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đ Chapter Four: Off Balance
The next morning, Ethan arrived at the studio before sunrise.
The air was still and cool, the faint hum of city traffic just beginning to rise. He turned on the overhead lights, flooding the runway with sterile white brightness. He needed silence. Distance. Control.
Iris was getting under his skin.
It wasn't just attractionâit was recognition. He saw himself in her: the same hunger, the same fire, the same quiet loneliness masked as drive. And that terrified him.
Because the last time he'd let someone close, it had destroyed everything.
He opened his laptop and pulled up the Showcase schedule. Only four weeks left. If he could focus, keep his boundaries tight, and avoid any more eye contact that lingered too long, they'd get through it.
Then she walked in.
He glanced at his watch. 5:42 a.m.
Iris stood in the doorway wearing black leggings, a cropped hoodie, and no makeup. Her hair was tied up. Her presence, even in silence, was bold.
"I thought practice started at seven," he said, not looking up.
"I couldn't sleep," she said. "Didn't want to waste the energy."
He nodded slowly. "Runway or poses?"
"Both," she replied.
He gestured toward the floor. "Let's see what insomnia gave you."
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Forty Minutes Later
Iris moved with quiet strengthâher walk cleaner, sharper, more commanding than ever before. Her poses hit with precision, and her eyes held the kind of stillness that made cameras fall in love.
Ethan watched closely, correcting her with a tap of the hand here, a single-word instruction there. They barely spoke, but the space between them crackled.
At one point, she stepped down from the platform and turned to him.
"Am I doing something wrong?" she asked.
"No."
"Then why do you look at me like you're waiting for me to fall?"
He met her gaze. "Because falling is inevitable. It's how you land that matters."
She stepped closer.
"Then maybe you should stop trying to catch me before I do."
The air froze between them.
He should've shut it downâwalked away, said something cold. But he didn't. He stood there, breath shallow, letting the weight of her presence fill the room.
Finally, he turned.
"We're done for today."
Her voice was soft behind him. "You're not afraid of me, Ethan. You're afraid of yourself."
He paused at the door, but didn't look back.
She was right.
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Later That Day â Maya's Office
"You're spiraling," Maya said bluntly, pushing a file across the desk. "Iris is one of the best talents we've had. But you're holding back on her."
"I'm pushing her," Ethan replied. "That's the job."
"You're protecting her. From the system, from the spotlight⊠maybe even from you."
He said nothing.
Maya leaned forward. "She's not her, Ethan. And you're not that same man anymore. But if you keep punishing yourself through this girl, you'll lose her too."
He stared out the window, jaw clenched.
"You think I'm falling for her?" he asked.
"No," Maya said. "I think you already did."
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Dorm Rooftop â Midnight
Iris sat cross-legged on the rooftop patio, city lights stretching beyond the rails like a dream. She held her phone, reading Ethan's brief text from earlier:
> "Your walk is improving. Stay sharp."
No one else got texts from Ethan Cole.
She knew this wasn't just about modeling anymore.
And if he wouldn't take the next stepâmaybe she would.
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