LOGINLiam's POVI was at the elevator with Ken, waiting with the others who had gotten in with us, for it to climb to the floor where we were all headed… as one thing or the other brought them here too.It was dinner night… just for the two of us.And honestly, I couldn't even hold the news long enough to wait until we were face to face. I had spilled everything to him over the phone that same night, and Ken; being exactly who Ken was, had sworn to make it something worth celebrating in a big way.Which I should have known meant he was not going to let me define what ‘big’ looked like.He had booked a full reservation at a five-star restaurant. Just the two of us. When all I had suggested was a simple date — something low-key, nothing that required a reservation or a dress code or any of the things that now applied.And the matching outfits. His was dark-tan brown, while mine was milk. Complementing colors, intentionally chosen, which was the part I wasn't going to say out loud but had not
Liam's POVI was still leaning against the door when my phone notification beeped.I didn't move immediately. Just stood there for a second with the sound of it cutting through the silence in the room, and then I pulled my phone from my pocket and scrolled it open.It was an email from Barbados University.I stared at the preview line for a moment before I opened it fully, because some part of me needed a second to prepare for whatever it said…whether good or not.‘Dear Liam, Congratulations! I am delighted to offer you admission to Barbados, class of 2026…’I read through it in seconds, the words moving fast under my eyes, until I got to the last paragraph.‘Congratulations again!’I looked up from the screen, and the
Ken's POV Liam and I stood at that spot, not able to move a spot.We still had our hands to our lips, not knowing what to say exactly, because I could see the disappointment on Liam mum's face clearly — and her tone had already told the rest of the story. The anger wasn't loud yet. Which meant it was the other kind; the kind that sat under the surface and had already made up its mind.And you know, that kind was always worse.I looked at Liam from the corner of my eye. His face had gone somewhere unreadable, which I had never seen on him before. Not once, in all the weeks I had known him. He always had an expression, even a controlled one but this was different. This was the face of someone who had just watched something they had been quietly dreading arrive exactly as they'd feared it would.*****Liam's POVI ruffled my hair in confusion, knowing the level of mess that I had gotten myself into.There was no version of this that didn't require damage control. And the honest part of
Ken's POVI kissed all through his neck, caressing his body slowly, the way someone does when they are in no hurry because they have decided that this moment belongs to them.He exhaled against me…soft, barely there, but then I heard it.I always heard it, you know."Every inch of me is yours to explore." He went on to confess with closed eyes, still in that mood, his voice lower than it had been all evening.Something about hearing him say that, did things to my chest that I wasn't going to examine too carefully right now.I let my lips drag along his jaw before I pulled back just enough to look at him. His eyes were still closed, lashes sitting still, and the expression on his face was the specific one he wore when he had stopped fighting something and had simply let it happen.I liked him like this unguarded and soft in a way he didn't show the rest of the world."I am going to take my time," I said against his skin, "and see where it ends."Then I dipped my hand down, and I felt h
Ken's POVYou know, just when I thought Liam was in the mood too — just like I was — and carried to something close to cloud nine, he grabbed my bag which I had almost forgotten was right behind me, as a result of the mood that made me forget that every other thing actually existed.I fully understood for a fact that he was more concerned about my academic improvement to the pleasure…but for me, I want all of it, so far as it has to do with him.Then, in that position, Liam stood up from my lap with that smirk boldly written on his face."Are you kidding me?" I had to ask him right away, returning the smirk, though it didn't quite get to anywhere close to my heart or whatsoever."No!" He said, still maintaining the smile on his face. "Better head home, boyfriend."Then he slightly threw the bag to me.I caught it slowly and deliberately, while my eyes never left his face.‘Boyfriend.’He said it so easily like it was nothing. Like it hadn't just lit something up in my chest that I was
Ken's POVLiam set the assessment paper down on the desk and looked at it for a moment with that focused, quiet expression he had when he was being fair in his assessment rather than just being kind.Then he nodded."Not bad, Ken." He said it genuinely, the way he said things he actually meant with no inflation and no performance of encouragement. Just the honest evaluation of someone who had been watching the work develop and was reporting what he saw. He looked up at me. "You are improving." He nodded again slightly. "You are really improving, you know."Something settled in my chest when he said that.Not because I needed the validation… or at least that was what I told myself, but because Liam did not say things he did not mean and I had known that about him since early enough in all of this that hearing it land was different from hearing it from anyone else.I smiled…the quiet kind or let's say, the one that came before I decided to let it."We will stop here for today." He picke
Author's POVKen stood under the shower with his head slightly tilted back, water kept running from the top of his head and trailing down every line of his body like it had somewhere important to be. His dark hair was soaked through and curling slightly at the ends from the heat, dripping in thin s
Ken's POV"It's actually none of your business."Liam said politely or let's say, with the tone of someone trying to be polite even though there was absolutely nothing polite about those words when you really listened to them. It was the kind of response that hit harder because it was calm. No shou
Liam's POVAt this point, it felt like I was losing control of myself and couldn't even help the thoughts going through my head.Ken wasn't helping matters either. He even brought his lips closer to mine. ‘What's with this vibe? Is he going to kiss me?’Because the way Ken had his eyes fixed on my
Steph's POVI was not going to pretend that tonight was just another event.I had put in the work as I ‘dressed to kill’ in a short black fitted dress that hit just above the knee, heels that added three inches and made every step count, hair down and styled the way I knew looked best under event l







