Sleek returned with a glass of water, holding it out to her like it was some fragile peace offering.
"Here," he said.
Bibxy took it, her hands brushing his just long enough to send an unexpected warmth through her. "Thanks." She drained half the cup in one breath.
He watched her, searching her face. "You should get back to your dorm."
"It's getting late," he said softly, his voice carrying an almost reluctant note. "Let me walk you back to your dorm."
The campus was hushed as they walked side by side. A faint breeze moved through the trees, carrying the scent of damp earth. Their footsteps were the only sound on the stone path. When they reached her door, he stopped. The faint yellow glow from the hallway light painted his face in soft shadows.
He hesitated. His gaze locked on hers, and she could see it then—an unspoken question in his eyes. Slowly, he stepped closer, close enough that the space between them seemed to dissolve. His breath was warm against her cheek.
Her pulse quickened. She knew what he was about to do. But something in her chest tightened, not with anticipation, but with resistance.
She turned her head slightly. "Not tonight," she whispered, her voice steady but gentle.
The moment hung heavy in the air. He pulled back, the muscles in his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly. Whatever flickered across his face, he concealed quickly.
"Alright," he said, and stepped back.
She slipped inside her room and leaned against the closed door for a moment. Then she pushed the thought aside, changed into her nightclothes, and curled under the blanket. Sleep claimed her quickly.
Morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, brushing her face with a pale gold glow. She stirred, sat up, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The usual routine followed—washing up, slipping into her uniform, gathering her books. Yet beneath those automatic motions, her mind was far from the present.
Fragments of strange dreams, unfamiliar emotions, and questions she couldn't answer clung to her thoughts like a shadow.
By the time classes ended, she'd made up her mind: she needed to know the truth about what was happening to her. The library felt like the right place to start.
The building loomed at the far end of campus, its old stone walls wrapped in ivy. She pushed open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside. The air was cool, scented faintly with paper and dust.
The moment her foot crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind her with a deafening bang. The sound echoed through the hall like a warning.
Outside, Josh had been standing at a distance. He'd seen her walking toward the library but decided to give her space—he'd speak to her once she was done.
The sudden noise made his head snap toward the building. He jogged to the entrance, trying the door. Locked.
He circled to the side, checking the tall windows. Every one of them was shut tight. Yet from within, a strange golden light pulsed faintly, as though the air inside were glowing.
His hand hovered over the door handle. Something about the glow made the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
Inside, Bixy stood frozen, her heart hammering. The library was silent, but it didn't feel empty. The air seemed to hum, and the glow Josh had seen was here too, seeping from the cracks between the shelves.
Then the walls began to move. They didn't crumble or break—they shifted, gliding apart like giant doors, revealing a narrow passage bathed in shimmering light.
Her breath caught. She should have run. But something inside urged her forward.
Step by step, she crossed the threshold.
The library vanished.
She was standing in an open courtyard bathed in afternoon sunlight. The air was warmer here, scented with blooming flowers she didn't recognize.
And then she saw them. Josh. Herself. Sleek. And a girl she somehow knew without ever meeting in this life—Suya.
Memories that weren't hers yet felt entirely her own rushed forward, filling her mind.
In this life, Suya was betrothed to Josh. She stood beside him, her hand resting on his arm, wearing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. They were to be married. Everyone around them knew it.
But Josh's gaze was not on Suya. It lingered instead on Bixy, filled with an affection both deep and dangerous.
And Bixy … in that life, her heart belonged to someone else entirely. Sleek. A human. A love not only frowned upon but forbidden.
Suya's voice cut through the air, sharp with accusation. "You shame us both, bixy. Do you think you can hide it? That we don't see how you look at him?"
Josh's face darkened. "If you choose him," he said, voice low and trembling with rage, "you defy everything we are."
In one swift motion, he summoned Sleek into the courtyard, as if by magic. Sleek appeared disoriented but stood tall, defiance in his eyes.
"You don't belong here," Josh said coldly. "And you never will."
Bixy stepped between them, her hands raised. "If you hurt him, I'll end my own life," she said. Her voice shook, but her eyes were unwavering.
Josh stared at her, his anger warring with disbelief. He thought she was bluffing.
"Don't test me," she pleaded. "Please, Josh."
But the rage won. Josh struck. Power surged through the air, slamming into Sleek. His body hit the ground, unmoving.
The world seemed to still.
Bixy knelt beside Sleek, tears streaming down her face. She touched his cheek, whispered something too soft to hear, and then rose to her feet. Her gaze met Josh's one last time.
"You took him from me," she said. "Now I take myself from you."
Before he could move, she drove the blade into her own heart.
The courtyard blurred, the light dimmed, and the scene unraveled into darkness.
When bixy blinked, she was back in the library, standing alone in the silence. The walls were just walls again. The glow had faded.
But the memory—and the ache in her chest—remained.