Chapter Five — Where Their Shadows Touch
Lena arrived on campus with one suitcase and a spine already tired from carrying herself.
The university gates were wide and ironed smooth, designed to impress.
Students moved through them with confidence, laughter bouncing easily between buildings that looked like they had never known hunger.
Lena paused at the entrance.
This place smelled like money. Like polished floors and certainty.
Miriam hugged her tightly before letting go. "Call me," she said. "Every day if you need to."
"I'll be fine," Lena replied.
Miriam searched her face, as if trying to memorize her again.
"You always are."
Lena watched her leave, then turned back toward the campus.
Somewhere inside her, something tightened. Not fear. Recognition.
Alexander was late to his first lecture.
He crossed the quad distracted, phone pressed to his ear. "No, I understand. Yes, I'll handle it."
He turned sharply at the sound of someone colliding with him.
"I'm sorry," Lena said automatically, already stepping back.
Their eyes met.
The moment stretched, thin and strange.
Alexander felt it first. A flicker of disorientation, like recognizing a word he couldn't place.
"You're fine," he said.
Lena nodded, but didn't move.
There was something about him. Familiar in a way that made her chest ache.
"Do you know where the humanities hall is?" she asked.
He pointed without thinking.
"That way. I'm headed there."
They walked side by side.
Neither spoke for several steps.
"What's your major?" Alexander asked.
"Literature," Lena replied. "You?"
"Economics."
She smiled faintly. "Of course."
He glanced at her, curious. "What does that mean?"
"Nothing," she said. "Just… nothing."
They reached the building. Students streamed past them.
"Well," Alexander said, "good luck."
"You too."
They turned away from each other.
Both felt it then. The pull. The unfinished question.
Neither knew why.
Destiny rarely announces itself.