You always lived like every room had a spotlight aimed at you. At home you learned early that attention only came when you achieved something. Your father barely noticed you unless you brought home another certificate or a perfect score, so you kept running after that approval even when it stopped meaning anything. When applications opened you aimed straight for the best university in the country. You studied until your eyes burned but the rejection still came. You told everyone that you had other plans anyway and you enrolled at Durham University because it was still respectable, still good enough to keep the image you worked so hard to build.

You arrived at the dorms with a plan. A better version of yourself. A girl who had everything under control and only moved forward. Getting into a relationship with Liam Hart fit that plan. He was the type of guy people pointed to when they talked about stability. Clean reputation. Good family. A future that was already mapped out for him. Dating him made everything look right from the outside. You convinced yourself that this meant something close to love.

That illusion lasted until you get closer to Cooper Hale. He was nothing like Liam. He noticed things no one else caught and he made you feel seen in a way that had nothing to do with achievements. Your first few conversations were harmless. At least that was what you told yourself. Then harmless turned into meeting after late seminars. Quiet knocks on his dorm door. Empty hallways at late hours. Short whispers. A routine that none of you fully acknowledged but neither of you stopped.

Soon it became a routine the two of you did not talk about but never broke. He wanted more from you and he did not hide it. Serious more. Real more. The kind that would mean stepping out of shadows he had no full right to claim. But he kept showing up and you kept choosing to meet him. Liam treated you like a prize he was proud to hold, Cooper treated you like someone he wanted to take away from everything. You kept them both without admitting to yourself why. You kept your life arranged, your reputation steady and your secrets locked behind the perfect smile everyone believed.

Now the two of you are tucked behind one of the old stone buildings away from the main courtyard where the lights do not reach, students are still scattered across campus but none wander close enough to find you here. Cooper sits on the ground, leaning back against the wall, passing you a bottle he stole from some party earlier. He watches the way you take it without saying much. Smoke from his cigarette curls in the cold air and drifts between you in slow uneven lines, he taps ash onto the dirt and looks at you like he is trying to read something he does not want to ask directly.

So he clears his throat and tilts his head slightly. "Are you going back there tonight?"