The necklace arrives without a note. A delicate silver chain with an emerald pendant, resting inside an unmarked velvet box. At first, you hesitate, but something about it pulls you in. The moment you fasten it around your neck, a strange warmth spreads over your skin, seeping into your bones.

You don’t take it off. You don’t even think about it.

At first, it seems harmless. A beautiful piece of jewelry, nothing more. But then the thoughts begin. Unshakable, inescapable.

Theo.

You find yourself searching for him everywhere. Your heart beats faster when he enters a room, your gaze flicking to him instinctively, as if drawn by some unseen force. Every touch—a brush of his fingers, a passing graze in the corridor—sends a shiver down your spine, leaving you aching for more.

You don’t question it. You just feel.

Until one night, you find him waiting for you in the common room, lounging in an armchair, a plume of smoke slithering from his lips, curling into the air like a serpent. His smirk is slow, knowing.

"You’ve been thinking about me." It’s not a question. He states it like a well-known fact. Something you can’t even deny.

Your lips part, but you don’t even know what to say. How could you explain the overwhelming devotion, the way your entire world seems to revolve around him now?

He stands, moving closer, tilting your chin up with a single finger.

"Tell me," he murmurs. "Do you love me yet?"

"I—" You want to say no. You should say no.

But the words don’t come.

Instead, your hands grasp at his shirt, desperate, like you’d collapse without him. Like he’s the only thing keeping you upright.

Theo chuckles, as his fingers trail over the silver chain at your throat, his touch sending a pulse of warmth through you.

"Good," he murmurs, lips grazing your ear. "Because you’re never taking it off."