His Forbidden Obsession

Almost Normal

(Clara)

I tried to tell myself that I was fine.

That was the stupid lie I had been clinging to for a week now. I couldn’t study at home anymore because it just reminded me of how I moaned into his mouth all those nights ago. It was as if his scent was still lingering.

Ethan had invited me to study with him at the library and honestly, I could use the distraction and the sense of normalcy but even that seemed like I was reaching out too far.

I had been staring at the same page of my textbook for what felt like the hundredth time. The words had blurred together, from muscle pathways to nerve pathways and blood supply but none of it stuck. My own hovered over the pages, unmoving like my brain had decided to shut down on its own.

I took in a deep breath and pressed the tip of the pen further into my book.

“Focus,” I whispered to myself .

This is what I came for. Not him.

I needed to focus to at least get some approval from my father. I had ranked 7th in the school placement during my entry but my father wasn’t satisfied. As long as the 1st wasn’t occupied by someone who had the Stone name, my father would not be happy.

I need to finally push this away and focus.

A chair scraped lightly across the floor in front of me.

“You’ve been on that same page for ten minutes.”

I blinked, lifting my head to find Ethan sliding into the seat across from me, a coffee cup in one hand and his usual easy expression on his face.

“I have not,” I said automatically.

He raised a brow. “You underlined the same sentence three times.”

I looked down on the page to see that he wasn’t wrong.

A small, embarrassed laugh slipped out of me as I dropped my pen. “Okay… maybe I’m a little distracted.”

“A little?” he echoed, amused. “That’s generous.”

I sighed, leaning back in my chair. “It’s just… a lot. First week, new environment, new expectations.”

He nodded like he understood. And maybe he did too. He was in the same class as me after all.

“Yeah,” he said, resting his elbow on the table. “I get that. Everyone here acts like they have it all together, but trust me—they don’t.”

“That’s comforting,” I muttered.

“It should be,” he said with a grin. “We’re all barely holding it together. Some of us just hide it better.”

I smiled despite the chaos in my head.

There was something about Ethan that made things feel… simpler. Lighter. Like I didn’t have to be on edge every second.

Not like when Callum was around.

I cut the thought off before it could fully form.

“You’re doing it again,” he said.

“Doing what?”

“Disappearing,” he replied, tapping the table lightly. “Where do you go when you zone out like that?”

I hesitated for a second.

Nowhere I should be.

“Just thinking,” I said instead, picking up my pen again. “Trying to get everything to stick.”

He studied me for a moment, like he didn’t fully believe me, but he didn’t push.

“Alright,” he said, leaning back. “Then let’s make it stick.”

I frowned slightly. “What?”

He reached across the table and flipped my notebook toward himself. “You explain it to me. Teaching helps. Forces your brain to actually process it.”

I stared at him.

“You’re serious?”

“Very,” he said. “Go on. Impress me.”

I rolled my eyes, but a small smile tugged at my lips.

“Fine,” I said, sitting up straighter. “But if I get it wrong, you’re not allowed to judge me.”

“No promises.”

I shook my head, then glanced down at the page, forcing my brain to engage.

“Okay… so the muscle we’re looking at here is—”

I started slowly, uncertain at first, but as I kept going, something happened.

The fog in my head began to clear.

Ethan listened, nodding occasionally, correcting me when I slipped, asking questions that made me think deeper instead of just memorizing and for a moment…

It felt normal.

It was like this was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Not tangled in something complicated.

Not caught between what I wanted and what I knew I shouldn’t.

For now, I was just a student figuring things out.

“See?” Ethan said after a while. “You actually know your stuff.”

I let out a small breath. “Barely.”

“Not barely,” he said. “You just don’t trust yourself yet.”

His words lingered longer than they should have.

Maybe he was right.

Or maybe I just didn’t trust myself when it came to certain things.

My fingers tightened slightly around my pen.

“Hey.” He said.

I looked up.

“You’re drifting again,” he said softly.

I huffed out a quiet laugh. “Am I that obvious?”

“Only to someone paying attention.” He replied with a kind smile.

There was something in the way he said it that made my chest tighten just a little.

I looked away first.

“Maybe I just need sleep,” I said.

“Or a break,” he countered. “You’ve been here for hours.”

“I just got here.” I argued.

“Clara.” He called.

I sighed. “Okay, fine. Maybe I’ve been here longer than I realized.”

“Exactly,” he said, standing up and grabbing his coffee. “Come on.”

“Where?” I asked in confusion

“Anywhere that isn’t this table,” he replied. “You need air.”

“I should stay and study.” I tried to argue but he wasn’t having it.

“You will,” he said easily. “Just not right now.”

I hesitated for a while because I knew I should stay and focus.

I shouldn’t……

“Come on,” he said again, softer this time.

And for reasons I didn’t want to examine too closely…

I nodded.

“Okay.” I finally agreed.

The air outside was cooler than I expected.

I inhaled deeply as we stepped out of the building, the tight pressure in my chest easing just a little.

Students passed by in small groups, laughing, talking, living their lives like this place wasn’t constantly threatening to swallow them whole.

“How does it feel?” Ethan asked.

“Like I can breathe again,” I admitted.

“Told you.”

We walked slowly across campus, no real destination in mind.

For once, I wasn’t rushing. Not thinking about the next class, the next assignment, the next expectation.

Just… walking.

“So,” Ethan said after a moment. “Why medicine?”

I glanced at him.

“Big question.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But I’m curious.”

I thought about it for a second.

“It’s always been the plan,” I said finally. “My dad’s a surgeon. My brother too. It’s just… what we do.”

“And what you want?” he asked.

The question caught me off guard.

I frowned slightly. “It is what I want.”

“Sounds like what you’ve been told to want.”

I opened my mouth to respond… then stopped.

Because I didn’t have an immediate answer.

“I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “Maybe it started that way. But somewhere along the line… it became mine too.”

He nodded like that made sense.

“I get that,” he said. “For me, it was different.”

“How so?”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “No family legacy. No pressure. Just… something I chose.”

“That must be nice,” I murmured.

“It has its downsides,” he said with a small shrug. “No one to fall back on if I screw up.”

“You won’t,” I said without thinking.

He glanced at me, a faint smile on his lips. “You sound pretty sure.”

“I am,” I replied. “You don’t seem like the type to fail.”

He let out a quiet laugh. “Good to know you have that much faith in me.”

I smiled slightly.

It felt… easy.

Talking to him. Walking like this. Not overthinking every word, every movement.

Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.