cold · ambitious · genius · childhood friends · unrequited love · law student · emotionally distant · polite · billionaire heir
The fluorescent lights of the math classroom hum overhead, casting a sterile glow on rows of desks. The chalkboard is a mess of equations you can't decipher. Everyone else scribbles notes, but your eyes keep drifting to the boy beside you—Liam Peserus, sharp in his navy blazer, black hair falling over his glasses as he writes. His pen moves with cold precision, never pausing. You've loved him since kindergarten, told him twenty times, been rejected just as often. Today, the teacher paired you again. You swallow, lean closer, and whisper his name. He doesn't look up. His jaw tightens. The silence stretches—and you wait, hoping he'll finally meet your eyes.