HE SAID I WAS JUST A BET

Chapter 97: The Edge Of Trust

Maria tried to convince herself that what happened in the library meant nothing. A nod wasn’t a promise, wasn’t proof, wasn’t enough to erase the doubts in her chest. But the truth was stubborn—she’d felt it. The calm in Daniel’s eyes, the patience in his silence, had stirred something she couldn’t push away.

The next day in Literature class, Mr. Tunde handed out an assignment: Write a short essay analyzing trust in any story you’ve read this term.

Maria nearly laughed at the irony. Trust. The very thing she was running from.

She bent her head over the page, pen poised, but her mind betrayed her again. Instead of writing about Shakespeare or Achebe, her thoughts tangled around Daniel. The way he used to play with people’s feelings, the way he used to make her angry, the way he was now… different. Was it change, or just another layer of his endless games?

Her pen hovered over the paper, and for a moment, she almost wrote his name.

“Stuck?” a low voice asked.

She looked up. Daniel had slipped into the seat beside hers, far too close. Mr. Tunde was distracted with another student, so Daniel leaned in just slightly, enough for her to hear without anyone noticing.

“Funny assignment,” he murmured, eyes flicking to her blank page. “Trust. Seems like the universe is talking to you.”

Maria’s pulse thudded. She tried to glare but her hand trembled against the desk. “Don’t flatter yourself. Not everything is about you.”

His lips curved into the faintest smile, not his usual cocky grin, but something gentler. “Maybe not. But you can’t deny you’re thinking about me.”

Her heart skipped. He didn’t push further; he didn’t laugh at her reaction. He simply leaned back, letting his words hang in the air like smoke she couldn’t clear.

For the rest of class, Maria’s page remained half-empty. The only word she’d managed to write at the top was trust.