By the time Ava left the studio, the campus had begun to quiet down.
The rush from earlier had faded, leaving only scattered groups of students making their way back to their hostels or toward the main road. The evening air had cooled slightly, and Ava pulled her bag higher onto her shoulder as she walked.
She had already read Ethan’s message.
She had already stared at it long enough to know that reading it again wasn’t going to change anything.
Sorry, can’t make it. Something came up.
She slipped her phone back into her bag.She was annoyed. Not angry enough to call him and demand an explanation, but annoyed enough that she didn’t feel like giving him the satisfaction of pretending everything was fine.
She had waited.
That was the part she kept coming back to. She could understand p
