Chapter 5-THINGS THAT DON’T FOLLOW RULES
1162 Words
Theresa didn’t sleep well that night.
Not because she was scared.
She hated that word.
It wasn’t fear.
It was awareness.
The kind that stayed even when you closed your eyes.
The kind that replayed conversations you didn’t ask for.
“You are an interruption.”
She turned in bed sharply.
“No,” she whispered into the dark. “That’s not normal.”
But her mind didn’t agree with her.
It kept reconstructing him.
The way he stood.
The way he spoke like he didn’t waste words on guessing.
The way he looked at her like she was already placed inside a system she didn’t know existed.
Theresa sat up.
“This is stupid,” she said out loud.
From the corner of her room, Tessa stirred.
“Theresa,” Tessa groaned. “It’s like 2 a.m.”
“I can’t sleep.”
Tessa turned over. “Why?”
Theresa hesitated.
Because saying it made it real.
“I keep thinking about him.”
Silence.
Then Tessa sat up slowly.
“…Of course you do,” she said flatly.
Theresa frowned. “That’s not helpful.”
Tessa rubbed her face. “Theresa, you met a rich psycho twice in two days and he talks to you like you’re a case study. Of course your brain is stuck.”
“He’s not a psycho,” Theresa muttered.
Tessa stared at her. “That was too fast.”
Theresa paused.
Tessa narrowed her eyes. “You defended him too fast.”
Theresa looked away. “I didn’t defend him.”
Tessa sighed. “You’re in trouble.”
“I’m not in anything.”
Tessa lay back down. “Then stop thinking about him at 2 a.m.”
Theresa didn’t answer.
Because she couldn’t.
⸻
The next morning, campus felt louder than usual.
Or maybe she was just noticing more than she should.
Theresa kept her head down as she walked.
She told herself she wouldn’t look for him.
That was important.
Not looking meant control.
But control was starting to feel like something she was pretending to have.
“Theresa,” Tessa said, catching up with her. “You’re going to be late.”
“I know.”
Tessa studied her face. “You didn’t sleep.”
“I did.”
Tessa raised an eyebrow. “That was a lie again.”
Theresa exhaled. “Can we not talk about this?”
Tessa slowed down. “We can’t not talk about this.”
Theresa stopped walking.
“Why?”
Tessa faced her fully now. “Because you’re acting different.”
“I’m not.”
“You are,” Tessa said firmly. “Since him.”
Theresa looked away. “It’s nothing.”
Tessa stepped closer. “Then why does it feel like you’re waiting for him to show up again?”
Theresa froze slightly.
Because that was exactly what it felt like.
And she hated that Tessa noticed it before she admitted it.
“I’m not waiting,” Theresa said quietly.
Tessa didn’t believe her.
But she didn’t push further.
Not yet.
⸻
He did not appear in the morning.
That should have been reassuring.
It wasn’t.
Because absence felt intentional now.
Like silence after a question that hadn’t been answered.
Theresa made it through her lectures.
Barely.
Her notes were messy.
Her focus worse.
Every time a door opened, her attention snapped toward it before she could stop herself.
“That’s ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath during break.
A girl beside her looked over. “What is?”
“Nothing.”
But her body stayed alert anyway.
Like it was expecting something it refused to explain.
Then it happened.
Not at campus this time.
Not at first.
Later.
At a place she definitely should not have seen him again.
A small private café near campus.
She only went there because Tessa dragged her.
“Just sit,” Tessa said. “You need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’re thinking too much.”
“I’m not.”
Tessa pushed her into a chair. “Sit.”
Theresa obeyed reluctantly.
And that was when she felt it again.
That shift.
The air changing before the sight confirmed it.
Her body went still.
Tessa noticed instantly. “What now?”
Theresa didn’t answer.
Because across the café—
Adrian Vale was sitting.
Alone.
Calm.
Like he had always been there.
Tessa followed her gaze and froze. “Oh no.”
Theresa whispered, “You said this wasn’t happening again.”
Tessa hissed, “I didn’t summon him, I swear.”
Adrian looked up.
And saw her immediately.
Of course he did.
Theresa stood up halfway.
“No,” she said under her breath. “No, I’m not doing this again.”
Tessa grabbed her wrist. “Theresa, don’t—”
But Adrian was already standing.
Slowly.
Like he had all the time in the world.
He walked toward them.
The café didn’t react like a normal place would.
People didn’t whisper.
They didn’t point.
They just… adjusted.
Like they knew better than to interrupt something they didn’t understand.
He stopped in front of her table.
Theresa didn’t sit back down.
Neither did he ask her to.
“You came here,” he said.
Theresa blinked. “Excuse me?”
His gaze stayed steady. “You chose this place.”
Theresa scoffed lightly. “You think I came here because of you?”
A pause.
“I didn’t say that,” he replied.
Tessa looked between them. “Okay, I am officially confused. Why are you everywhere she goes?”
Adrian didn’t look at Tessa.
Not even briefly.
“You didn’t leave,” he said again to Theresa.
Theresa’s jaw tightened. “Stop saying that like it means something.”
“It does,” he said simply.
Theresa exhaled sharply. “No, it doesn’t.”
A pause.
Then Adrian said quietly,
“It means you are still here.”
Theresa frowned. “Yes. I already told you that.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“And yet,” he said, “you keep appearing in my attention.”
Silence.
Tessa blinked. “What does that mean?”
Theresa didn’t answer.
Because she didn’t understand it either.
But Adrian did not look confused.
He looked certain.
Like he had just confirmed something.
He stepped back slightly.
“You are repeating,” he said.
Theresa narrowed her eyes. “Repeating what?”
His gaze held hers.
“Your pattern.”
Then he turned.
And left the café like he hadn’t just rewritten her entire sense of normal.
Tessa grabbed Theresa immediately. “Okay. We are done. We are leaving. We are blocking him from reality.”
Theresa didn’t move.
Her voice came out low.
“He thinks I’m predictable.”
Tessa frowned. “And are you?”
Theresa didn’t answer.
Because for the first time…
she wasn’t sure she wanted to be unpredictable.
Not if it meant he would keep noticing her.
- Writer
