Why Must You Have Another Person?

~~~~~ Rhyder’s POV ~~~~~

I had never been happier about finding something I had spent years searching for.

Asher Bennett.

After all this time, I had finally found him.

The moment my father's connections brought me the information I wanted, I couldn't sit still. I read the name of the university several times, checking it to make sure there had been no mistake.

But there was no mistake.

Asher was there.

The boy who had disappeared from my life years ago, leaving behind nothing but anger I had never managed to get rid of, was attending the same university that had been trying to recruit me for its hockey team.

I stared at the information on my phone, a smile slowly spreading across my face.

“So, that's where you've been hiding, Bunny.”

I could already imagine his reaction if he knew I had found him. He would probably glare at me, call me every insulting name he could think of, and tell me to stay away from him.

The thought made me laugh.

God, I had missed that face.

I had missed the way his eyebrows drew together whenever he was angry, the way he clenched his fists when I deliberately provoked him, and the way his voice rose whenever he thought I had crossed a line.

Asher had always been easy to annoy.

And I had always enjoyed being the person who could do it.

That was how things had been between us for as long as I could remember.

At school, people had learned to recognize us by the noise we made whenever we were in the same room.

Some thought we hated each other, while others thought we were incapable of staying away from one another.

I had never bothered correcting anyone.

Asher was my favorite person to annoy, and I had never felt the need to explain why.

Until he left.

I still remembered the day he had been expelled.

I had pleaded with the principal to reconsider.

It was a ridiculous thing to do, considering how many times I had contributed to the trouble between us. But the thought of Asher leaving had unsettled me in a way I couldn't explain.

I didn't want him to go.

I wanted him to stay so I could keep annoying him, keep arguing with him, and keep seeing that familiar expression on his face whenever I pushed him too far.

But Asher hadn't cared about any of that.

He had looked at me with so much anger that, for the first time, I hadn't known what to say.

“Just fucking get the hell out of my life. Such bad luck.”

Those words had stayed with me long after he walked away.

I had searched for him afterward, but he was gone. No matter how many times I tried to find out where he had transferred, I couldn't get his information.

At first, I told myself it didn't matter.

He had always been dramatic. He would probably calm down eventually, and we would meet again somewhere.

But days passed, then the months, and I still couldn't find him.

It was strange how someone who had once been such a part of my life could disappear so completely.

I tried to forget about him.

I really did.

But every time something reminded me of Asher, I found myself wondering where he was and whether he still hated me as much as he had that day.

After all, I had given him plenty of reasons to hate me.

I had never apologized for any of it.

Back then, I hadn't even understood why his leaving bothered me so much. I only knew that I hated the silence he had left behind.

Now, I had finally found him.

And this time, I wasn't going to let him disappear without at least seeing him again.

I immediately contacted the university administration and accepted their invitation to join the hockey team. They had approached me before, but I had turned them down without giving it much thought.

Back then, attending that university hadn't interested me enough to make the move worthwhile.

Now, everything was different.

Asher was there.

That was all the reason I needed.

My father questioned the sudden change in my decision, but I brushed off his concerns. I wasn't about to tell him that the person I had been searching for over the years was the real reason I had changed my mind.

He wouldn't understand.

Hell, I wasn't even sure I understood it myself.

All I knew was that I wanted to see Asher.

I wanted to know what he looked like now, whether he had changed, and whether he still had that same fire in his eyes.

Most of all, I wanted to see his reaction when he discovered I was back in his life.

The thought alone made the long journey worthwhile.

By the time I arrived at the university, I was in an unusually good mood.

Students had gathered near the entrance, their excitement almost deafening. Some called my name, while others whispered among themselves, pointing in my direction.

I barely paid attention to them.

I had dealt with attention for years. Being the captain of a hockey team, coming from a wealthy family, and having a face people found attractive meant that crowds were nothing new to me.

Normally, I might have stopped to acknowledge them.

Today, I had something more important to do.

I stepped out of the vehicle, adjusted my jacket, and headed toward the university buildings while ignoring the students who tried to approach me.

I had heard that Asher was part of the cheerleading squad, so finding him shouldn't be too difficult.

The rink was my first stop.

As I walked through the corridors, the noise of the crowd gradually faded behind me. My shoes struck the floor with steady sounds, and the closer I got to the rink, the more clearly I could hear the scraping of blades against ice.

My heart began to beat a little faster.

It was ridiculous.

I had faced angry coaches, demanding teammates, and opponents who would gladly knock me flat on the ice. None of those things had ever made me nervous.

Yet the thought of seeing Asher again had me feeling like an inexperienced boy about to do something he couldn't take back.

I pushed the doors open.

Cold air washed over my face, carrying the familiar smell of ice and the faint sound of music playing through the speakers. Students moved across the rink in different directions, some practicing their routines while others skated around for fun.

I barely noticed any of them... then I saw him.

Asher.

For a moment, everything else seemed to fade into the background.

He was gliding across the ice with the same ease I remembered, his movements smooth and confident. His body leaned naturally into each turn, and the light caught his hair as he moved beneath the bright rink lights.

He looked different from the boy I remembered.

He had grown into himself, his features more defined and his body more mature. The way his skating clothes fitted him made it impossible not to notice how much he had changed.

My eyes followed him without my permission.

I remembered a younger Asher glaring at me across a classroom, his cheeks flushed with anger as he threatened to punch me. I remembered the way he would chase me down the corridor whenever I said something particularly offensive.

And now, here he was, moving across the ice as though he belonged there.

A smile spread across my face before I could stop it.

There you are, Bunny.

I had imagined this moment so many times that I almost couldn't believe it was finally happening.

For years, I had wondered what I would do if I ever found him again. I had imagined walking up to him, watching his expression change when he recognized me, and laughing when he inevitably started yelling.

But now that I was actually standing here, I found myself hesitating.

I wanted to see whether he would recognize my voice first.

So I stayed where I was, watching him skate.

He looked happy.

That thought settled strangely in my chest.

I couldn't remember the last time I had seen Asher look completely relaxed. Whenever we were together, he was usually glaring at me, arguing with me, or plotting some way to get back at me.

Seeing him like this made me realize how much time had passed.

I had missed more than I wanted to admit.

My lips curved into a familiar, mischievous smile.

There was only one way to find out whether he still remembered me.

“Bunny!”

I called the nickname clearly enough for him to hear.

Asher stopped moving.

Even from where I stood, I could recognize the sudden stiffness in his posture. His shoulders tightened, and he remained still for a few seconds before slowly beginning to turn his head toward my voice.

My smile widened.

He remembered.

Of course he remembered.

How could he forget the one person who had spent years making his life difficult?

I waited, watching him begin to turn, eager to see the expression on his face when our eyes finally met.

But before he could turn completely, another voice interrupted the moment.

“Ashhy!”

Asher immediately turned toward the person who had called him.

My smile faltered immediately.

A guy was skating toward him.

I watched Asher's expression change almost instantly. The tension that had appeared in his shoulders disappeared, replaced by a smile so warm and natural that I found myself staring.

He looked genuinely happy to see the other guy.

The newcomer reached him, caught him by the waist, and pulled him closer.

I frowned.

What the hell was that?

They said something to each other, but the distance and the noise made it difficult for me to hear their conversation. I could only watch as Asher smiled up at him, his face bright with an affection I had never seen him show so easily.

Then the guy leaned down and kissed him.

My entire body went still.

For a moment, I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

The guy's hand rested against Asher's waist while Asher remained close to him. Their lips met naturally, without hesitation or awkwardness, as though this was something they had done countless times before.

My fingers curled into fists.

Who the hell was he?

I stared at them, waiting for Asher to pull away, to shove the guy back, or to do something that would tell me I had misunderstood the situation.

But Asher didn't look uncomfortable.

He looked happy.

That was the part that irritated me most.

I had come all this way expecting to see the boy who used to glare at me as though my existence offended him. I had imagined him yelling at me, demanding to know why I had followed him, and threatening to make my life miserable if I didn't leave him alone.

I had even looked forward to it.

Instead, I was standing at the edge of a rink, watching him kiss another guy.

My jaw tightened.

I didn't like it.

I didn't like the way the guy held him, the way Asher smiled at him, or how easily he seemed to fit into the space beside him.

I didn't like the thought that someone else might know the little things about Asher that I had never bothered to learn.

What made it worse was that I had no right to be standing here feeling this way.

Asher could kiss whoever he wanted. He could date whoever he wanted. We hadn't spoken in years, and he had made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with me.

I knew all of that.

Yet none of it stopped the unpleasant feeling twisting inside my chest.

I watched the guy pull away from the kiss and say something that made Asher laugh.

That laugh struck me harder than it should have.

I had heard Asher laugh plenty of times in the past, but it had been a long time since I had heard it without an argument following it.

Now someone else was making him laugh.

Someone else was standing close enough to touch him whenever he wanted.

Someone else was receiving the smile I had secretly wanted to see again for years.

I hated how much it bothered me.

Why?

Why should I care who Asher was kissing?

I had never thought of him as someone I needed to keep to myself.

He was my enemy, the person who could make me lose my temper faster than anyone else, and the boy who had walked out of my life without looking back.

That was all.

So why did seeing another guy touch him make me want to drag the bastard away?

I swallowed hard, but the tightness in my chest remained.

Perhaps I was just annoyed.

Yes, that had to be it.

I had finally found Asher after years of searching, and before I could even speak to him, some stranger had appeared and stolen his attention.

It was irritating, especially when I had spent so much time imagining how our reunion would go.

That was all this was.

I was annoyed because I hadn't even had the chance to talk to him.

I repeated the explanation in my head, but it did nothing to settle the ugly feeling spreading through me.

I looked at Asher one last time.

He was still smiling at the guy, completely unaware that I was standing only a short distance away. He didn't look in my direction again.

He didn't see me.

He didn't know I was here.

And for some reason, that hurt more than it should have.

I had imagined him seeing me and reacting with anger. I had imagined him calling me an idiot, telling me to get lost, or demanding to know why I had shown up after all these years.

I hadn't imagined standing here like a stranger while he smiled at someone else.

My chest felt tight.

I looked away before I could make myself feel any worse.

I wasn't going to stand here watching them.

I wasn't going to waste my time staring at a guy who clearly had someone else in his life.

And I certainly wasn't going to admit that the sight of Asher kissing another person had ruined the happiness I had felt just moments earlier.

I turned and walked toward the exit, my steps quicker than before.

The noise of the rink faded behind me as I pushed through the doors. The cooler corridor air touched my face, but it did nothing to calm my racing heart.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and kept walking.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I had found Asher. That was what I wanted, wasn't it?

I had come to this university because I wanted to see him again, to annoy him like I used to, and find out whether things between us could ever return to the way they had been.

But now that I had seen him, I couldn't stop thinking about the guy who had kissed him.

I hated the way my stomach had twisted.

I hated the way my hands had clenched.

And I hated that I couldn't explain any of it.

I stopped near a window and stared at my reflection in the glass. My expression looked darker than I expected, my jaw still tight.

I let out a frustrated breath. “This is ridiculous.”

Asher had a boyfriend.

So what?

It wasn't as if I had expected him to spend all these years waiting for me. He had every right to move on, especially after the way I had treated him.

Still, the thought made something inside me twist again.

I remembered the way he had looked at that guy. The warmth in his eyes. The easy smile. The way he had leaned toward him without a second thought.

I had never seen him look at me that way.

Whenever Asher looked at me, it was usually with anger, annoyance, or the kind of hatred that made it clear he would gladly throw me into a wall if he could get away with it.

And yet, I had missed those looks.

I had missed him.

The realization made me close my eyes for a moment.

Maybe I had been wrong about what I wanted when I decided to find him.

Maybe I hadn't come here simply because I missed having someone to annoy.

I opened my eyes and stared out the window, but the reflection of Asher's smile remained in my mind.

Why Asher?

Why was it always Asher?

Why had I spent years looking for him, only to feel as though I had lost something the moment I saw him with someone else?

I had no answer.

All I knew was that I didn't like the thought of another person standing beside him, holding him, and kissing him while I watched from a distance.

I wanted to be the one who could get under his skin.

I wanted to be the one who made him angry enough to glare at me.

I wanted to be the person he couldn't ignore.

I dragged a hand through my hair and let out another frustrated breath.

“Why, Asher?” I whispered, the question barely audible in the empty corridor. “Why must you have another person?”