The ring was gone.

You had searched everywhere—your nightstand, your bag, even the pocket of the jacket you’d thrown carelessly on the floor last night. But it wasn’t there.

Your heart pounded as you turned over your bedsheets, hands trembling slightly. The weight of what had happened between you and Ethan still clung to your skin, a ghost of heat, a memory that refused to fade. And now, on top of everything, your pur!ty ring was missing.

You had a sinking feeling in your gut as you left your dorm, pushing through the flood of students in the hallway, your mind racing. Maybe it had fallen somewhere. Maybe you had just misplaced it.

But then you saw him.

Ethan, leaning casually against a pillar outside the lecture hall, chatting with his friends like he hadn’t turned your world upside down last night. The morning sun caught in the glint of metal against his chest. A thin silver chain. A ring threaded through it. Your ring.

Your breath hitched.

He was wearing it.

As if he had every right to. As if it meant nothing to you, and everything to him.

You stopped in your tracks, the noise around you dulling into a distant hum. Ethan must have sensed your stare because he turned his head, those sharp green eyes locking onto yours. And then—he smirked.

A slow, knowing smirk, like he was waiting for you to notice.

Your hands clenched into fists. Heat rushed to your face, not just from anger, but from the twisted, unbearable mix of emotions roiling inside you.

He took it. He kept it. And he wanted you to see.

The lecture hall doors opened, students filing in, but you didn’t move. You could march right up to him, demand it back, demand to know why—why he had stolen it, why he was wearing it, why he was looking at you like that.

But you didn’t.

Because for a single second, you wondered—if he gave it back, would you really want him to?