“I guess he’s not here perfect timing to ask Eric some questions,” Jane whispered with a sly smile.

We made our way to our seats. The moment she sat down, she casually turned around to Eric.

“Hey, so how long has Aizen been here? Like not in class, but in this city?”

Smooth, Jane. Real subtle. I thought sarcastically. I stayed quiet, pretending to check something in my bag while listening intently.

Eric opened his mouth to respond, but just then, the door creaked open.

Aizen walked in.

There was a band-aid in his hand. My eyes were instantly drawn to it.

Wait, was he hurt? How? When did that happen?

He glanced our way for a bit as he walked past, calm and indifferent as always.

Did something happen during the break? Why did he leave in the first place?

Then I felt a tap from the backseat.

My whole body froze.

What.. what now?

My breath caught in my throat.I almost stopped breathing. I didn’t dare turn around.

Was it Aizen? Why would he tap me? What happened? Did I drop something? Did he hear us talking? Oh god.

I slowly turned, heart thudding loud enough I was sure Jane could hear it too.

He didn’t say a word at first. Just held something out toward me, a band-aid.

My eyes darted from his hand to his face, and then to where he was looking. His gaze was fixed on my arm.

The scratch.

The one I got this morning when I bumped into him and his keychain brushed against me.

"You got this earlier, right?" he said softly, barely audible.

I blinked, caught completely off guard.

Jane tapped my leg under the table, snapping me out of strange daze I’d fallen into.

"Oh yes, thanks," I said, quickly taking the band-aid from Aizen’s hand. I fumbled with it a bit, unsure what to do next, and was about to tuck it into my pocket.

I noticed he was still looking at it. 

"What now?" I asked, half-confused, half-nervous.

Without a word, he gently took the band-aid back from my hand and began peeling the wrapper. Then, with a slight nod, he motioned for my hand. I hesitated for a second then slowly extended my arm toward him.

He began applying the band-aid over the scratch with a tenderness I didn’t expect. 

Eric nudged him, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing, man?”

Aizen didn’t glance at him. “She got that because of me. So.” His tone was low, almost casual.

As he smoothed the band-aid in place, I gently pulled my hand back. My heart was racing again, faster than before.

“Thanks,” I murmured, eyes flicking away. “You really didn’t have to do that.”

He just nodded, no smile, no words and turned back to Eric like nothing had happened.

Jane looked at me, her expression screaming “Are you okay? Because I’m definitely not okay after seeing that.”

Then Eric, seemingly remembering Jane’s earlier question, suddenly turned back to us and said, “Oh right, you were asking how long Aizen’s been in the city, weren’t you?”

Both Jane and I froze.

No no no no, not like that! Not in front of him!

We exchanged the quickest nervous glance, like two criminals caught red-handed. I could feel the heat rise to my face as I tried to appear unbothered, casually looking anywhere but at Aizen.

He looked at us then. Just for a second.

And in that second, I felt seen. Not in the nice way. In the I-know-you’ve-been-talking-about-me way.

His expression was unreadable. A blank slate, but I swore I caught a flicker of amusement in his eyes or was it judgment? I couldn’t tell. Maybe both.

Then, without any shift in tone, he said, “I came here last week.”

Jane leaned toward me and whispered, “Well, now we know..there's a possibility you've seen him somewhere before.”

Yeah, maybe I could have seen him somewhere.

I kept repeating that to myself like it would somehow settle the unease building inside my chest. My mind was still full of questions, looping the same details again and again. The dream, the keychain, the eyes but I decided to let it go for now.

It’s just a coincidence, I told myself.