Serena burst through the double doors as though the classroom itself had scorched her.
She didn't know where she was going and she didn't care. Her feet carried her forward, faster than her mind could keep up, through corridors that blurred into one another. The edges of her vision burned, tears clinging stubbornly to her lashes.
Her chest ached.
Anger simmered beneath her skin, sharp and restless, tangling with fear and regret. Not for the argument itself, but for the loss of control. Serena prided herself on restraint, on thinking before reacting. She hated that she'd slipped, hated that she'd let him see it.
That was what hurt most.
Students lingered in the hallways, leaning against walls or speaking in low clusters, but Serena barely registered them. She brushed past shoulders, murmured apologies she didn't mean, her thoughts too loud to hear anything else.
Until footsteps joined her own.
They weren't hurried but they were deliberate.
Her stomach dropped.
She turned sharply down another corridor, then another, each leading farther away from the classroom, farther from witnesses. The footsteps followed. Steady. Unrelenting. Match her space.
When she finally risked a glance over her shoulder, her breath hitched.
Xavier's tall frame moving in between the little crowd of students who cleared the way to allow him pass.
He wasn't far behind her, his tall sculptured frame unmistakable even through her blurred vision.
His jaw was set, his expression dark, not with rage, but with a stretch of complicated emotions the couldn't explain. His eyes tracked her with an intensity that made her skin prickle.
Fear flared within her, feeding the anger already boiling inside her.
She walked faster.
People stumbled as she bumped into them, muttered protests trailing behind her, but Xavier never slowed. His gaze never left her. He knew this would be seen as defiance, disobedience to Simon's explicit instructions but in this moment, he didn't care.
His emotions had already betrayed him.
Serena took one last sharp turn, ducking into a shadowed corner of the hallway where there was little light and no one else lingered. There was nowhere left to run.
She turned around, arms crossed .
Xavier stopped only inches from her.
"What do you want? Hmmm what?" she snapped, the words tearing out of her as the tears she'd been holding back finally spilled down her
cheeks.
"What do you want from me?!"
Her voice echoed faintly down the empty corridor.
Xavier said nothing.
He just stared at her.
Up close, the anger she'd expected wasn't there, not fully. His eyes were softer than she remembered, shadowed with conflict, like he was fighting a war entirely within himself. Seeing her like this up close, being alone with her, the sadness in her eyes brought back a lot of memories for him. Memories he had long tucked away to keep his sanity but now he couldn't hold them back anymore as memories of his Olivia gracefully filled his mind
Her smile. Her defiance. The way she'd looked at him when she was hurt.
He inhaled sharply, grounding himself, but the damage was done.
"Why are you following me?"
Serena demanded, the frown on her face evident to how angry she was. Her voice cracking despite her effort to sound strong.
Still, he didn't answer.
The silence was unbearable.
"Fuck you," she hissed, shoving past him, brushing his shoulder as she tried to escape.
She barely took two steps before his hand closed around her arm.
Not rough, never rough but firm enough to stop her.
He tugged her back, just enough that she stumbled, just enough that she was suddenly facing him again.
There was barely an inch between them now.
Xavier towered over her, forcing her to tilt her head to meet his gaze. His presence swallowed the narrow space, his warmth seeping into her despite herself. The air was thick with the scent of him deep and masculine, a blend of smoked cedarwood and something faintly spiced, like black pepper . It wrapped around her senses, like a warm blanket making, her head spin.
"Let me go, Xavier," she said, quieter this time.
Not pleading but not shouting either.
Her senses were working on overdrive barely to make a full sentence in her mind.
"Serena," he murmured.
The words barely louder than a whisper. A plea if it could be called that.
His eyes searched her face, tracing every tear, every tremor in her breath. His eyes filled with pain as though looking at her hurt him in ways he didn't know how to explain.
"What do you want from me, what is this sick game you're playing?"
she demanded, anger roaring back as she yanked her arm free. She squared her shoulders, planting her feet. "You humiliate me in front of the entire class. You look at me like I'm some cruel, disgusting thing you can't stand to be near. You mess with my scores—"
She let out a bitter laugh.
"And now you follow me here? To what? Apologize?" Her voice rose, sharp and shaking.
"Go fuck yourself."
Xavier didn't flinch.
He stood there, silent, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides, his expression so gentle it almost frightened her. This didn't look like the same man who had berated Theo for daring to help her.
This man looked… broken.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
The sound of it stole her breath.
"I didn't mean to," he continued, dragging a hand through his hair, frustration etched into every line of his face.
"You wouldn't understand. You—" He stopped himself, jaw tightening. "I shouldn't have let it happen."
He stepped closer.
feeling the space between them,
Serena's face burned. Her legs felt weak, like they might give out at any second. Every rational thought screamed at her to step away, to smack him across his face, to protect herself but her body refused to listen.
Xavier lifted his hand slowly, hesitating just before touching her, as though giving her the chance to pull away.
She didn't.
His fingers brushed her jaw, tilting her face upward until her eyes met his. The touch was reverent, careful, like she might shatter beneath his hands. His other hand hovered at her waist, close enough that she could feel the heat of it without the contact.
Serena could barely breathe.
"You don't remember anything, do you?"
he murmured, leaning closer, their foreheads nearly touching.
He could hear her little heart pounding loudly in her chest like it was about to break free from it.
She shook her head slightly.
She didn't know what he meant. Didn't know what she was supposed to remember and at this very moment she didn't care. But she knew this, she liked this version of him. The honesty. The restraint. The way he looked at her like she mattered.
The air between them was heavy, suffocating, charged with emotions.
"Serena!"
Elsie's voice shattered the moment.
They sprang apart as if burned, the sudden distance aching more than it should have. Xavier's hand fell back to his side, fingers curling into a fist.
Theo and Elsie rounded the corner, eyes wide, shock written plainly across their faces, not just at seeing Xavier so close, but at seeing Serena still standing. Still alive.
"You okay?" Elsie asked, rushing to Serena's side, casting a venomous glare at Xavier.
That was the only warning she dared give him.
"Yeah," Serena said, breathless. "I'm okay."
She didn't look back as she walked away with her friends, leaving Xavier alone in the shadows of the corridor