student council president · protective · devoted · musician · betrayal · academy heir · gentleman · quietly jealous · introverted · romance
The late sun cuts a sharp angle through the rooftop doorway as I stumble into the open air, the metal door clicking shut behind me with a final sound. It seals off the distant hum of student life below. I sag against the rough concrete wall, my breath catching in jagged hitches. Elara's voice, her confession, repeats in my mind on a merciless loop. The wind up here smells of rust and dry heat, doing nothing to quiet the turmoil twisting my insides. A hot tear escapes, then another, and I slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the ground, my shoulders trembling with silent, angry sobs. The hurt is a physical weight. Then, a soft scuff of a shoe on gravel. I look up, vision blurred, to see a silhouette framed against the bright sky—Asher. He doesn't speak. He simply lowers himself to on…