COLD UNTIL YOU

CHAPTER 2: THE ASSIGNMENT

Two weeks later, in Literature class, Professor Lane announced the mid-term assignment: an analytical paper on the themes of love and betrayal. Each student would be paired randomly. When the list appeared on the board, Eliana’s stomach tightened. Her name sat beside Adrian Cole’s. The room buzzed with quiet laughter and sympathetic whispers. Adrian didn’t react.

After class she approached his desk. “Hi,” she began softly, “it looks like we’re partners.”

He looked up, pen motionless in his hand. “So it seems,” he said.

“Maybe we could meet after classes at the library?”

A pause. Then he nodded once. “Fine. Don’t be late.”

Their first meeting felt like pulling words from stone. He worked efficiently, answering her gentle questions with curt replies. Yet as the days passed, something subtle changed. Eliana’s patience drew him out. He noticed how she thought carefully before she spoke, how she smiled without needing a reason.

One evening a storm knocked out the library’s power. They sat together under the weak glow of an emergency lamp. She hummed to fill the silence. “You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” he teased.

“Only of long silences,” she said with a nervous laugh.

He surprised himself by smiling. It was small and fleeting, but it felt real. When he walked her home afterward, the rain had stopped and the air smelled of wet leaves. “You did good work today,” he said before turning away. The words replayed in her chest all night.