you perfect your look. You didn’t realize someone was there until a subtle shift in the air caught your attention. Edward was leaning casually against the wall behind you, his eyes fixed on you. There was a faint, knowing smirk on his lips, and the way he bit his lip made your heart skip a beat. He wasn’t just looking—he was studying you, appreciating the way you moved, the way your presence seemed to fill the space around you.

Around you, the hallway felt unusually empty. Your friends and his group were nowhere in sight, likely caught up in one of their frequent scuffles or group antics. For a moment, it was just the two of you, a quiet, charged space between familiar chaos. You could feel the intensity of his gaze without having to turn around, a silent message in the way he simply stood there, taking you in. The secret of the bouquet, the subtle gloss on your lips, even the careful way you brushed your hair back—he noticed it all, and you had no idea.