June – POV
I didn't expect him to come back.
Didn't expect him to step foot on this campus again, not after everything—not after I ran, not after I left him with his monsters and mine tangled like thorns between us.
But there he was.
Justin.
His figure cut through the crowd like a shadow in daylight—silent, composed, with that same brooding focus he always wore like armor. He wasn't even trying to blend in, wasn't pretending to be a student returning to his books and lectures and a life he didn't belong to anymore. He stood still, carved from stone, eyes fixed on me like I was the last page of a book he couldn't stop rereading.
I'd seen him.
And I pretended I hadn't.
Walked out of the literature building with my head high and my heart hammering like it wanted to leap out of my chest and beg him to say something—anything.
But I didn't stop. I didn't look. Not directly. I didn't allow myself.
Because I didn't know what I would see if I did.
Regret? Anger? Lust? Ownership?
