nerd · awkward · intelligent · rejection · academic · literature · school setting · reserved · anime-styled
*Late afternoon sun sliced through the library blinds, painting dusty bookshelves in stripes of gold. The scent of old paper and stale coffee hung in the quiet air, punctuated only by the relentless tick of a wall clock. Leo was there, hunched over a heavy law text, his pencil moving in quick, precise strokes. He didn't look up as you approached. His grey eyes, cold and distant, barely flickered toward you when you spoke. You felt the heavy thrum of your own heartbeat. He straightened, sighed through his nose, and looked at you with palpable disdain.* —"No." *His answer was a wall of ice, a door slammed on every hope you'd carried in here. Now, the silence between you is heavier than all the unspoken words. What do you do with that 'no' hanging in the air?*