The realization stayed with me for days.
Quiet.
Heavy.
Impossible to ignore once it appeared.
I tried pretending nothing had changed.
I went to class. Came back to the dorm. Answered Chloe when she talked to me. Ignored Ryan’s messages.
Normal.
Everything looked normal from the outside.
But internally, I felt completely thrown off balance.
Because every time Ethan crossed my mind now, my chest reacted before my brain could.
And that terrified me.
I didn’t want this.
I didn’t want to be the girl who suddenly developed feelings for someone just because they were kind to her for a week.
That sounded pathetic.
Embarrassing.
And worse—confusing.
Because I still couldn’t pinpoint when things changed.
Was it the lake?
The hot chocolate?
The way he always noticed when I was upse
