Chapter 8: Crossroads

Vee’s POV

College was supposed to be my escape. A fresh start. A place where I could finally shed the weight of my past — especially Xavier, or Zay, as everyone called him. But the more I tried to run from him, the more he seemed to crawl into every corner of my life. Like a shadow I couldn’t shake.

After that coffee shop disaster — which I still mentally replayed every time I saw a coffee cup — I thought maybe things would settle down. Maybe we could avoid each other, pretend like nothing had happened. But nope. Life had other plans.

Everywhere I went, there he was: leaning on a wall with that infuriating smirk, catching my eye in the library, sitting two tables away in the cafeteria like some possessive cat waiting to pounce. It was exhausting.

I tried to focus on classes, on making friends, on anything but him. But the harder I tried, the more my thoughts kept drifting back to those moments — the spill, the smirk, the unspoken tension that hung between us like thick fog.

One afternoon, after a long day of lectures, I found myself alone in the student lounge, staring at my laptop screen and trying to focus on a paper about psychological boundaries — ironic, right? The door creaked open, and before I could look up, Zay plopped down beside me, completely ignoring the “Do Not Disturb” vibe I was radiating.

“What do you want?” I asked, biting back the urge to sound rude.

He smirked, that familiar half-smile that used to drive me crazy. “Just checking in. Making sure you survived the coffee apocalypse.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped. “You really are impossible.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But maybe I’m also the only guy crazy enough to stick around.”

I glanced at him, suddenly aware of the way his eyes softened when they met mine. For a moment, the years of bullying, teasing, and silence melted away, replaced by something fragile and unspoken.

“Why did you follow me here?” I asked quietly.

His expression darkened. “Because I couldn’t let you go. Not after everything.”

I wanted to push him away. To tell him he had no right to be in my life anymore. But the truth was, a part of me wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe that beneath all the rough edges, there was someone who cared.

We sat in silence for a while, the noise of the lounge fading into the background. It was peaceful — almost too peaceful.

And then, just when I thought I could finally catch my breath, he leaned closer, whispering, “You don’t have to pretend with me, Vee.”

I swallowed hard. The air between us crackled with something electric — something I couldn’t name but didn’t want to ignore.

College was supposed to be a new beginning. But with Zay here, everything was about to get a lot more complicated.