The Last Semester Between Us

Ignored Rumors

📖Chapter Eleven

Ignored Rumors

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The rumours started on a Tuesday.

Amara didn’t even know exactly when.

One minute everything was normal—library meetings, fieldwork planning, shared notes—and the next minute people were smiling at her differently.

Not kindly.

Knowingly.

She noticed the first sign outside the Faculty building.

Two girls from Political Science were whispering as she walked past. They stopped mid-sentence when they saw her looking.

Then one of them smiled.

Not politely.

Suspiciously.

Amara ignored it.

Coincidence, she told herself.

Until it happened again.

And again.

And again.

By the time she entered the library that afternoon, she already knew something had changed.

“Okay,” Tina said immediately.

Amara froze halfway to the chair opposite her.

“What?”

Tina leaned back dramatically.

“So you’re not going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

Tina stared at her.

Then she lowered her voice.

“You and Daniel.”

Amara blinked.

“What about me and Daniel?”

Tina’s expression said everything.

Amara dropped her bag slowly onto the chair.

“There is no ‘me and Daniel.’”

“Mhm.”

“Tina.”

“Mhm.”

Amara sighed.

“We’re working on a project.”

“Yes,” Tina said sweetly. “And apparently walking everywhere together. Studying together. Leaving class together. Eating together.”

“That is because of the project.”

“Sure.”

Amara opened her notebook.

“Tina.”

“Yes?”

“We are not dating.”

Tina grinned.

“I didn’t say you were.”

Amara stared at her.

“You implied it.”

“I implied nothing,” Tina said innocently.

Before Amara could respond, another voice joined them.

“I implied it.”

Amara didn’t need to turn around to recognize that voice.

Ify.

Of course.

She walked toward their table with the calm confidence of someone who already knew she was bringing trouble with her.

“I just came from the department office,” Ify said casually, dropping her bag onto the chair beside them. “Your names are being mentioned together more than the project topic.”

Amara closed her notebook slowly.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” Ify asked lightly.

“Yes.”

“If you say so.”

Tina looked like she was trying not to laugh.

Amara ignored both of them.

“It’s group work,” she repeated.

“If it was only group work,” Ify said, “people wouldn’t be talking.”

Amara felt irritation rise in her chest.

“People talk about everything.”

“Yes,” Ify agreed easily. “But not like this.”

Before Amara could respond, someone pulled the chair opposite her.

Daniel.

He sat down like nothing unusual was happening.

“Did I miss something?”

“Yes,” Tina said immediately. “Your relationship announcement.”

Daniel blinked once.

“My what?”

“Campus says congratulations,” Tina continued.

Daniel looked confused.

Then he looked at Amara.

Then back at Tina.

“I don’t understand.”

Ify laughed softly.

“That’s because you haven’t been paying attention.”

“To what?”

“To the fact that the entire department thinks you and Amara are dating.”

Daniel stared at her.

For a moment, he didn’t react at all.

Then—

unexpectedly—

he smiled.

Not embarrassed.

Not defensive.

Just… amused.

“That explains a lot,” he said quietly.

Amara turned toward him immediately.

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” Daniel replied calmly, opening his notebook, “people like stories.”

“That is not a story,” Amara said quickly.

“It’s definitely a story,” Tina corrected.

“It’s not true.”

Daniel looked at her again.

This time his expression was different.

Quieter.

Softer.

“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”

Something about the way he said it made her chest tighten unexpectedly.

Before she could figure out why, Ify spoke again.

“You know,” she said thoughtfully, “sometimes rumours start because people notice things before the people involved do.”

Silence settled over the table.

Amara looked down at her notebook.

Then at her pen.

Then anywhere except Daniel.

Because suddenly—

for the first time since the rumours started—

she wasn’t completely sure what people were noticing.

And that uncertainty followed her long after they left the library together later that evening.

Exactly the way everyone expected them to.