The campus looked different in daylight — almost normal.
Almost.
Rina clutched her coffee like it was a lifeline as she crossed the quad, trying to focus on the ordinary things: students laughing, music spilling from open dorm windows, flyers fluttering on bulletin boards. But the world still felt… tilted.
Every time she blinked, she saw gold.
His eyes. That glow. That message.
She'd tried to convince herself she'd imagined it — exhaustion, party lights, nerves. But the text from the unknown number still sat in her phone like a spark waiting to catch fire:
You saw me this time.
Her thumb hovered over it for the hundredth time. Delete it. Forget it. Pretend it didn't exist.
But she couldn't.
"Rina!"
Melissa came jogging up, waving a stack of orientation papers. "They posted class schedules. Guess who got stuck with an 8 A.M.?"
Rina forced a smile. "Tragic."
Melissa stopped, tilting her head. "You good? You look like you didn't sleep."
"I didn't," Rina admitted. "Just— weird dreams, maybe."
Before Melissa could press, a voice cut through the noise of the quad.
Deep. Calm. Familiar.
"Rina?"
She turned, and there he was.
Niklaus.
In daylight, he looked impossibly normal — gray T-shirt, soccer bag slung over his shoulder — but her chest still tightened like she'd stepped too close to a storm.
Melissa's eyebrows shot up. "Okay, wow. You didn't tell me he was in your orbit now."
"Melissa," Rina hissed, cheeks burning.
Niklaus stopped a few feet away, eyes unreadable but intense. "Hey. You made it out of the party alive."
"Barely," she said before she could stop herself.
His smile was slow, deliberate. "You left in a hurry last night."
"I—did I?" she asked, voice faltering. "Honestly, I don't remember leaving at all."
Something flickered behind his gaze. Concern… or guilt?
"You probably just drank too much," he said lightly, but his tone didn't match the words.
Melissa looked between them. "Okay, I'll just—go be somewhere else." She winked and vanished into the crowd.
Rina exhaled. "She's subtle."
Niklaus's lips curved. "Seems like it."
An awkward beat of silence. The air around them felt thick, humming faintly like it had at the party.
Rina shifted, trying to find words. "You—uh, don't happen to know who might've texted me last night, do you?"
He frowned. "Texted you?"
"Yeah. Weird number. Something about me going outside alone."
For a moment, his expression didn't change. Then, too quickly, he said, "Ignore it. People play stupid games after parties."
"Right," she said. But the edge in his voice didn't sound like someone brushing off a prank.
Then the hum in the air spiked — sharp enough that Rina actually flinched.
Niklaus looked around instantly, eyes narrowing, scanning the open quad like he felt it too.
"What was that?" she whispered.
"Nothing," he said quickly. Too quickly. "You should get to class."
She blinked. "Niklaus—"
He stepped closer, close enough for her to catch the faint scent of rain and smoke on his skin. "Whatever you think you saw last night," he said quietly, "forget it. It's safer that way."
And then he turned and walked off before she could ask what he meant.
That night, Rina sat on her dorm bed, trying to focus on unpacking.
The world should've felt ordinary again.
But her phone buzzed once more.
Unknown Number: He's lying to you.