The wind had a sharp edge that morning, the university courtyard felt different. Amara Rose Malik pulled her jacket tighter it was unusually chilly. She moved through nyc crowd like a ghost, headphones in, music drowning her world, or perhaps protecting her from it and her own thoughts. everyone that passed by her seemed blur and she was blur to them and she liked it that way. she liked being unnoticed and invisible. The thought of being unseen and alone haunted people but not her she found comfort in it, although the thought of getting attention haunted her.
She noticed EVERYTHING. Every detail, every flicker of motion, the cracks in pavement, the way the leaves clung to the tree, the scent of wet earth after rain and also the way her landlords mouth twitched every time he tried to flirt that one she wished she didn't notice, but no one's eyes lingered on her. No one would. That had been a lesson learned long time ago the world barely cared and sometimes it was safer it didn't.
A group of students laughed too loudly nearby, their voices echoing in the empty courtyard. The center of attention was her she and didn't like it. she flinched. she didn't flinch at the laughter, she flinched at the attention it demanded. she excused her it made her feel uneasy, instinctively she started walking faster. she hated being watched, hated the way her pulse betrayed me, hated the way she could hear her heart racing. But today, the universe had other plans.
A collision
It happened so suddenly she didn't have time to react papers tumbled to the ground. Her bag phone and laptop the water bottled in her bag tumbled with the laptop and her laptop was drowning in the water "shit", murmured to self.
"I'm so sorry," he said, voice low, soft. Soft for a man like him. I looked up and then froze.
The man before me had sharp features, his hair was deep, brownish it was loose and unkept as if he'd pushed his hand through it a moment before. It fell just enough over his forehead to cast a shadow across his eyes. EYES that were his most arresting feature. STORM GRAY. COLD.INTENSE. The kind of eyes that didn't look at someone they studied, measured, and memorized. He had sharp jaw that looked like it was going to pierce through your skin if you touched it there was a faint hint of stubble just enough to make him look a little dangerous. His lips stayed neutral most of the time, not smiling, not frowning just watching. He was dressed simply. Dark clothes, fitted jacked, boots that sounded heavy on the floor. No bright colors. Noting about him looked accidental. Everything about him seemed intentional.
He bent slightly, hands gathering the scattered papers. When he looked up at her, his gaze didn't flick away "Amara, right?" my heart skipped a beat. Goosebumps pricked my skin. He knew my name! how did he know my name? we had never met. There was something in the way he said my name not casual, not friendly. Possessive? Maybe. Intriguing? Definitely. Dangerous, certainly. I stepped back, instinct urging to flee "I... I didn't see you," she said.
There was a look on his face it wasn't mocking, not warm something in between. Observant. Calculating "It's fine" he said, but his eyes didn't move. they didn't look away. Amara gathered her things and started walking. All of a sudden she feels his hand pull on her jacket it was him again. ASHER HAYES. It scared her for a moment she was caught off guard "I'm sorry It was not my intention to scare you, You left this book behind" "oh, thankyou" she murmured wanting to walk away. "White night? Dostoevsky." he asked, "Um yeah, it's good" she said softly. "It is. A little sad, but.. good" he observed. Amara nodded quickly, clutching the book a little closer. "I should get going." She stepped back, her eyes flicking away from him, and walks toward the exit gate of the university where her best friend June was waiting for her.
June Harper had a presence that seemed to light up any space she entered. Bright, lively, and effortlessly magnetic, she drew people in without even trying, a stark contrast to Amara's quiet, careful ways. They had been inseparable since high school, bonded over shared lunches, late-night study sessions, and secrets whispered between lockers. June had a rare gift for seeing the best in people, and she had seen something in Amara that most others missed a spark beneath the silence, a depth beneath the guarded exterior. Over the years, June had become more than a friend she was Amara's anchor, the one person who made her feel safe enough to lower her walls, if only for a little while.
Amara kept her gaze low, fingers gripping the strap of her bag as though it could shield her from the world. Her chest still heaved from the collision, the surge of awareness that had flared the moment Asher had spoken her name. she had felt seen, and that feeling was dangerous, she had learned early that being seen made you vulnerable. June called out cheerfully, breaking her spiraling thoughts. "Amara! are you okay? It looks like you ran a marathon babes." Amara forced a smile. "Yeah almost slipped on the wet leaves." her voice sounded distant to her own ear.
They walked together in silence for a few steps, the campus fading behind them, replaced by the familiar streets leading to the dorms. Amara's mind, however, was far from the ordinary chatter of the city. She kept replaying the encounter the way his eyes had drilled into hers, not with curiosity, but with a kind of attention that felt invasive yet magnetic.
Why does he know my name? she thought, the question twisting in her chest.
Why does it feel like he knows me… not just me, but what I feel?
Her hand unconsciously tightened around the book, White Night, holding it like it was going to started running from her hand. She had chosen it because it spoke to loneliness, to quiet observations no one else noticed. She had not expected anyone, especially not him, to comment on it.
"You're quiet today," June said, nudging her shoulder lightly. June nudges Amara after she's visibly tense. "You're quieter than usual. Spill it, or I swear I'll read your journal when you're asleep." Amara's eyes flicked toward her friend she gave a reluctant smile. "I'm… fine. Just tired." She let the words hang there, unsatisfying but unexplainable. June accepted them with a small nod, but Amara knew she had not convinced her. She rarely did.
By the time they reached their dorm building, the sun was setting behind the high rise walls, casting long shadows across the courtyard. She moved quickly, desperate for the sanctuary of her room, her private corner of the world where she could breathe without fear of being observed.
Once inside, she bolted the door behind her and leaned against it, letting the lock's solid click settle some of the tension coiling inside her. Her eyes scanned the room, resting on the small drawer she always kept locked. It held letters, photographs, a journal fragments of a past she rarely revisited. Things that explained why she was so careful, so guarded, so unwilling to let anyone see the real her.
Her gaze lingered there longer than she intended, and for a moment, a flicker of memory stole through her mind. A hand too firm, a voice too loud, a presence that had once made her feel powerless. She swallowed hard, pushing the recollection away.
Not now. Not ever. I can't let anyone get that close again.
And yet, the thought of Asher lingered at the edges of her mind. His attention had been different sharp, deliberate, almost surgical in its intensity. He hadn't just seen her he had noticed her. And that realization of both fear and something unfamiliar stirring within her.
She sat on her bed, hugging her knees, letting the silence of her room envelop her. The book rested beside her, the cover still damp from her hands, a quiet reminder of the world outside her control. She stared at it, wondering what it said about her that she had been caught off guard by a simple comment.
Amara didn't know it yet, but the balance of her carefully constructed life had shifted. One brief encounter, one name spoken softly in the autumn wind, had set something in motion she could neither predict nor control.
She let out a shuddering breath, trying to convince herself it was just another day. That nothing had changed. That she was still invisible.
But the faint impression of storm-gray eyes lingered in her mind. The way he had looked at her. The way he had noticed.
And for the first time in a long time, Amara Rose Malik felt… unsettled.
She heard a knock on her door, Amara opened the door and it was June. "I bought ice cream, I figured you might need it." "oh, what would I do without you." Amara said, as she threw her arms around June. "You wanna talk about it? or do you want to watch dead poets and order in or maybe we could do both." she lets out a soft chuckle at her bestfriends offers "you know me so well, its actually scary"
Amara and June sat on the couch blankets around them and dead poets was on tv that no one was watching "so... what happened?" "it was such a shit day, for starters I slept in and got late for my class and then in noon Professor Arnold assigned us group project and instead of working on the project like we were suppose to they wanted to know about me. Do I have a boyfriend? where am I from. why don't I talk much and hangout with them after class. You would think at collage people would be mature enough to mind there shit but nope" Amara said, as she vented. "you had a day but, there is still something you aren't telling because you were very quiet and almost upset and there is no way you were upset because of assholes in your class." "I bumped into someone." Amara said as she knew her act was not going to June.
"you are upset because you bumped into someone?" "It wasn't just someone. It was Asher Hayes"
"The Asher Hayes, CEO of Hayes Industries, the tech empire everyone wanted a piece of?? what they hell was he doing at your collage." "Apparently the IT program is hosting a startup competition, and a research project he's funding. and not only that for some reason he knew my name too. " "First off all that man is crazy rich he literally saved his grandfathers company from getting bankrupt not only saved it but made an empire out of nothing and secondly, why did he knows your name?" Amara looked at June not knowing answer to that. Just then the bell rings and the food they had ordered twenty minutes ago arrived.
Amara leaned back into the couch, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. The faint hum of the TV filled the room. She traced the rim of her ice cream cup with a finger, her mind wandering back to the campus courtyard, to the way Asher had looked at her the intensity of his gaze, the way he had known her name like it was his to claim.
June nudged her gently, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Hey, snap out of it. You're spiraling already. Eat your food before it gets cold and don't think much about it."
Amara gave a small, half-smile, and nibbled at her food. "I know, I know… it's just he's different. I can't explain it."
June rolled her eyes, though softly, affectionately. "Of course he is. And that's why we're watching this movie. To remind you that not everyone is a storm waiting to ruin your day."
Amara laughed quietly, the tension in her shoulders easing just a little, and for the first time that day, she felt like she could breath.