One afternoon, Anya's lecture ended earlier than expected, leaving her with an unfamiliar stretch of free time in the middle of the day. Instead of heading back or going to the café, a quiet thought crossed her mind, and before she could overthink it, she found herself walking toward the School of Technology.
She wanted to surprise him.
The moment she stepped into that part of the campus, she felt the difference immediately. The atmosphere was sharper, more fast-paced, filled with a kind of focused energy that contrasted with the quieter, more structured environment of the School of Medicine. Students gathered in small groups or sat alone on benches, most of them with laptops open, screens filled with lines of code that flickered and shifted as they worked. Conversations here were quicker, more technical, often punctuated by laughter or frustration.
Anya slowed her steps slightly, taking it all in as she navigated through the unfamiliar space.
She pulled out her phone and opened the timetable Alaric had shared with her. After checking the classroom number, she made her way there and stopped just outside the lecture hall, positioning herself near the wall where she would not be immediately noticed.
She waited.
When the lecture ended, the doors opened and students began to stream out in clusters, their conversations overlapping as they left. Anya watched carefully, her eyes scanning each face, expecting to catch sight of him among them.
But he did not appear.
Her brows furrowed slightly as the crowd thinned.
Maybe he left earlier?
The thought unsettled her more than she expected.
After a moment of hesitation, she took out her phone and called him.
The line rang once, then twice before it connected.
"Hello?"
The voice that answered was not his.
Anya froze.
It was a female voice.
Her grip tightened slightly around the phone as a flicker of confusion and unease passed through her. For a brief second, she tried to place it, wondering if it belonged to someone she had met before.
Was it the girl she had seen that day with Leo and Alaric?
But no.
The tone was different. There was something casual, almost amused in it, unlike the calm and distant demeanor she remembered.
"I'm looking for Alaric," Anya said, trying to keep her voice steady.
On the other end, there was a short pause, followed by a faint, almost playful smirk in the reply.
"He's in the shower," the girl said casually.
The words landed harder than they should have.
Anya's breath caught slightly, her mind struggling to process what she had just heard.
"In the shower?" she repeated inwardly, the image forming before she could stop it.
"Do you need him to call you back?" the girl added, her tone light, as if the situation was completely normal.
Anya forced herself to respond. "No… it's okay."
Before the conversation could go any further, she ended the call.
The silence that followed felt heavy.
She stood there, still holding her phone, her thoughts beginning to spiral in ways she could not immediately control.
Then her phone buzzed. It was a message from Alaric.
Her heart skipped, a brief moment of relief surfacing before she opened it.
And froze.
It was a photo.
A woman, partially covered by a blanket, sitting on a bed. Her long hair fell loosely over her shoulders, her expression relaxed, her presence unmistakably intimate in a way that felt completely out of place.
The image lasted only a second.
Then it disappeared.
Deleted.
But it was too late.
Anya stared at her screen, her mind going completely blank before everything rushed back at once.
Her chest tightened, her fingers trembling slightly as she lowered the phone.
The hallway around her continued as normal, students passing by, voices blending into the background, but she felt disconnected from all of it, as if she had been pulled out of the moment entirely.
She could not move or think clearly.
All she could see was that image and hear those words.
He's in the shower.
Her thoughts stumbled over each other, trying to make sense of it, trying to find an explanation that did not hurt as much.
But the more she tried, the heavier the feeling in her chest became.
She remembered what he had told her.
That he would wait.
That he wanted no one else.
That he had been sure since the moment they met.
The words replayed in her mind, but now they felt distant, uncertain, as if they belonged to a different moment that no longer matched what she had just seen.
A part of her wanted to believe him and trust him. But the image lingered too clearly in her mind, refusing to fade.
And for the first time since coming to Central City, she did not know what to think.
****
With a heavy weight pressing against her chest, Anya left the campus and made her way to the café. The familiar route that usually brought her a sense of calm now felt unusually long, each step slower than the last as her thoughts refused to settle. She kept replaying the moment in her mind, the voice on the phone, the image that had flashed too quickly yet burned itself into her memory. By the time she reached the café, she had already tried countless times to reason with herself, but nothing seemed to ease the tightness in her chest.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside, the warm scent of coffee and baked goods greeting her as it always did. Normally, it would have comforted her, but today it barely registered. She greeted Agnes quietly before heading to the staff room to prepare for her shift.
Caris was already there, tying her apron and scrolling through her phone. The moment she looked up and saw Anya, her expression shifted almost immediately. She straightened slightly, her brows knitting together in concern.
"Hey," Caris said gently. "What's wrong?"
Anya paused mid-motion as she set her bag down, her fingers lingering on the strap for a moment before she let go. She had not planned to say anything, but the question, asked so simply, made it harder to keep everything inside.
Instead of answering directly, she sat down slowly and looked at Caris, her voice quieter than usual. "Have you ever been in a relationship?" she asked.
Caris blinked, slightly surprised by the sudden question, but she nodded. "Yeah, I have," she replied, studying Anya more carefully now. "Why?"
Anya hesitated, her gaze dropping to her hands. "How do you know if what you're feeling is… real?" she asked softly. "Like, how do you know it's actually love?"
Caris leaned against the locker behind her, crossing her arms lightly as she considered the question. "That's not something you ask unless something's going on," she said. "What happened?"
Anya drew in a slow breath, her voice steady but carrying a quiet uncertainty. "I don't know if what I feel for him is really love," she admitted. "Maybe I've just been used to him being around since we were young. I don't even know if he feels the same way, or if he's just… confused."
Caris tilted her head slightly. "When you're close to him," she asked, her tone more direct now, "do you feel anything? Like your heart racing, or that kind of nervous excitement?"
Anya froze for a brief second.
Without meaning to, memories surfaced. The way her heart had raced when he stood too close. The warmth that spread through her when he touched her, even in the smallest ways. The way she had reacted to his quiet gestures, his voice, his presence.
Her cheeks flushed almost immediately.
Caris noticed it and smiled knowingly. "That answers your question," she said lightly. "If he were just someone you're used to, you wouldn't react like that."
Anya looked away, her fingers curling slightly as she tried to steady herself.
"You're overthinking it," Caris continued, her tone soft but certain. "Feelings don't have to be that complicated. If you treat him like a normal friend, you wouldn't blush just thinking about him."
Anya swallowed, her chest tightening again as the earlier memory forced its way back into her mind.
"It doesn't matter anymore," she said quietly.
Caris's expression shifted. "What do you mean?"
Anya's voice faltered slightly, but she forced the words out. "I think I'm too late," she said. "He already has someone else."
The moment the sentence left her lips, something inside her broke.
The image she had seen, the voice she had heard, everything she had been trying to suppress came rushing back all at once. Her vision blurred, and before she could stop herself, tears slipped down her cheeks.
Caris immediately moved closer, her expression softening with concern. "Hey… hey," she said gently, placing a hand on Anya's shoulder. "Don't jump to conclusions. Are you sure about what you saw?"
Anya shook her head, her voice trembling. "I don't know… but I can't unsee it."
Caris's grip on her shoulder tightened slightly in a comforting way. "Do you want to take a break?" she asked. "You don't have to work like this."
Anya wiped at her tears quickly, taking a shaky breath as she tried to pull herself together. She shook her head, forcing herself to stand.
"I'll be fine," she said, though her voice was not as steady as she wanted it to be. "I just need to keep myself busy."
Caris studied her for a moment, clearly unconvinced, but she did not push further. "Alright," she said softly. "But if you need to step away, just tell me."
Anya nodded, though she avoided meeting her eyes.
As she tied her apron and stepped out of the staff room, she forced herself to focus on the tasks ahead. The familiar routine became something she clung to, a way to keep her thoughts from spiraling further.