Elara hadn’t slept much.

The shadows under her eyes weren’t from exhaustion alone, but from the suffocating feeling that something was brewing—unseen, but close.

She tried to carry on normally, arriving early for her seminar, slipping into her usual spot in the third row. But the whispers began before the lecture even started.

“Did you see the posts?”

“I heard she goes here.”

“Someone said he was spotted near the business faculty dorms…”

The words weren’t directed at her—but they curled like smoke through the room, thick with implication.

She kept her head low, face passive.

But when her name popped up in a group chat she hadn’t muted…

> “Wait… isn’t Elara in our program? That girl in the Cassian Rhys photos looks like her…”

“I just saw her in Building B last week.”

“Should we ask her? 👀👀”

Her breath hitched.

This couldn’t be happening.

Her phone vibrated again—too many times to ignore. She silenced it and forced her attention on the professor’s voice. Something about negotiation frameworks. Nothing registered.

During break, she slipped out into the hallway, pulling her hoodie tight. She needed space, quiet—

“Elara!”

She turned sharply.

Nina, her classmate from Advanced Strategy, rushed over, wide-eyed. “Is it true?”

Elara blinked. “What?”

“About you and Cassian Rhys.” Nina dropped her voice. “You can tell me. I swear I won’t leak it.”

“There’s nothing to leak,” Elara said, tone cool.

Nina studied her for a moment. “Then how come there are photos of him outside your building?”

A pause.

Elara’s fingers clenched around her phone. “I don’t know how those got out.”

Nina gave her a look—half-curious, half-worried. “You might want to lie low. People are… talking.”

Elara nodded, suddenly feeling like the walls were closing in.

She escaped to the restroom and locked herself in a stall, the hum of gossip still echoing in her ears.

How did everything unravel so fast?

Cassian hadn’t texted again. No explanation. No warning.

And now, people knew.

They thought they knew.

Her phone buzzed again.

Cassian

> “Elara. I’m coming to you. We need to talk. Please wait.”

She stared at the screen.

Wait?

For what?

To explain what she already feared?

To ask her to bear the weight of his world while hers was crumbling?

She shut her eyes.

What had she gotten herself into?