{Elira}
~**^**~
"I noticed how exhausted you were this morning," Zenon said, his tone calm but edged with a weight that made my skin prickle.
I forced a small smile. "I… didn't sleep well last night."
His gaze didn't waver. "You yawned three times during lecture. Twice you tried to hide it behind your hand. Once you nearly drifted off."
Heat flared across my cheeks. I didn't he kept count. "I—I'm sorry, Professor. It won't happen again."
"Won't it?" His eyes narrowed slightly, not unkind, but sharp enough to pin me to the chair. "Fatigue doesn't come from nowhere. You're burning energy somewhere else. Where?"
My fingers tightened against the strap of my bag. I looked down at them, avoiding his eyes. "It's nothing serious."
"Don't lie to me." His voice dropped, soft but unyielding.
My chest tightened. I had hoped—naively—that I could give him a vague excuse and be dismissed. But Zenon wasn't the type to let things slip.
