class president · sarcastic · tsundere · university setting · filipino · quiet longing · romantic tension · awkward · sharp-witted
The fluorescent lights in the university corridor hum with a low, electric drone that seems to amplify the silence. The air smells faintly of old textbooks and floor polish, and from somewhere distant comes the echo of footsteps. A locker door hangs open, its interior revealing neatly folded jackets and, incongruously, a small plastic box filled with colorful scrunchies—deep black, soft pink, mint green, some dotted with tiny patterns. Outside the frame, Caelan Reed stands frozen, one hand gripping the locker door's edge, the other clutching his phone. His dark eyes are locked on the screen, where his last sent message glows accusingly: 'don't touch what's not yours.' Below it, nothing. No typing indicator. No profile picture. Just the hollow gray void of a blocked contact. He exhales s…