Chapter 45 The library gift
A small red, glossy box. Wrapped with a thin golden ribbon.
Her breath caught in her throat.
That box hadn’t been there before.
She reached out, slowly, heart thudding. There was a card underneath, half-tucked under the ribbon. The words were neatly typed in black ink. “Read well, my red darling.”
Her chest tightened. “No,” she whispered, her hands trembling. “No, not again.”
She tapped Asher’s shoulder hard. “Asher,” she hissed.
He stirred, blinking. “What…what’s wrong?”
She pointed at the box.
He sat up immediately. “Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It wasn’t here before. I woke up and saw it.”
Asher frowned, glancing around. “Did you see anyone near us?”
She shook her head. “No one. I was asleep before you.”
His brow creased. “Then it had to be while we were both out.”
He looked around the tables lined with students, heads bent over books, the quiet shuffle of pages filling the air. The library looked perfectly normal.
Lila’s stomach twisted. Everyone was studying. No one was watching them.
“Maybe it’s just some stupid prank,” Asher muttered, but even he didn’t sound convinced.
She couldn’t stop staring at the box. The gold ribbon gleamed faintly under the light. It looked harmless, pretty, but she felt sick looking at it. Like whoever left it was laughing somewhere close.
Asher stood suddenly. “Stay here.”
Lila’s voice was small. “What are you doing?”
“Checking something.”
He strode toward the librarian’s desk, his expression tense.
The librarian, a woman with kind eyes but a tired look, glanced up from her computer. “Yes?”
“I need to see the sign-in book,” Asher said quickly.
She frowned. “That’s not for students to view.”
“Please,” he said. His voice was sharp with worry. “Someone left my friend a threatening message. While we were asleep.”
The woman froze, her eyes flicking toward their table. “Threatening?”
“Yes,” he said, leaning forward. “Please let me look at the book.”
For a moment, she hesitated. Then she sighed, pulled out a large notebook, and slid it toward him. “Two minutes.”
“Thank you,” he muttered.
His eyes scanned line after line of names with dozens of signatures, neat and messy, times scribbled beside them. There were too many. He didn’t know half the people listed.
He turned a few pages back, looking for any pattern but there wasn’t one. Just endless names and timestamps.
“Anything useful?” the librarian asked quietly.
He shook his head, frustrated. “No. It could be anyone.”
She frowned. “You should report it to campus security.”
“Yeah,” he said, snapping the book shut. “We will.”
He walked back to Lila, jaw tight.
She was sitting still, staring down at the little red box. Her fingers hovered above it, not touching.
“Did you find anything?” she asked softly.
“No.”
She nodded once, her voice barely audible. “Then let’s go.”
They packed their books in silence. Every small sound, zipping her bag, closing the notebook echoed loudly.
When they stepped outside, the sunlight hit them hard. The air felt colder than it should’ve been. Lila pulled her jacket tighter, her skin prickling.
She could feel eyes on her, though she knew it was just nerves.
“Asher,” she murmured, voice trembling slightly, “what if this never stops?”
He glanced at her, his face softening. “It will. I’ll make sure it does.”
She nodded but didn’t believe him. Not really.
They walked past the courtyard fountain, and that was when someone called her name.
“Lila!”
She turned, startled.
Damian Reyes jogged toward them, sunlight glinting off his necklace. He looked effortlessly put together like the world never touched him wrong. Even the way he smiled felt practiced, bright, confident.
“Hey,” he said, stopping a few feet away. “I was hoping I’d run into you.”
Lila blinked. “You were?”
“Yeah.” He laughed a little, easy and warm. “I rushed off yesterday and I couldn't properly talk to you.”
She smiled shyly. “Yeah.”
Asher stood beside her, silent. His posture was stiff, unreadable.
Damian’s gaze flicked to him. “Asher, right? From Professor Beckett’s class?”
“Yeah,” Asher said flatly.
“Cool,” Damian said, still smiling. “Anyway, I’ve got a game this Friday. It’s a big one. You both should come, it might help you relax.”
He looked at Lila when he said it, and for some reason, that made her heart skip.
She nodded quickly. “Sure, I’ll come.”
“Great,” he said. “I’ll text you the details later.”
Then, without hesitation, he leaned forward and pulled her into a quick hug.
It was so unexpected that she froze. His cologne was crisp and faintly spicy and filled her head for a second before he pulled away.
“Take care of yourself, Lila,” he said, flashing her a small smile. “You look like you need it.”
She nodded, still dazed. “I…yeah. Thanks.”
He gave Asher a polite nod and walked off across the quad, casual, confident, every eye following him until he disappeared down the hill.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Lila exhaled softly. “He’s really nice.”
Asher didn’t answer.
She turned to look at him, his jaw was tight, his hands shoved in his pockets.
“What?” she asked quietly.
He blinked and looked at her, but his expression was unreadable. “Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, too quickly. “Yeah. It’s just weird seeing him here.”
“Why weird?”
Asher hesitated. “He’s not usually the friendly type.”
Lila tilted her head. “He seemed friendly to me.”
“Yeah,” Asher muttered, glancing toward the direction Damian had gone. “Maybe that’s the part you should be worried about.”
Lila frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He forced a smile. “Nothing. Forget it.”
But she could tell he didn’t mean it.
Something in his tone made her uneasy, like he knew more than he was saying.
They started walking again, the wind cold against their faces. The campus buzzed faintly in the distance with laughter, footsteps, doors slamming shut yet everything between them felt quiet.
Lila kept replaying Damian’s words in her head. You look like you need it. It sounded kind, but something about it lingered too long.
Asher, beside her, stayed silent. His thoughts were somewhere else behind his guarded eyes.
Why did he hug her? he thought, jaw tightening. And why did it feel like he already knew who she was?
Lila tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to break the tension. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Just thinking.”
She tried to smile. “You always are.”
He didn’t smile back.
Lila turned to say something, but Asher had already stopped walking.
“Lila,” he said quietly, eyes still fixed ahead.
“What?”
He hesitated. His expression softened but the worry in it didn’t fade. “Be careful around him.”
Her brows furrowed. “Damian?”
He nodded slowly. “There’s something about him you don’t know yet.”
She blinked, confused. “What are you talking about?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked past her toward the path Damian had taken his face pale and unreadable.
The wind stirred, carrying the faint echo of laughter from somewhere far behind them.
Lila turned, following his gaze but the path was empty.
Still, something in Asher’s silence made her heart skip.
And in that moment, she realized sometimes the quietest people knew the most dangerous truths.