Chapter 63Derek’s POVThe presentation for the research project was scheduled for the following Monday. Alex and I still had slides to finish, and the silence between us had stretched long enough that the deadline itself felt like a wall I was walking toward without a clear way around it. On Friday afternoon I sat on the edge of my bed with my phone in both hands and typed a short, careful message asking if we could meet over the weekend to lock the remaining sections down. I read it three times before sending, cutting anything that sounded like an excuse or a plea. The cursor blinked. I hit send and set the phone face-down on the blanket.The reply took three hours. When it finally arrived the wording was clean and final.Sunday. Library. 2 pm. Don’t be late.No warmth. No flexibility. No suggestion of coffee or the easy back-and-forth we used to fall into without thinking. I stared at the message until the screen dimmed, then typed back a single-word confirmation. Even that fel
Last Updated : 2026-08-24
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