All Chapters of University Series 1: Tangled Ties: Chapter 51 - Chapter 53

I woke up one morning to a sky that looked the same, but nothing felt right anymore. The colors seemed muted, like someone had sucked the vibrancy out of the world while I slept. My studio smelled faintly of turpentine and old paint, but today it smelled like betrayal. Every canvas, every brushstroke, every unfinished attempt at something beautiful—mocking me.I didn’t go to class. I didn’t answer my phone. I didn’t care if anyone noticed. Even Cole’s texts went unanswered, unread, left to pile up into the little guilt-weighted mountains he probably didn’t even realize were there.I stacked my canvases, one by one, on the floor. My hands shook, not from anger but from exhaustion—the kind that burrows into your bones and leaves nothing but raw, hollowed-out space where your joy used to live. I pulled a lighter from the kitchen drawer, a tiny flame licking the edges of the nearest canvas. The smell of burning oil paint hit me, choking, but I didn’t stop.They burned slowly at first, cur

The campus was buzzing long before the first class even started.Whispers clung to the hallways like humidity—heavy, sticky, impossible to ignore. People were clustered in small groups, phones out, eyes wide, waiting for something. Or maybe someone.And then Michelle arrived.She stormed through the main gate with the kind of energy that made people instinctively step aside. Her hair was unbrushed, her eyes red, her uniform wrinkled as if she hadn’t slept at all. One hand clutched her bag; the other protectively hovered over her barely showing stomach.But what stood out wasn’t her appearance.It was the fury simmering under her skin.“WHERE IS SHE!?” she shouted, voice cracking through the courtyard.Heads turned. Conversations stopped. Even the security guard froze.Vienna and Jacob were at the benches nearby, both jolting to attention. Sue, who had been recording TikTok drafts with her friends, lowered her phone. Even professors who were on their way to class paused.Because everyo