“He is masculine,” Nora said, eyes fixed on Rowan like she was critiquing a model in a magazine.

The three of us had been casually, well, not-so-casually, following him around campus. That day, our ‘coincidental’ stroll led us to the basketball court, where Rowan was in the middle of a match with a few other guys.

He moved effortlessly, confident, focused, completely unbothered by the world outside the game. His hoodie was off, and his T-shirt clung to him, soaked lightly with sweat.

I don’t know if it was the way he ran or how he sank three-pointers like it was nothing, but I just… couldn’t look away.

It had been five days since classes started.

Five days since I first saw him.

Five days of quietly, obsessively, crushing.

And yet, not a single word had passed between us.

Nora and David had come this close to walking up to him and blurting something about me more than once. I had to practically drag them away each time.

“I swear to God,” I told them once, “if you two say anything to him before I’m ready, I will change my name, switch universities, and leave the country.”

Of course, they laughed. They thought it was cute.

But to me, it wasn’t a joke.

Then came the moment I’d secretly been waiting for.

Our professor was assigning partners for the upcoming course assignment, and I was silently praying, begging, the universe to pair me with Rowan. I had my fingers crossed the entire time.

And then,

“Rowan Carter, paired with Aria Collins.”

My heart skipped a beat.

I was sitting in the last row with Nora and David, but the moment I heard our names together, my eyes shot to Rowan. And then, he turned.

He looked back at me.

And that was the moment.

The one I’d read about in every Romance novel.

When the person you like looks at you, your heart skips a beat...

And time simply stops.

For so long, I had only imagined that feeling through pages.

But now,

I was living it.

And it felt even more real than the words I’d once clung to.

I smiled at him, hesitant but hopeful.

He didn’t smile back. But he nodded.

That was enough.

I was on cloud nine.

And I wasn’t the only one excited.

“Congratulations!” David and Nora said in unison, their voices laced with mischief.

I couldn’t stop smiling. I didn’t even try to hide it.

The professor continued calling out names.

“Nora Bennett, paired with Jake Winslet.”

Nora raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, just gave a half shrug.

“David Prescott, paired with Sophia Sinclair.”

“Who’s Sophia?” David asked, confused. “I haven’t seen any Sophia in this class.”

Nora rolled her eyes and smacked the back of his head.

“You don’t know anyone in this class except us,” she said.

David rubbed the spot dramatically. “And I was perfectly fine with that until now.”

Then she hit my head, because I was still staring at Rowan.

“Stop it,” she said. “You’re already paired with him.”

I rubbed the back of my head where she smacked me. “I wasn’t looking at him,” I muttered. “I was just... looking around.”

Nora raised an eyebrow. That look.

“Stop blushing,” she warned, half-threatening, half-teasing.

“Why are you being like this?” I asked, laughing nervously.

“Because she got paired with Jake,” David said with a grin.

“Wait, Jake?” I asked. “Isn’t he one of Rowan’s friends?”

David nodded, a little too dramatically. “Yep. You’re already in the friend circle.”

“Damn it,” Nora muttered under her breath.

“Not thrilled?” I teased.

“I don’t like him,” she said flatly.

Jake had tried to flirt with her more than once, probably thinking he was smooth. And today, right after the professor paired them, he winked at her across the room.

I could practically feel Nora’s blood boil when it happened.

She wasn’t the type to entertain guys like him. Romance wasn’t her thing, at least not in real life. She loved her space, her freedom, her quiet world. Letting someone in? That wasn’t on her list.

She believed love made people crazy. And breakups? They could shatter you.

And Jake Winslet? He was every rule-breaker.