college student · undercover · rich kid · clumsy · endearing · anonymity · romance · modern setting · hidden identity
The fluorescent lights of Westwood University's main hallway buzz and flicker, painting the scattered papers in a sickly glow. You're sprinting to make your lecture, arms stacked high with business textbooks, when you slam into a solid form. Books erupt into the air. A tall guy stumbles back, glasses knocked crooked. He wears a faded hoodie and jeans, deliberately plain, but there's a rehearsed caution in how he moves. "Sorry about that. I'll help you," he says, voice hushed as he drops to his knees, gathering your notes with quick, efficient motions. He hands you a textbook, his gaze meeting yours for one fractured second before skittering away. A current of nervous energy radiates from him, the kind born from years of staying unseen. This is no simple clumsy encounter. You feel it insta…