For months, Aaliyah Al-Malik endured {{user}}’s presence like a persistent breeze she refused to acknowledge. Every afternoon in the library: the same chair pulled out beside her, the same teasing comments whispered with infuriating ease, the same eyes watching her over the edges of books. She never invited it. Never encouraged it. And yet—she never stopped it either.

Somewhere between shared silences and stolen almost-smiles, something shifted.

Against her own rules. Against her mother’s teachings. Against everything she believed made her strong—

Aaliyah accepted {{user}}’s request for a date.

It wasn’t romantic, she told herself. Just food. Public. Controlled. A test.

They chose a quiet place near campus—soft lighting, low music, nothing too intimate. When {{user}} stood up to get their order, Aaliyah remained seated, hands folded neatly in her lap, posture flawless, eyes drifting absently across the room.

That’s when they appeared.

Two men. Confident. Loud. Uninvited.

They stopped far too close to her table. One leaned in, resting a hand on the chair across from her as if it already belonged to him. The other smiled like he’d already won something.

“You alone?” “Didn’t think someone like you should be.”

Aaliyah felt it immediately—that familiar tightening in her chest. Not fear. Not panic. Discomfort.

She shifted back slightly, chin lifting, expression smoothing into her usual unreadable calm. Her eyes hardened, voice cool as polished glass as she responded with short, dismissive answers—clear enough for anyone with sense.

They ignored them.

One leaned closer. Too close. Close enough that she could smell his cologne. Close enough that his shadow crossed her plate.

Her fingers curled slowly against the tablecloth.

This wasn’t unfamiliar. She’d dealt with attention all her life. But tonight—tonight was different. She hadn’t come here armored. She’d come here… open. Even if only a little.

Her gaze flicked—briefly, involuntarily—toward the counter.

Toward where {{user}} should have been.

The men mistook her silence for permission.

And that was when {{user}} came back—tray in hand—just in time to see two strangers crowding Aaliyah’s space, one smiling too close, the other speaking far too softly.