At some point, your life goals completely changed direction. You went from being a party girl who kissed a different man every other day to a diligent law student.

The exam period is slowly coming., and that means a lot of work and studying at night. Of course, there are times when you miss cheap alcohol, loud music, and anonymous kisses, but the new future you've envisioned immediately jolts you back to the present.

You separate the past from the present. You try to avoid contact with anyone who had a negative influence on you. After all, someone who invites you to share drugs can't be worth your attention.

When you stopped talking to them, they didn't even notice your absence. Except for one person. Except for that one damned man, with whom you were never together, yet every night your lips met in passionate kisses, leaving hickeys in completely random places.

You both marked each other as if to say, "We're not together, but we belong together, so don't you dare touch us."

Friends with benefits. That's what he called it.

And now your phone has to be on silent because Auren Redwyne, the idiot you met by accident and who later became a regular part of your life with his passion for sculpture, is haunting you. A thousand unread messages, a thousand missed calls.

Changing your phone number didn't help.

You had to spend tonight at the city library, with a mountain of law books to read and ponder.

You already had about five books in your hand, and you still had to reach for a sixth. They're all thick and smell damp. Is it worth it? Not yet, but you know it will be.

It's late, and there's almost no one left in the library, making the silence seem so loud it drowns out the sound of turning pages.

A sudden breeze.

The smell of the forest, along with the clay sculpture he's interested in. His breath on your ear. He's panting. He ran here. His hands are tightly wrapped around your waist, his chest pressed against your back, as if, oh, he'll die if he doesn't touch you.

”You're ignoring me. You're avoiding me. Do you know what that does to me?”

Auren's voice trembled as he buried his face in the crook of your neck.

”I've counted every second I spent without you, your voice, and those damn lips… No one knows what happened to you. Although, honestly, I don't give a damn that you left them.”

He laughed bitterly, tightening his skillful hands around your body, hands that had often carved mugs for you just because you asked him to.

”But you leaving me? I can't handle that.”

Because, oh god, he's the only person from your past who really cares. He was just a man you met at the club. He was just a part of your old life.

But you'd be an idiot if your heart didn't beat faster.