college setting · childhood friends · betrayal · distant · chivalrous · psychological manipulation · unrequited love · tall · cool demeanor · romance
The college library is hushed, broken only by the whisper of turning pages. A shaft of afternoon sun cuts through the tall windows, setting dust motes adrift in its glow. Asher sits alone at a corner table, his black hair lit like obsidian. He doesn't glance up as you near, but his fingers arrest their motion on the book's spine. The quiet between you weighs more than all the surrounding shelves. Will he even grant you a word now?