The school smelled of disinfectant and chalk dust, the lingering residue of tired afternoons that clung to corridors long after the last bell rang. It was a place suspended in repetition and routine, designed to contain noise and movement, a space where nothing dramatic was meant to happen and almost nothing ever did.
Jaden paused just inside the entrance and let the doors close behind him with deliberate softness. He adjusted the collar of his coat, not because it was necessary, but because the gesture appeared natural and habitual, the kind of unconscious movement that suggested comfort rather than intrusion. He looked like a man who belonged everywhere without needing to announce it. Tall and well groomed, restrained in a way that drew attention precisely because it did not demand it,
