Meilin's POV
Today felt strange from the start. Like one of those days where the air tastes sweeter, the breeze carries something electric, and your heart knows something is coming before your brain catches up.
Because today, Theo didn't come to the second-year law class.
And neither did Austin.
Which meant… Ava and I had to return the favor.
"You're insane," Ava muttered under her breath, clutching her bag like a shield. "Third-year political science? They're going to eat us alive in there."
"They won't," I replied with a smirk. "I'm just here to take my pen back."
She narrowed her eyes. "You dressed up to take your pen back?"
I adjusted my sleek ponytail and brushed invisible lint off my blazer. "Coincidence."
The hallway leading to the political science lecture room was loud. Noisy. Crowded. Then suddenly…silent. As we stepped in, heads turned like we were celebrities crashing a press conference.
Someone actually gasped.
Whispers exploded.
"Isn't that Meilin Chen? From second year law?"
"What the hell is she doing here—"
"Bro, that's the girl with Theo from the video!"
A few phones were already out. Flashing cameras. TikTok whispers. Hashtags being born in real time.
And then we saw them—Theo and Austin, relaxed in the back row, like they owned the place. Which, to be fair, they sort of did.
I walked down the aisle, heels clicking confidently. I didn't hesitate, didn't flinch. I just…sat down next to him. Calmly. Smoothly. As if I belonged there.
His brows lifted in surprise, but his lips curled into a familiar smirk.
"Didn't expect you in my class, firecracker," he murmured, voice like smoke and sin.
"I came for my pen," I said, lifting an eyebrow.
He reached into his bag and pulled it out—black gel pen, still capped. "All this chaos… for this?"
"I was missing it." I took the pen and tucked it into my pocket. "And maybe…" I tilted my head, "I missed you too."
Cameras clicked. Phones shook. I swear someone whispered "They're in love" like they were narrating a K-drama.
Theo leaned closer, draping his arm around my shoulder like it was his seat, not mine. The warmth of him flooded into me, that familiar scent—clean, spicy, no trace of cigarettes anymore.
"You're in my territory now," he said, low in my ear. "You sure you can handle it?"
I looked up at him, calm and steady. "I handled you, didn't I?"
Austin let out a loud "OH MY GOD," collapsing dramatically on his desk.
Ava snorted beside me. "My eyes. My pure, innocent eyes."
"I feel sick," Austin added. "I can't—this is too much. Let me leave."
The professor walked in, paused, looked at us—and just sighed. "Let's get started, shall we?"
But everyone else?
Everyone else was watching us.
Phones up. Mouths open. Whispers flying.
And me?
I just leaned into Theo's shoulder and smiled.
---
I barely made it three steps outside the classroom before a hand slipped into mine—warm, calloused, familiar—and tugged me around the corner of the building, behind the ivy-covered stone wall that separated the lecture hall from the old rose garden.
"Theo—what—" I started.
But he already had me caged.
Back against the wall. One hand still holding mine. The other braced just above my head. His body was close. Too close. Close enough for his scent to hit me first—cologne, sweat, and something darker. Something that made me forget what I was about to say.
He just looked at me for a second, like he was trying to calm the fire building behind those stormy eyes.
"What the hell was that?" he asked finally.
I blinked. "You mean me coming to your class?"
"I mean you sitting next to me like that. In front of everyone." His voice dropped. "Do you have any idea how close I was to kissing you right there in front of every damn person in that room?"
My breath caught.
"The whispers," I said, trying to play it cool. "The stares. The phones. It didn't bother you?"
"I don't give a damn about the whispers," he growled. "They've always talked. They talked when I was a mess, when I smoked too much and partied harder. They talked when I changed. They talked when you came into my life. They'll never stop talking."
He stepped closer.
"But if you're going to sit next to me like that—look at me like that—" his eyes dropped to my lips, "you better be ready for what happens next."
I swallowed hard. "And what happens next?"
Theo tilted his head, eyes scanning mine. "You tell me."
Silence.
Only the distant sound of students spilling out of classrooms. The whisper of the breeze rustling the trees.
"I—" I hesitated, because my chest was too full of butterflies and the stupidest smile I couldn't hide.
But then I looked at him.
Tattooed, pierced, the most beautiful chaos I'd ever met. Changed. Grown. Still rough around the edges, but softer where it counted.
I stepped forward until my forehead touched his chest.
He exhaled slowly. Like he'd been holding his breath for weeks.
"I don't care what they say," I mumbled. "I just wanted to be near you."
He cupped my jaw, thumb brushing my cheek, his voice suddenly softer than ever.
"You are near me. Too near." His smile curved, playful and dangerous. "Might need to skip my next class just to survive this."
I looked up at him. "You're in third-year political science. Shouldn't you be more focused on your major?"
He leaned in, eyes gleaming.
"You're the only subject I care about."
---
Theo's hand was still on my face, thumb tracing lazy, reverent circles against my cheek. My forehead rested on his chest, his heartbeat pounding loud and fast, matching mine.
Then I heard it. Barely a whisper. Like he was afraid to say it too loud.
"I love you."
My head snapped up. His gaze was already waiting—clear, steady, the most serious I'd ever seen him.
"I love you, Meilin," he said again. "I know I'm a mess. I know I took forever. But I swear, every damn day I see you, I feel like I get a little less lost."
My lips parted. I didn't know I was crying until he reached up and brushed a tear away with the softest touch.
"I wasn't planning to say it here," he admitted, laughing under his breath. "But then you showed up to my class like you belonged next to me, and I—God, I couldn't hold it in."
I grabbed the front of his hoodie and pulled him down, my voice trembling with the weight of everything I'd held in since the first time he looked at me like I mattered.
"I love you too," I breathed.
His eyes closed for a second like those words broke him in the best way.
And then he kissed me.
God, he kissed me like he was starving. Like he'd been waiting a whole year and finally found the thing he'd been aching for.
His lips were warm, soft, but demanding. One hand in my hair, the other holding my waist like I might vanish if he let go. And I kissed him back with everything I had. No more pretending. No more hiding.
When we pulled apart, both breathless, he grinned.
"Officially mine now?"
I nodded, dazed. "Only if I'm officially yours."
He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Already was."