Ethan sat in the back row of the lecture hall, watching the professor scribble Plato's theories across the whiteboard. The words blurred together.
He wasn't really paying attention.
Not because he didn't care—quite the opposite. He had sat through this exact class ten years ago. And it had tanked his GPA.
The Philosophy 102 midterm had been brutal back then. He had failed it, skipped the final, and eventually dropped the course. The academic shame had haunted him for years.
But now?
Ethan stood up.Thirty pairs of eyes turned toward him.
He walked down the aisle, packed up his bag without a word, and headed straight for the registrar's office.
"You want to drop the course?" the staff member blinked, surprised.
"Yes," Ethan replied calmly. "I'd rather audit it later. I'm shifting priorities."
The old Ethan wouldn't have done that. He would've stuck it out to avoid seeming like a quitter.
But this Ethan?He had a decade of regret behind him—and no time to waste.
Later that afternoon, he spotted Sophia outside the campus café.She was sitting alone, scrolling on her phone, her coffee untouched.
This was it.
Back then, he had admired her from a distance for an entire semester.Now, he had a second chance.
Ethan took a breath, walked up, and offered a smile. "Hey. Mind if I sit?"
Sophia looked up, puzzled. "Do I… know you?"
"Not yet," Ethan replied. "But I think we're in the same econ class?"
She tilted her head, unsure. "Maybe. I miss a lot of lectures."
He chuckled. "Lucky for you, I take obsessive notes."
That made her smile.Victory.
They talked for ten minutes—about coffee preferences, the weirdness of dorm life, and how spring semester always felt too long. She was easy to talk to—just like he remembered.
Before leaving, Ethan handed her a folded note. "It's my number. Just in case you want those notes. Or coffee that's less terrible."
She looked surprised, but she didn't throw it away. "Okay… Ethan, right?"
He smiled. "Yeah."
As he walked away, heart still pounding, he whispered to himself, "First step. Taken."