Chapter 63: waiting I

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: waiting I

Tuesday morning arrived quietly.

Vivienne wasn’t sure when she had finally fallen asleep.

Her mobile phone was still tucked beneath her pillow.

Exactly where she had left it the night before.

The moment she opened her eyes...

She reached for it.

A tiny flicker of hope rose inside her chest.

Maybe...

She pressed the button.

The screen lit up.

No new messages.

Her heart dropped.

It happened so suddenly that she almost felt it sink into the pit of her stomach.

The tiny hope she had carried with her to sleep disappeared in an instant.

For a long moment...

She simply stared at the silent screen.

Nothing.

Not a single reply.

"...Morning."

Even her own voice sounded quieter than usual.

Claire looked over from the other bed.

She didn’t even have to ask.

"...Still nothing?"

Vivienne gave the smallest shake of her head.

"...Nothing."

Silence settled between them.

Claire wanted to comfort her.

She wasn’t quite sure how.

As Vivienne quietly changed into her uniform, her thoughts drifted back to the message she had sent.

She had approached Anthony before.

During orientation.

During the Foundation meeting.

Whenever they met face to face...

Anthony had always answered her.

He couldn’t exactly pretend she wasn’t standing right in front of him.

But a text message...

Was different.

It waited quietly.

And the person receiving it...

Could choose whether to answer.

Or...

Choose not to.

Vivienne stopped fastening one of the buttons on her sleeve.

Her fingers lingered there.

Silence...

Was an answer too, wasn’t it?

She lowered her eyes.

That thought hurt far more than she wanted to admit.

No.

She shouldn’t assume the worst.

Anthony was busy.

She knew that.

She had seen it herself.

Student Council.

Classes.

The Foundation.

Countless responsibilities.

There were dozens of perfectly reasonable explanations.

So why...

Did her heart insist on believing the unreasonable one?

Claire quietly watched her roommate.

She didn’t ask any more questions.

She simply handed Vivienne her bag before the two of them left for class together.

Millward Hall stood exactly where it had yesterday.

Its familiar stone corridors were already filling with students heading toward their morning lectures.

Yesterday...

Vivienne had wandered these very halls hoping to catch a glimpse of Anthony.

Today...

She found herself instinctively avoiding every direction her eyes wanted to look.

She didn’t want to see him.

...

No.

That wasn’t true.

She wanted to.

She just...

Didn’t know how she could face him if he had already read her message.

What if he had looked at it...

Thought about replying...

Then decided not to?

The possibility alone was enough to make her chest tighten.

Professor Pembroke’s lecture on Governance and Political Institutions began promptly at eight.

Vivienne chose her usual seat beside the window.

Outside, students occasionally passed through the corridor.

Each time footsteps echoed beyond the classroom door...

She instinctively lowered her gaze.

It was almost funny.

Yesterday she had searched half the university trying to find Anthony Ashford.

Today...

She was quietly hoping he wouldn’t walk past the classroom.

Not because she was angry.

Not because she blamed him.

Simply because she was embarrassed.

Embarrassed that she had finally gathered the courage to send something so personal...

Only to be met with silence.

Professor Pembroke continued explaining the morning’s lesson.

Words about constitutions, institutions, and systems of governance drifted through the room.

Vivienne tried to listen.

She truly did.

But her thoughts wandered far too easily.

"Miss Beaumont?"

She blinked.

The classroom had fallen quiet.

Professor Pembroke smiled kindly.

"Would you care to answer the question?"

Heat rushed to her cheeks.

"...I’m sorry, Professor."

A few classmates laughed softly.

Professor Pembroke merely nodded.

"It happens."

"I’ll ask someone else."

Vivienne lowered her eyes again.

Pull yourself together.

Beside her, Claire glanced over with quiet concern.

On Vivienne’s other side, Eleanor noticed the exchange as well.

As the lecture resumed, Eleanor leaned ever so slightly toward Claire.

"Is she all right?"

Claire looked at Vivienne for a brief moment.

Then gave the smallest shake of her head.

"I’ll tell you later."

Eleanor nodded.

She didn’t ask again.

Some things were better left alone until the person involved was ready to talk.

When the lecture finally ended at half past nine, students poured into the corridors once more.

Vivienne slipped her phone from her bag almost without thinking.

She looked at the screen.

Nothing.

Her shoulders sank just a little.

She quietly placed it back inside her bag before following Claire and Eleanor toward their Mathematics class.

The day had barely begun.

And somehow...

It already felt impossibly long.

—

Farther down the corridor, another lecture had just ended.

Damian stepped out into the hallway with Julian and Adrian.

Julian was enthusiastically explaining something from Professor Jennings’ lecture.

"...I’m telling you, if he includes constitutional reform on the preliminary examination—"

He continued talking without pause.

Damian, however, had stopped listening.

His attention had drifted somewhere beyond the passing crowd.

Among the sea of students...

One familiar shade of golden blonde caught his eye almost immediately.

Lady Beaumont.

She was walking between her friends.

Claire and Eleanor.

At first glance...

Nothing seemed unusual.

Then he looked a little longer.

Yesterday, she had been the one wandering every corridor of Millward Hall, peering into classrooms with quiet determination despite how many times she embarrassed herself.

Today...

She wasn’t looking around at all.

If anything...

She seemed to be trying not to...

Whenever groups of students passed by, she unconsciously shifted a little closer to her friends.

Her gaze remained lowered.

The bright, spirited expression she had worn yesterday was nowhere to be found.

Even from this distance...

She looked unusually quiet.

...Almost as though she were trying to make herself disappear.

Damian frowned ever so slightly.

...What happened?

Meanwhile, Adrian who was standing on his side noticed that Damian was no longer listerning to what Julian was saying.

His eyes shifted from Damian to the direction of his gaze.

Across the corridor...

The small group of first-year students disappeared around the corner.

By the time Adrian looked back...

Damian’s expression had already settled into quiet thought.

--

Damian remained standing where he was. He was quieter than usual.

Then, his hand unconsciously brushed against the mobile phone resting inside his pocket.

He had her number now.

The thought surfaced almost on its own.

...Should I send her a message?

His fingers rested there for another brief moment.

Then he quietly shook his head.

What exactly would I say?

The thought disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Damian lowered his hand.

"...Never mind."

Only then did Julian realize he had been talking to someone who hadn’t heard a single word.

"...You weren’t listening, were you?"

Damian blinked.

"...Sorry."

Julian sighed dramatically.

"I knew it."

"You owe me another explanation after class."

Damian smiled faintly.

"Fair enough."

The three of them continued down the corridor together.

Beside them...

Adrian remained silent.

He hadn’t heard what had occupied Damian’s attention.

He wasn’t even certain whom Damian had been looking at.

He only knew one thing.

For a brief moment...

Damian Blackwood had been somewhere else entirely.

And for reasons Adrian couldn’t quite explain...

He quietly tucked that small observation away.

--

To be continued