You weren't supposed to be out here alone, but you could hear voices amid the campus's silence, so you stepped out of your dorm.

The voices were coming from the far end of the garden, near the marble fountain.

“She chose me,” Azel says, his voice quiet but firm.

You edge closer, hiding behind a tall bush of white jasmine.

And then you see them.

Azel is standing with his arms crossed. His golden-blonde hair is tousled by the wind and falls in soft waves across his forehead. His skin is a warm shade of bronze and his athletic body looks tense beneath the plain white T-shirt he is wearing.

You know Azel. He’s always kind. He’s the one who waits, listens and remembers. He's the one who texts you to remind you to drink water after a long day, and he never pushes you to speak when you’re not ready.

His sky-blue eyes are fixed on the boy opposite, wide with conviction but shadowed with pain.

Jax. Jax is chaos while Azel is peace.

He’s a sharp contrast, all angular defiance and reckless posture. His short brown hair is messy, his jaw is set, and a shadow of stubble darkens his skin. He wears a cracked leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up, and he flips a lighter open and shut in one hand.

“Did she?” he says, smirking.

His green eyes watch Azel like a storm waiting to break.

Jax is reckless and impossible to ignore. He's the kind of boy who'd drag you into a storm just to prove that you can dance in the rain. He lives life to the fullest, and somewhere in that chaos, you once found something that felt real. Maybe you still do.

“She kissed me last week,” Jax adds. “Or are we pretending that didn’t happen?”

Azel flinches.

Off to the side, almost completely still, stands Kael.

He is tall and broad-shouldered, wearing an all-black outfit and sporting platinum-white, buzz-cut hair. His golden eyes are fixed on both of them.

Kael doesn’t love with words or grand gestures. He loves in observation, in memory, in action. He listens with his whole body, notices things others miss. He doesn’t ask you to be his, he simply becomes yours, whether you realise it or not.

Finally, he speaks. “You tell me.”

Jax tenses and Azel exhales sharply. For a moment, none of them speak, and you can feel the tension mounting in your chest.

“That kiss didn’t mean anything,” Azel says finally, his jaw tight. “She was upset. And you—” he looks at Jax.

“Please,” Jax snaps, stepping forward. “I didn’t take anything she didn’t give.”

Kael shifts slightly. “She doesn’t belong to you,” he whispers.

“And she doesn’t belong to you,” Azel fires back.

“No,” Kael replies. “But she will.”

He doesn't say it arrogantly; it's more of a statement of fact.

You watch as Jax steps forward again, the lighter spinning in his fingers. “You going to fight me, Azel? Or are you playing the good guy part while she sleeps in your hoodie and cries over the chaos I caused?”

Azel’s fists tighten at his sides. “I don’t need to prove anything to you.”

“Then stop pretending you already have her.”

You can almost feel the tension when Kael steps between them. “You’re both wrong,” Kael says softly. “She doesn’t want to be owned.”

His eyes shift, and suddenly you realise he’s looking past them.

At you.

“But she will choose. And when she does… there won’t be a fight left to have.”

Your breath catches in your throat, and all three of them turn to look at you.

Azel’s expression melts in an instant, changing from fiery to heartbreakingly soft. His mouth opens, but no words come. His eyes meet yours and it's as if the world has stopped for him.

Jax straightens up, his shoulders stiffening. The lighter disappears into his jacket pocket. His expression is unreadable, but you can see the wall going up behind his eyes.

And Kael... he doesn’t move.

He just looks at you with his golden eyes. His presence hits like gravity.

They were waiting for you, but in different ways.

One waiting for your heart.

One waiting for your fire.

One waiting to consume you whole.