Chapter 6: Dangerous Proximity

Criminal Law elective.

I slipped into the classroom just in time, saw there were no seats up front, and grabbed a spot by the aisle—easy for a quick getaway, since I had work after class.

The lecture hall smelled like burnt coffee and highlighter ink, buzzing with sleepy students, some cradling venti lattes, others fighting to keep their eyes open. I tucked my backpack under my chair and started organizing my notes, grateful for the anonymity of a back-row seat.

Not long after, a shadow fell over me.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

I looked up and saw Caleb Jennings’s frosty face. Dressed all in black—a hoodie, cargo pants, hood half up—he looked both lazy and mysterious.

Remembering his sobbing in the video, I felt a twinge of guilt and quickly stood to let him by.

As he passed, a faint pine scent drifted over. My morning grogginess vanished, even my headache cleared up.

He settled in beside me, pulling out a battered notebook and a laptop covered in cryptic stickers. My pulse spiked, but I kept my face neutral.

And then—he sat right next to me.

After the bell rang, I kept sneaking glances between the podium and Caleb Jennings.

Class was dull. He spun his pen, his pale, slender fingers making the black fountain pen dance. All the hand-fetishists in the room must’ve been green with envy.

I couldn’t help but think: If those hands were only mine, how happy would I be?

I doodled in the margins of my notebook, imagining holding hands in the back row of a midnight movie, or sharing a bag of popcorn at the quad’s outdoor screenings.

He didn’t look at me, but the air between us felt charged, like a static shock waiting to happen.

"Is there something on my face?"

Caleb Jennings’s icy voice yanked me out of my daydream.

"No, no!"

I jumped, stumbling over my words.

My cheeks flamed, and I nearly knocked over my water bottle. I fiddled with my pen, wishing I could sink through the floor.

"Then why do you keep staring at me?"

"I was just curious—if your girlfriend wanted to get back together, what would you do?"

My mouth ran faster than my brain. As soon as I said it, I regretted it.

Caleb Jennings’s face, already glacial, grew even colder. He pressed his lips together and spoke slowly:

"Heh. I’d make sure she never ghosted me again."

He snapped the fountain pen in his hand with a sharp crack.

I shivered, suddenly recalling our online romance.

After we’d set our couple status, we were always inexplicably targeted. Once, an enemy marksman made a dirty joke about me. Caleb didn’t say a word—his hands just flew across the keyboard.

Within minutes, the marksman was killed so many times his score went deep into the negatives. Eventually, the other side started begging for mercy and apologizing. Only then did Caleb stop.

He really holds a grudge.

"Then I wish you luck, haha."

I laughed awkwardly, trying to change the subject, and focused on taking notes.

Caleb just glanced at me with a strange look, pulled out another fountain pen, and went back to twirling it, saying nothing more.

As the professor droned on, I felt Caleb’s gaze burning into me. I didn’t know if I wanted to run—or if I wanted to stay and see what happened next.