Monday mornings at Blackwood University were always chaotic.
Students rushed between buildings with coffee in one hand and unfinished assignments in the other.
Someone was running because they overslept.
Someone else was desperately trying to finish homework before class.
For once...
Stacy smiled.
Maybe today...
Could be normal.
"You owe me breakfast."
Emma suddenly appeared beside her.
Stacy blinked.
"For what?"
"For making me listen to your conspiracy theories all weekend."
"I do not have conspiracy theories."
Emma counted on her fingers.
"One."
"You think the university is hiding something."
"Maybe."
"Two."
"You think Lucien Ashford is somehow involved."
"...Maybe."
"Three."
"You spent two hours researching old campus records."
Stacy looked away.
"...I was curious."
Emma laughed.
"No."
"You were obsessed."
"I am not obsessed."
Emma raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"Then tell me."
"How many times have you accidentally run into Lucien this week?"
Stacy frowned.
"...Three."
Emma burst into laughter.
"Exactly!"
"They weren't accidents!"
"That's even worse."
The two entered the lecture hall just as Professor Carter walked in.
He placed a thick stack of papers on the desk.
"I've graded your first quizzes."
A collective groan echoed through the room.
After class...
Students gathered around the notice board.
"I passed!"
"I failed..."
"I'm dropping this class."
Emma sighed dramatically.
"I got an eighty-two."
"That's good."
"For you maybe."
She looked at Stacy's paper.
"Ninety-six?"
Stacy shrugged.
"I studied."
Emma narrowed her eyes.
"You've definitely been hanging around Lucien too much."
"I have not."
"You sound like him now."
As if on cue...
Lucien walked into the hallway.
Almost immediately...
The crowd parted.
Not because anyone told them to.
They simply moved.
It had become second nature.
He greeted a professor with a polite nod before continuing down the corridor.
Stacy watched him for a moment.
Then looked away.
Emma noticed.
"I knew it."
"What?"
"You looked."
"I did not."
"You absolutely did."
"I was looking at the notice board."
"The notice board is over there."
Emma pointed in the opposite direction.
Stacy sighed.
"...Fine."
"I looked."
Emma grinned triumphantly.
Before Emma could tease her any further...
Someone bumped into Stacy.
Hard enough to knock a folder from her hands.
"Oh!"
Sheets of paper scattered across the floor.
"I'm so sorry!"
A young man quickly knelt to help gather them.
He had messy brown hair and warm hazel eyes.
Unlike most students...
He smiled easily.
"My fault."
"I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It's okay."
Together they collected the papers.
When he handed over the last sheet...
He smiled.
"I'm Noah."
"Second-year journalism."
"Stacy."
"First-year psychology."
"Noah Bennett?"
He blinked.
"...Wait."
"Bennett?"
She laughed.
"Not related."
"That's disappointing."
From the other side of the hallway...
Lucien watched the interaction.
Only briefly.
Then he continued walking.
Ethan noticed anyway.
"You know..."
Lucien didn't respond.
"You've looked over here three times."
"I haven't."
"You have."
Lucien frowned slightly.
"I was making sure nobody got hurt."
Ethan smirked.
"Of course you were."
Noah waved goodbye before heading toward another building.
"See you around, Stacy."
"You too."
Emma waited until he was out of earshot.
Then...
"Ooooooh."
Stacy immediately shook her head.
"No."
"What?"
"Don't start."
"He was cute."
"He was being polite."
"He smiled at you."
"So?"
"He introduced himself."
"So?"
Emma folded her arms.
"You are impossible."
As they walked across campus...
Stacy glanced toward the business building.
Lucien had already disappeared.
For some reason...
She wondered if he'd heard any of that conversation.
Almost immediately she shook her head.
"Why am I even thinking about him?"
That evening...
Lucien sat alone in the campus library.
An untouched book lay open in front of him.
He hadn't turned a page in fifteen minutes.
Ethan dropped into the chair opposite him.
"You've been reading the same sentence for a while."
Lucien looked down.
"...Have I?"
"You've also sighed four times."
"I don't sigh."
"You do now."
Lucien closed the book.
"I met someone today."
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
Lucien nodded toward the window overlooking the courtyard.
"The journalism student."
"Oh."
"The one talking to Stacy?"
Silence.
Then Ethan smiled.
"So..."
"You noticed."
Lucien frowned.
"I noticed because he interrupted her."
Ethan couldn't help laughing.
"Whatever helps you sleep."
Lucien looked genuinely confused.
"I don't understand."
"I know."
"Understand what?"
Ethan stood up, still grinning.
"You'll figure it out eventually."
As Ethan walked away...
Lucien glanced out the window again.
Noah and Stacy were laughing about something as they crossed the courtyard.
For reasons he couldn't explain...
He looked away.
Not because he wanted to.
Because he didn't like the feeling that settled in his chest.
It wasn't anger.
It wasn't annoyance.
It was...
Unfamiliar.
Far below Blackwood University...
A file was placed on a steel table.
Across the cover was a single name.
Stacy Bennett
A second file landed beside it.
Noah Carter
One of the masked figures frowned.
"Who's the second file for?"
The older man calmly replied,
"Everyone who gets close to her becomes part of the investigation."
The room fell silent.