THE ICE KING WANT ME BACK.

Chapter 7: The First Clue.

She pulled the curtain back just enough to keep watching.

"Someone just got out."

Without another word, Ethan ended the call.

A minute later, her phone rang again.

"I'm coming over."

"Ethan, you don't have to—"

"I do."

"This isn't your fight anymore."

His answer came without hesitation.

"It became my fight the moment someone threatened you."

She closed her eyes.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened five years ago."

"No."

His voice was calm but unwavering.

"But I won't stand by and lose you a second time."

The words caught her off guard. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Lena glanced through the window again.The SUV was pulling away from the curb. Its taillights disappeared into the evening traffic.

She finally let out the breath she had been holding.

"I think they're gone."

"I'm still coming."

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on her apartment door.

Lena checked the peephole.

It was Ethan. She unlocked the door and stepped aside. As he entered, he looked around the apartment before meeting her eyes.

"From now on," he said quietly, "we stop investigating this alone."

Lena nodded. For the first time since their paths crossed again, she realized this mystery was bigger than either of them had imagined.

Outside, several streets away, the black SUV stopped beneath the shadow of an office building.

The driver picked up a phone.

"They're together now," he said.

A calm voice answered from the other end.

"I expected that."

"What are your orders?"

There was a brief pause.Then the voice replied,

"Move to the next phase."

The call ended. The driver started the engine.

Somewhere in the darkness, a plan that had begun five years earlier was beginning again.

….

The coffee had long since gone cold.

Lena sat at her kitchen table, staring at the anonymous photograph on her phone while Ethan stood by the window, watching the quiet street below. The black SUV had disappeared nearly an hour ago, but neither of them believed the danger had passed.

Finally, Ethan turned away from the window.

"I don't think they'll come back tonight."

Lena gave a tired smile.

"I wish I believed that."

He walked into the kitchen and picked up the coffee pot.

"Would you like another cup?"

She nodded.

"I don't think either of us is getting much sleep."

A few minutes later, they sat across from each other with fresh mugs of coffee between them.For the first time since reconnecting, the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was thoughtful.

Ethan reached for a notepad lying on the counter.

"If we're going to figure this out, we need to stop chasing memories."

Lena watched as he uncapped a pen.

"What do you have in mind?"

"A timeline."

He drew a straight line across the page.

"Everything we know. Nothing we assume."

Lena leaned forward.

"That's actually a good idea."

Ethan wrote the first entry.

Five years ago—Father suffers a heart attack.

"That was the night before graduation," he said.

Lena nodded.

"The next morning, you left campus."

He added another note. Leaves university before graduation ceremony.

"Then I gave Daniel the letter."

Lena spoke quietly.

"And Daniel said he would deliver it."

Ethan wrote it down before looking at her.

"Your turn."

She thought for a moment.

"I waited for you after the ceremony."

He wrote again.

Lena searches campus for Ethan.

"I never received a phone call."

"I made three."

"I never received a text."

"I sent seven."

"I never received a letter."

"I wrote one."

The room fell silent.

Each new line on the page made the mystery more difficult to explain. Lena picked up the notepad and read everything again.

"It doesn't make sense."

"No."

She placed it back on the table.

"Too many things had to go wrong."

"Or..."

Ethan met her eyes.

"...someone made sure they did."

Neither of them spoke.

For years, they had blamed fate.

Now it seemed increasingly likely that another person had been quietly shaping their lives.Lena looked at the photograph they had found earlier that afternoon.Professor Adrian Wells stood in the background, almost unnoticed.

"So where do we start?"

Ethan followed her gaze.

"Professor Wells."

"He was respected by everyone."

"I know."

"He helped me get my first internship."

"And he pushed me to keep playing hockey when I wanted to quit."

Lena frowned.

"Which makes this even harder to believe."

She stood and walked toward the window.

The city lights stretched across the skyline, bright against the night.

"If he's involved, I want proof."

"So do I."

She turned back toward Ethan.

"No more guessing."

"No more assumptions," he agreed.

"We follow the evidence."

Ethan smiled faintly.

"It sounds like something a journalist would say."

"It is."

She picked up her phone and opened the university website.

"The administration offices open at nine tomorrow morning."

"Then that's where we'll be."

Lena closed the website and slipped her phone into her pocket.

For the first time since Ethan had returned to her life, they weren't looking backward with regret.

They were moving forward with purpose.

If Professor Adrian Wells was hiding the truth, tomorrow would be the beginning of finding it.

And if he wasn't...

Then somewhere on that campus, the first real clue was waiting for them.

…..

The following morning, New York University looked almost exactly as Lena remembered.

Students hurried across the campus with backpacks slung over their shoulders, coffee cups in hand, and headphones blocking out the noise of the city. Their laughter drifted through the cool morning air, carrying a sense of normalcy that felt strangely distant to Lena.

"So much has changed," she said quietly.

Ethan glanced around the familiar walkways.

"And somehow nothing has."

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Five years ago, they had walked these same paths together, making plans for a future they believed was certain.

Now they had returned, searching for the truth about the day everything fell apart.

They entered the administration building.

A middle-aged woman behind the reception desk greeted them with a warm smile.

"Good morning. Can I help you?"

Lena stepped forward.

"We're looking for Professor Adrian Wells."

The woman's smile softened.

"I'm afraid you're a little late."

Lena exchanged a glance with Ethan.

"What do you mean?"

"Professor Wells retired two years ago."

The answer caught them both by surprise.

"Do you know where we can find him?" Ethan asked.

"I'm sorry. The university doesn't share personal information about retired staff."

Lena nodded politely, though disappointment settled over her.

"I understand."

As they turned to leave, another voice called from farther down the hallway.

"Lena Brooks?"

She looked back.

An older woman with silver hair was walking toward them, carrying a stack of folders.

She smiled as she came closer.

"I thought it was you."

Lena searched her face before recognition finally came.

"Mrs. Henderson?"

"The very same."

She laughed warmly.

"I worked as Professor Wells' secretary for nearly twenty years."

"It's good to see you again."

"And you too, Ethan."

Ethan smiled.

"It's been a long time."

Mrs. Henderson looked at both of them with curiosity.

"What brings you back to campus?"

Lena hesitated.

"We're trying to understand something that happened before graduation."

Mrs. Henderson's expression grew thoughtful.

"Professor Wells always cared deeply about his students."

"Did he keep records?" Lena asked.

"Oh, yes."

She nodded.

"He wrote everything down."

"What kind of records?"

"Appointments, meetings, student notes... sometimes even personal observations if he believed they would help a student later."

Lena felt her pulse quicken.

"Are those records still here?"

"Most of them."

Mrs. Henderson adjusted the folders in her arms.

"After Professor Wells retired, several boxes from his office were donated to the university archives."

Ethan looked at Lena.

The same thought crossed both their minds.

The answers they were searching for might still be inside those boxes.

Mrs. Henderson smiled.

"The archives are in the library's lower level."

She paused as though trying to remember something.

"I believe one of Professor Wells' appointment journals was never removed from the collection."

Lena's eyes widened.

"An appointment journal?"

Mrs. Henderson nodded.

"If it's still there, it may tell you who met with him during his final years at the university."

Lena thanked her sincerely.

As she and Ethan hurried toward the library, hope began to replace frustration.

For the first time since reopening the mystery, they weren't chasing fading memories.

They were about to examine evidence that had been waiting quietly on campus for five years.

……

The university library was as quiet as Lena remembered.

Rows of tall bookshelves stretched across the room, while students sat at long wooden tables, absorbed in laptops and textbooks. At the far end of the building, a sign pointed toward the archives.

A librarian looked up as Lena and Ethan approached the desk.

"Good morning," Lena said. "We're looking for the university archives."

The librarian smiled politely.

"Research project?"

"In a way," Lena replied.

"We're former students. Professor Adrian Wells' former secretary told us some of his records were donated here."

The librarian adjusted her glasses.

"They were."

"Would it be possible to look through them?"

She studied them for a moment before asking, "Do you know what you're looking for?"

"His appointment journals," Ethan answered.

The librarian nodded.

"Those are restricted materials, but former students may request access if the research concerns university history."

She handed Lena a short request form.

It took only a few minutes to complete.

After checking their identification, the librarian led them downstairs to a temperature-controlled archive room lined with gray metal shelves.

"Professor Wells' collection is over there," she said, pointing toward several neatly labeled boxes.

"If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you," Lena said.

As the librarian walked away, Ethan let out a slow breath.

"I didn't expect there to be this much."

"There must be twenty boxes."

They started with the appointment journals.

Most contained ordinary entries—faculty meetings, student counseling sessions, and conference schedules.

Lena carefully turned another page.

"Nothing."

Ethan opened a second journal.

"Wait."

His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I think I found something."

Lena hurried to his side.

He pointed to an entry written in neat blue ink.

May 18 — 10:30 a.m.

Meeting with D.F. regarding Ethan Carter.

Lena felt her heart begin to race.

"D.F."

"Daniel Foster," Ethan said quietly.

She read the line again.

There was no mistake.

Professor Wells had arranged a private meeting with Daniel on the very morning Ethan left the university.

"But why?" Lena asked.

Ethan slowly shook his head.

"I never told Professor Wells about the letter."

"And Daniel never mentioned meeting him."

Lena turned the page, hoping to find more.

Instead, she was to see several pages had been torn cleanly from the journal. The missing paper left only rough edges near the binding. Someone hadn't simply removed a note.They had removed an entire section.

Ethan looked around the archive room.

"That wasn't an accident."

"No."

Lena carefully closed the journal.

"Someone wanted those pages to disappear."

A sudden feeling settled over both of them.They weren't uncovering forgotten history anymore.Someone had already been here.Someone had known exactly which pages mattered. And someone had gone to great lengths to make sure the truth stayed hidden.