"What are you reading?" she asked, nodding toward the thick book in his hands.
Lucas turned it slightly so she could see the title.
Her heart skipped.
"Eleanor Gray," she breathed. "You're reading Eleanor Gray!?"
Lucas's lips curved into a real smile this time, and it was devastating.
"Yeah. 'Letters to the Unwritten.' One of my favorites."
Aurora's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's my favorite too!." she said, wondering how big of a coincidence it was that they both liked novels from the same author.
He laughed under his breath, the sound low,rough and deep. "Small world."
A warm, electric feeling hummed through her.
Maybe... just maybe... this day wasn't a total disaster after all.
"Mind if I sit?" she asked, surprising herself.
Lucas gestured grandly to the seat across from him. "Be my guest."
Aurora slid into the chair, her heart thudding wildly.
They talked ….first about Eleanor Gray's books, then about their favorite characters, favorite lines, favorite heartbreaking moments.
Lucas knew "everything". He quoted passages, laughed at inside jokes only true fans would understand, and listened ….really listened when Aurora spoke.
It was easy.
It was 'too' easy.
At one point, Aurora caught herself laughing …real, unrestrained laughter and it startled her. She hadn't laughed like that in... she couldn't even remember.
Maybe it was the way Lucas looked at her like she mattered. Like he saw right through her broken pieces but didn't mind them.
Still, in the back of her mind, doubt lingered.
Was it truly coincidence?
Or something more deliberate?
As if sensing her unease, Lucas leaned back in his chair, studying her quietly.
"You seem... like you have a lot on your mind," he said gently.
Aurora hesitated.
Could she tell him? This stranger who felt somehow familiar?
"It's... been a rough few days," she admitted.
Lucas nodded slowly, as if he understood far more than she said.
"If it helps," he said, voice low and earnest, "sometimes the worst endings make way for the best beginnings."
Aurora's throat tightened painfully.
'Best beginnings?' She didn't know if she believed in those anymore.
But sitting here, across from him, she wanted to try.
"Thanks," she whispered.
They smiled at each other ….small, tentative, but real.
It was the beginning of something neither of them could yet name.
And somewhere, in the shadows of the library, a storm was already brewing.
Because unknown to Aurora, Ethan wasn't giving up.
Not yet.
And Lucas...
The library had always been Aurora's sanctuary. But today, walking away from Lucas, it felt different …like something invisible had shifted in the air around her.
She could still feel the weight of his gaze on her back long after they said goodbye.
As she stepped outside into the bright afternoon light, Aurora shoved her hands deep into her pockets and breathed in the scent of rain on pavement. She should have felt lighter after talking to someone new.
After laughing.
After daring to hope.
But instead, unease prickled at the back of her neck.
Maybe it was the intensity in Lucas's eyes.
Maybe it was how easily he seemed to know exactly what to say.
Or maybe it was just old wounds whispering fears she couldn't silence yet.
Whatever it was, Aurora shook it off and headed across campus.
She needed space to think…..to breathe.
She didn't notice the shadow trailing behind her …the figure lurking across the courtyard, eyes locked on her retreating figure.
Ethan's hands clenched into fists at his sides.
He watched Aurora …his Aurora walking away from the library with a lightness in her step that cut him deeper than any words could.
"Who the hell was that guy she had been laughing with?!", he thought angrily.
And why did it make him feel like the ground was crumbling beneath him?
Ethan hadn't slept the night before. Hadn't eaten. He had drunk too much, cursed himself too much, replayed the breakup over and over until it drove him insane.
Aurora had always been his.
She had always forgiven him ….even when he didn't deserve it.
She couldn't just move on.
Not without him.
Not with someone else.
He gave a dark and furious look which swept across his face.
This wasn't over.
Not by a long shot.
Aurora pushed open the door to her dorm and was immediately ambushed.
Mia launched herself from the couch, wielding two cups of coffee like sacred offerings.
"You survived the library," Mia declared, pressing a warm cup into Aurora's frozen fingers. "And you look... suspiciously less miserable. Spill."
Aurora smiled despite how she was feeling about the breakup and fell onto the couch.
"I met someone," she admitted, blowing on the coffee to hide her red flustered cheeks.
Mia's jaw dropped. "Already?! Girl, I leave you alone for two hours and you're already pulling hot rebound guys?"
"It's not like that," Aurora said quickly. "We just... talked. About books."
"Books," Mia repeated, eyebrows raised to the ceiling. "That's what we're calling flirting now?"
Aurora groaned and buried her face in a cushion. "It wasn't flirting! He was just... easy to talk to."
Mia plopped down beside her, grinning wickedly. "And cute?"
Aurora peeked at her through her fingers. "Maybe."
"What's his name?"
Aurora hesitated. "Lucas."
Mia whistled lowly. "Mysterious. Broody. I like it already."
Aurora laughed, but inside, uncertainty gnawed at her.
Was she really ready for something new?
Could she trust anyone again?
Especially someone who seemed almost too perfect?
That night, Aurora dreamed of Lucas.
Strange, disjointed images about the library, endless rows of books with Lucas standing at the far end of a corridor, watching her.
Always watching.
She woke in a sweat, heart racing, remembering his dark eyes which lingered behind her closed eyelids.
The next day passed in a blur of classes and awkward encounters.
Ethan was everywhere.
Or maybe it just felt that way.
He sat two rows behind her in English literature class, tapping his pencil repeatedly and annoyingly against the desk.
He loitered outside the cafeteria, pretending to scroll through his phone while glaring at anyone who so much as looked at Aurora.
And once ,heart-stoppingly ….she caught him standing outside her dorm, his face half-hidden by the hood of his sweatshirt.