CHAPTER FIVE — Close Quarters
1567 Words
The next morning, the sun hadn’t even reached the academy grounds when Elior was already awake. Her muscles ached from the training drills, but she refused to lie in bed. She had learned something yesterday: standing still got you nowhere.
Cassian, of course, was already up. She could hear the sound of him moving around his side of the room, with his boots scraping the floor. He had the discipline of someone born to rule this place or maybe someone who feared losing control.
Elior dressed quickly, trying to ignore the way her hands trembled. She had only been here for one day, and already her life felt like walking on a tight rope above a pit of unknown dangers.
She opened the door and stepped into the hallway. It smelled of polished wood and sweat, as usual. Elior kept her head low, clutching her bag tightly.
Then she felt it: a pair of eyes on her.
Cassian.
He wasn’t standing by the room. He had silently followed her, keeping just far enough away to seem casual. But she could feel his presence. That magnetic pull that made her heart thump in her chest, the same pull she had tried to ignore yesterday.
“Morning,” she said softly, trying to keep her voice steady.
He didn’t answer. Not immediately. He walked beside her, tall, broad, and unapproachable, yet somehow… aware.
“You always don’t speak much,” she finally said, testing the silence.
Cassian’s lips twitched. “I’m not here to make friends,” he said flatly.
Elior suppressed a sigh. Of course not. Why would he want a friend from a double room disaster?
They arrived at the dining hall, and the chaos of breakfast hit her immediately. Plates clattered, boys argued over the last pieces of bread, someone shouted about an unfair duel yesterday. Elior’s stomach twisted. She wasn’t used to this kind of noise but she was already getting used to it.
She sat by herself for breakfast and Remy came to sit next to her.
“ Hey man” Remy was such a happy soul unlike the rest of them, he went in for a handshake.
“ Hi Re- * clears throat * I’m sorry, Hi Remy” Elroi said in a deeper tone than the first.
“ Are you okay, your voice seemed weird”
Elroi gasped in shock wondering if Remy had caught her off guard. “ I have a cold” she mumbles
“ Oh sorry man. You should go to the school’s nurse. I’m sure he can help.”
“I will, thanks” Elior said, still trying to stuff food in her mouth to wave off the awkwardness.
“ We need to leave, class starts in 5 minutes.” Remy said, as he wiped his mouth with his napkin.
“Sure, let’s go.”Elior says in an attempt to stand up from her seat.
Classes were worse. Elior’s heart hammered every time she walked into a room, every time Cassian’s shadow fell beside her. She had always been careful to stay invisible. But here, invisibility was dangerous. Drawing no attention meant weakness. She had to act confident.
During their first lecture for the day, A boy leaned back in his chair, smirking, and whispered to another. “Look at him… that new kid thinks he belongs here.”
Elior tensed. She wasn’t going to back down. Not anymore. She glanced at Cassian, who was watching the smug boy, a thin line of irritation at his lips.
Elior felt something stir inside her. She stood a little taller, her shoulders straight and her eyes forward. When the boy tried to nudge her off her chair with his elbow, she didn’t flinch. She caught his wrist and gently twisted it behind him.
He yelped. A few boys gasped. Cassian’s head snapped toward her.
“Careful,” he muttered under his breath, though there was a flicker of something else in his eyes. Approval? Surprise?She couldn’t tell.
The boy backed off, rubbing his wrist. “We’ll see about you later,” he hissed.
Elior swallowed hard. She had no idea what she had just done. But for the first time, she realized she could fight, even subtly, without revealing her secret.
Cassian leaned close again when the class ended, voice barely above a whisper. “Not bad. But don’t get cocky. You’re still under my radar.”
Her pulse jumped. “Your… radar?”
He smirked faintly. “Just don’t forget. I notice things.”
Elior’s stomach did flips. She tried to hide it, but she knew he could see. He always saw.
Later that evening, Cassian had assigned a small “dorm task” for them ,reorganizing their shared space. A simple enough task, but he made it clear he wanted it done perfectly.
As they worked side by side, Elior noticed the way Cassian’s presence made her body tense, but also sharpened her focus. Every movement mattered. Every glance could mean danger.
“Don’t stand there,” he said sharply as she hesitated with a stack of books. “Move them in order. Now.”
“Yes,” she muttered, her tone teasingly formal without meaning to.
He froze, one brow raised. “What was that?”
Elior shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Just… speaking.”
Cassian’s lips twitched. He shook his head and returned to stacking books, but the faintest smirk lingered on his face.
The tension between them had changed. Yesterday, it had been annoyance. Today… there was something else. Something unspoken.
Cassian, who had never been gentle, now allowed a small proximity, a brush of hands, that made her pulse race and knees weak. He had drawn close, and yet he kept his usual walls.
He couldn’t be gay. Not him. Yet there was a gravitational pull between them he could not deny.
Later, as Elior lay in bed, the day’s events replayed in her mind. She had surprised everyone today, stood up to the bullies, and showed a quiet strength that wasn’t supposed to exist in a “new kid.”
Cassian had noticed. That much was obvious. But it wasn’t admiration. Not exactly. He was calculating, observing, guarding… and yet, every glance lingered a moment too long. Every tone of voice carried a trace of curiosity.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.
Cassian’s voice called softly, almost reluctantly. “Elior… wait.”
She froze.
He appeared in the doorway,with his hands in his pockets and his posture rigid. His eyes were dark and unreadable. “Don’t… think I don’t notice how you handled yourself today,” he said.
Elior swallowed. “I… just didn’t want to look weak.”
He stepped closer, just a fraction, and she felt the heat of his presence wash over her. “Weakness gets people hurt here,” he said quietly. “I… I can’t have you getting hurt.”
Her breath caught. There was something in his voice, something she couldn’t place. A warning? A promise?
Elior found herself inching back. “I… I can take care of myself, I am a man just like you. ,” she said in a rather hoarse tone.
He paused, eyes locked on hers. For a moment, the air between them felt electric, impossible.
Cassian snapped back. “ A weak one, you only managed to show off a little muscle, let’s see how you can go in the coming days.”
“You… you’re not like the others,” he said finally, voice low, almost a growl. “And it’s… distracting.”
Her stomach twisted. Distracting? For him?
He turned sharply, as if scolding himself for even saying it. “Forget I said that,” he muttered, with his voice clipped.
He left her there and walked through the hallways. “ I’ve been in this academy all my life, I have never been with a female before and I am very sure I am not attracted to men, some of the guys in the academy are gay but I know I don’t fall under that category.”
“ But, why do I feel drawn to this particular guy?” Cassian had so many questions that he had no answer to.
Elior stayed awake long after he left. The way he looked at her, the way his voice had shifted… it was like a blade, sharp, dangerous, impossible to ignore. And yet… she didn’t know if it was warning her or confessing something he would never admit.
Outside, the wind rattled the old windows of the dorm. Shadows crept along the walls.
And somewhere in the academy, watching, waiting… the principal’s gaze fell on her. Cassian’s father, the man whose influence had brought her here, who had orchestrated the danger she didn’t fully understand yet…
Elior didn’t know it. But the tension she felt between Cassian, the boys, and the invisible forces around her was only beginning.
Tomorrow, nothing would be the same.
Because she had proven she was not weak.
And Cassian… was beginning to realize she was more than just “another boy.”
But the thought of attraction, forbidden and unspoken, terrified him. He had rules. He had pride. He could not fall for a boy. Not him.
And yet…
Somewhere deep inside, he was already losing the fight.
He cannot be gay, but he is already feeling the pull.
- Writer
