Chapter 65 : The Soft Kiss
HAYDEN’S POV:
The next morning is awkward, painfully awkward.
I wake up later than usual, groggy from barely sleeping and with the memory of last night replaying in my head like an annoying song I can’t turn off.
Stephen is leaning closer. His eyes dropped to my mouth and the tension in the air and me bolting like a complete idiot.
I rub a hand over my face and groan into the pillow.
“Fantastic,” I mutter to myself. “Exam day and I’m losing my mind.”
After a quick shower, I drag myself out of my room and into the living room. Stephen is already there.
Of course he is.
He’s sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee in one hand and a book open in the other, looking like the picture of calm, controlled focus. Like last night never happened.
My stomach immediately knots.
For a second I considered retreating into my room and pretending I didn’t exist but it was too late.
Stephen looks up and our eyes meet and the silence that follows is so thick it feels like walking into a wall.
“Morning,” he says.
His voice sounds normal, too normal.
“Morning,” I reply.
I move toward the kitchen, trying very hard not to think about the way his gaze lingers on me for a second too long.
The coffee machine gurgles while I stand there pretending to be fascinated by it.
Behind me, I hear Stephen close his book.
“Are you ready for the exam?” he asks.
I shrug, still facing the counter. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Which is true.
Somehow, after two straight days of Stephen drilling economics into my skull, I actually understand most of it.
It was a terrifying concept.
There’s a pause before he speaks again. “You’ll do fine.”
I glance over my shoulder at him, he is watching me carefully, his expression unreadable.
“You sound pretty confident,” I say.
“I am.”
I raise an eyebrow. “That’s either very reassuring or extremely concerning.”
A faint smile flickers across his face.
“Good luck, Hayden.” The words are simple, but something about the way he says them makes my chest tighten.
For a second I don’t know what to say. “Thanks,” I finally replied.
The moment stretches again but as intense as last night, but still… weird.
Then….Knock knock.
The sudden sound makes both of us look toward the door.
“I’ll get it,” I say quickly, grateful for the interruption. I cross the room and pull the door open.
Lilian is standing there and suddenly everything feels normal again.
Her long hair is tied up in a messy ponytail and she’s wearing one of those oversized sweaters that swallow half her frame.
When she sees me, her face lights up instantly. “Hey, genius,” she says teasingly.
I grin. “Hey.”
Without thinking, I grab her and pull her into a kiss. It was not a gentle one. A hard, desperate kind of kiss. The kind that shuts my brain off.
Lilian lets out a surprised laugh against my mouth before kissing me back just as enthusiastically.
Her hands slide into my hair as she giggles. “Wow,” she breathes when we finally pull apart. "Someone’s nervous.”
“Exam stress,” I say.
“That’s one way to deal with it.”
Behind me, I hear something. It was a low sound, almost like….a growl.
I glance over my shoulder to see that Stephen is standing up now, his jaw tight and his eyes fixed on us, and something dark flashes across his expression.
The air in the room shifts instantly but Lilian doesn’t seem to notice as she hooks her arm through mine happily.
“I came to walk you to the exam hall,” she says.
“You didn’t have to.”
“I know,” she replies sweetly. “But I wanted to.”
I glance at Stephen again. He is staring at me. No, not just staring. He is glaring.
His eyes move briefly to Lilian’s hand wrapped around my arm, then back to my face. The tension is immediate and sharp.
“What?” I ask.
Stephen’s jaw flexes. “Nothing.”
The word comes out clipped and cold. Then he turns and starts walking toward the hallway that leads to the bedrooms.
“Stephen?” I say.
He stops but doesn’t turn around. For a second I think he might say something. Instead, he storms down the hallway and a moment later—SLAM.
The sound of his bedroom door crashing shut echoes through the dorm.
Lilian jumps slightly beside me.
“Wow,” she says. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”
I stare at the hallway. My chest feels… strange.
“That was weird,” she adds.
“Yeah,” I mutter. Weird doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Stephen never loses his temper like that. Ever.
Lilian nudges my shoulder playfully. “Ignore him.”
“Easy for you to say.”
She smiles up at me. “You’ve got a huge exam to crush, remember?”
Right. The exam.
I run a hand through my hair and exhale slowly. “Yeah.”
She pulls me toward the door. “Come on, future economics prodigy.”
I laugh. “That’s a dangerous amount of confidence.”
“You studied with Stephen for two days,” she says. “If you survive that, you can survive anything.”
Fair point. We step out into the hallway together.
But as we start walking, I can’t stop thinking about the look on Stephen’s face.
That flash of anger, that sound—That low growl.
My stomach twists uneasily as Lilian squeezes my hand.
“You’re going to do amazing,” she says.
I smile at her. “I hope so.”
But even as we head toward the exam hall, my thoughts keep drifting back to the dorm, Stephen, and last night.
And the question that still hasn’t stopped haunting me.
If I hadn’t stood up….Would he really have kissed me? Again?