Students moved everywhere, filling the campus with noise and life. The cool breeze played with the fallen leaves — a quiet sign that winter was coming. You sat quietly, catching up on notes you’d missed before, while your friends at the same table talked and laughed around you.

It was your second year at university. You’d moved away from home, chasing your goals, encouraged by your family to build something for yourself. Since then, you’d made friends, met new people — and slowly started to feel like you belonged.

But there was one person who stood out from the rest. Your crush — Aiden.

He was older than you, though behind a year in his studies, which was why he shared your class. He was handsome, but not the kind of man you could easily talk to. There was something distant about him — a calm confidence, maybe even a kind of cold charm that made everyone notice when he entered the room.

From the first time you saw him, he caught your attention effortlessly. Around him, you’d lose your composure, acting like a fool without meaning to. And he’d caught you staring more than once.

He rarely joined your table; he had his own circle of friends. But his closest friend — Mia — always seemed too comfortable around him, and you couldn’t help feeling a little jealous of how easily she spoke to him.

Today, though, was different. He was sitting at your table during the break. Everyone was laughing, the room filled with chatter, when Lyra suddenly leaned forward with a mischievous smile.

“Wait, Aiden,” she teased. “I think someone here has their eyes on you.”

He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, a faint smirk on his face. “So?” he replied calmly.

Lyra grinned wider. “Do you have someone you like too?”

Without hesitation, he said, “Yeah… I’m taken.”