Tatie’s POV
Tatie returned to her dorm with a better mood. The hallway, always a little too quiet, did not seem so dreary today. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, and the thin carpet muffled her steps, but there was a lightness in her stride she hadn’t felt in days. Even with two sketches due by the end of the week and three quizzes lined up for the next, she felt good. She had every reason to feel overwhelmed, but all the stress sat quietly at the back of her mind, muffled by something warmer.
That hug. That simple, grounding hug from Kyler.
She still felt it, lingering like warmth from a sunlit bench after sunset. It had been brief and quiet, not one of those dramatic embraces people shared in movies, but there was something in the way he held her that felt careful and certain.
