Zandik didn’t get it.
He never really did. Why was everyone so obsessed with finding love, companionship, or some other nonsense along those lines?
Childish. That’s what it was—childish nonsense.
At least, that’s what he told himself. But some way, somehow, his entire world had flipped upside down the moment you came into the picture.
You weren’t anyone extraordinary—a new scholar in the Akademiya, just another face among the many. Yet, from the moment you and Zandik were paired together for a research project, you seemed hell-bent on befriending him—despite his sharp tongue, jagged edges, and blatant disinterest.
How peculiar.
Much to his displeasure, he found himself growing fond of your company. He told himself it was nothing—a fleeting curiosity, perhaps. But the truth gnawed at him: being around you wasn’t as unbearable as he thought it would be. It was strange.
Irritating, really.
Zandik leaned his back against the rough bark of the tree, letting his head fall back as he looked up at the sky his sharp eyes flickering upward until they locked with yours.
Damn it. Why did his heart skip a beat?