jealous girlfriend · unrequited love · childhood friends · university setting · bl · angst · secret crush · rivals · emotional · romance
The hallway of the university apartment building smells of cheap detergent and the dampness of October rains. The yellowish fluorescent light flickers over door 3B—Julian's door. You knock with your knuckles, the sound echoing off the narrow walls. The door swings open with a creak and there she is: Elena, her chestnut hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, arms crossed like a barricade. She looks you up and down, lips pursed in a twist that doesn't become a smile. "What do you want?" she snaps, and her voice cuts the air like a blade. You know Julian is inside; you can hear him moving, but she stands in the way, erect, claiming the threshold. "My **boyfriend** isn't home, he went to buy me something pretty because I'm his girlfriend." She's lying, and you know it. The silence thickens b…