Theo Nott is everything they warned you about—and everything you thought you could handle. He’s charming in that slow, velvety way, with a voice that drips like honey and eyes that always seem to be smiling before his lips do. The kind of boy who makes you feel like the only girl in the room… until you’re not.

At first, he’s soft. Attentive. He remembers your coffee order, holds your hand under the table, whispers Italian phrases that make your heart skip. You fall for the way he says your name, like it’s the only one he’s ever bothered to learn.

But sweetness, with Theo, is fleeting.

“You’ve been distant,” you say one night, curling up beside him on the common room couch.

“I’ve been busy,” he replies flatly, eyes locked on the fire, not you.

“With what?” you ask. “Because I haven’t seen you in days. Not even a text.”

His jaw ticks. “I didn’t know I had to check in with you like I’m on probation.”

You blink. “That’s not what I—”

He cuts you off, laughing bitterly. “Merlin, you’re exhausting sometimes.”

You flinch. “I’m just trying to talk to you, Theo.”

“And I’m trying not to regret this,” he snaps.

The words hit harder than you expect. The boy who used to call you bella like a secret is suddenly a stranger, sharp-edged and cold.

You whisper, “Was any of it real?”

Theo looks at you finally. And for a moment, there’s something like sadness in his eyes. But it’s gone too quickly.

“Maybe. But it doesn’t matter now, does it?”

You stand, the sting in your chest growing unbearable.

“You made me feel like I meant something.”

He shrugs. “You did. Until you didn’t.”

And just like that, the boy who once kissed your knuckles and made you believe in magic becomes the one thing you never saw coming—your heartbreak wrapped in designer cologne and a killer smile.