The day after the Literature Society party, the campus felt smaller.
Lyra moved through it cautiously,bag over one shoulder,notebook clutched like armor. She had learned a lesson,being unnoticed was a luxury she no longer had.Every glance,every whisper,seemed magnified.
"Lyra!"
Talia's voice pulled her attention toward the quad.She turned,half expecting another cheerful distraction,but Talia had a warning in her eyes.
"They're talking about you,"she said softly, tugging Lyra into a shadowed alcove. "Well… kind of....the right kind of people."
Lyra frowned....What do you mean?
Talia glanced over her shoulder,lowering her voice."You know Kael, right?"
Lyra's chest tightened "Yes."
"Well… after the party last night,people are noticing you notice him.Talia made air quotes with her fingers. "Not in a bad way, necessarily. But… eyes on you."
Lyra stared at her notebook,notice,observed,watched.The words repeated themselves,echoing from the mysterious note she had received days before.
She took a deep breath. "I didn't do anything. I left early."
"Exactly!" Talia whispered. "But some people already saw you leave early. And some… well,they noticed you didn't mingle. You're quiet,separate… and he—" Talia's voice faltered for a moment. "He noticed it too."
Lyra's stomach twisted...not danger,not exactly.But a pull she couldn't define, a weight of awareness that followed her across the quad.She didn't like attention. Still,this wasn't bad, she reminded herself. It's just… Kael.
By late afternoon,the whispers had escalated.
Lyra walked the narrow hallway toward the library, hoping to escape,when a group of students clustered near the stairwell.
"She left early from the party,didn't she?" one of them whispered.
She didn't talk to anyone,another said, shaking her head."But… she watched him. She watched Kael Draven."
Lyra's steps faltered,the words weren't loud, but clear enough to reach her.
Watched him.
Her heart skipped.
She could feel eyes on her back not just strangers,but the same quiet awareness she had noticed all week. Subtle,like a shadow brushing past her mind.
Lyra gripped her notebook tighter,she would not show she was shaken.
She kept walking
Later,the library became refuge once again. She picked a secluded corner by the tall shelves,sunlight filtering through dusty windows.Her fingers lingered over her notebook.
She had promised herself she would write tonight.The letters were becoming her anchor, the only way to process everything.
She began:
Dear Stranger,
People are talking,I hear their whispers,I see the glances they try to hide.
You don't need them.I don't need them,I prefer quiet...I prefer invisibility.
Still… I feel you there,watching,not threatening,observing and that scares me more than attention ever could.
Respect my silence....tat is all I ask.
Lyra.
She closed the notebook and exhaled slowly. For a moment, the weight of eyes seemed to lift. Then she felt it again—a faint presence near the doorway.
Lyra didn't turn. She waited, heart steady, for the shadow to move.
And it did.
Kael Draven.
He leaned casually against the doorway, not smiling. Not speaking. Just watching.
"You write to me again," he said softly, voice calm, controlled. "You've improved."
Lyra blinked. "I… I don't write to you."
"Semantics," he replied. "Your words always reach me. That's enough."
A pause stretched between them, filled with quiet tension.
"You're bold," he continued. "Most people avoid my presence entirely. You… do not."
Lyra stiffened, careful not to let herself feel the rush of recognition. "I observe. That's different."
"Not really," Kael said, tilting his head. "Observation requires attention. And attention… carries weight."
She felt it the weight of him,of every eye that lingered on her, of the quiet pull she couldn't ignore.
"I don't want attention," she said finally.
"Then ignore it," he replied simply. "Ignore the rest. Focus on what matters to you."
Her chest tightened. She wanted to argue. To tell him she didn't need advice. But the words died on her tongue.
Instead, she nodded and returned to her seat, pretending he had never spoken.
Later that evening, Talia burst into the room.
"You should have seen the cafeteria today!" she gushed. "Every time Kael walked by, people were staring at you like you'd done something wrong. Or amazing. Or both. You're trending."
Lyra groaned softly. "I'm not… trending. I don't exist."
"You exist to him," Talia corrected. "And now everyone else is catching on."
Lyra sank onto the bed, burying her face in a pillow. I just want quiet, she thought. Why does it always have to matter?
That night, after Talia fell asleep, Lyra sat at her desk. Pen poised. Words spilling onto paper like a confession she didn't dare voice aloud:
Dear Stranger,
I do not want this attention.
Yet it finds me anyway.
I am careful. I am quiet. I am not yours to notice, and I refuse to be anyone's spectacle.
If you truly see me… respect it.
Lyra.
Somewhere in the darkness of the campus, Kael read the letter.
Madame Selvara's voice echoed in his mind.
"You are treading dangerous waters. Observation is one thing. Control is another."
Kael folded the letter carefully, expression unreadable.
"I am not controlling her," he whispered.
"Not yet," Selvara replied.