Part3
1415 Words
Class was almost over, and students had already started gathering their things. Anna suddenly stood up after checking her phone.
“I’ll go downstairs, Eva texted me.”
As soon as she left, Mia started packing her notebooks.
Then David placed his elbow on the desk next to her.
“Do you always talk like that?”
Mia looked at him.
“Like what?”
“About saving people.”
Mia shrugged.
“Maybe.”
David stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then he said in a low voice:
“You’re not like most people at this university.”
Mia zipped her bag and replied in a cold tone:
“Is that a compliment?”
David gave a light laugh.
“Maybe.”
“Then it didn’t come out very well.”
She was about to stand up and leave, but David spoke again.
“People don’t usually defend themselves like you do.”
Mia looked at him sharply.
“People usually don’t ask girls that many questions.”
The last students were also leaving the lecture hall. The projector was off, and the room had become half-dark.
David leaned back in his chair.
“I just wanted to talk.”
“I don’t.”
Mia picked up her notebooks and walked past him. But David’s voice followed her again.
“Why are you so angry?”
Mia stopped.
She slowly turned back.
“Maybe it depends on the person.”
“So it’s my fault?”
“You know the answer.”
David also stood up. There were almost no people left in the lecture hall.
“What did I even do to you?”
Mia put her bag over her shoulder.
“Nothing. It’s just that our personalities don’t match.”
“You’re very sure about that.”
“Because we’ve been in the same class for a year.”
David nodded with a light laugh.
“True. But in that one year, I can’t remember a single normal conversation with you.”
“Maybe there’s a reason.”
“Like what?”
Mia stayed silent for a moment, then said in a cold tone:
“You act like you’re above everyone else.”
David slightly raised his eyebrows.
“Do I really look like that?”
“Not ‘look like.’”
Laughter was heard from the corridor. Mia walked toward the door.
David said from behind her:
“Fine, at least today you didn’t completely ignore me.”
Mia didn’t stop.
“Don’t get used to it.”
As Mia and Anna walked down the stairs, the corridor filled with noise again. Someone was laughing, someone was talking on the phone, and others were rushing to their next class.
Anna looked at Mia and laughed.
“So you fought with David again?”
“I didn’t fight.”
“Yeah right, your ‘normal talking’ looks like that,” Anna laughed.
Mia rolled her eyes.
“He tries too hard to look smart.”
“Because he is smart.”
“Anna.”
“What? Everyone in the course knows it. He even won the investor project last semester.”
Mia said nothing. She knew that. In the university, almost everyone had heard David Carter’s name. Even professors saw him differently.
When they reached the lower floor, the smell of coffee came from the cafeteria. Anna suddenly stopped.
“If I don’t drink an Ice Latte, I’ll die. Do you want one too?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? With your current mood, you need at least two.”
Anna laughed and walked toward the cafeteria.
Mia stood by the wide corridor window.
Outside, university life continued. A large, modern campus—marble pathways, glass buildings, tall-columned lecture blocks. Students were everywhere: some rushing to the library, some coming out of the gym, others studying on the open lawn.
The green areas were extremely clean, almost perfect. Every corner looked organized, as if every detail had been carefully planned. Even the trees seemed planted in straight lines, and the paths never led astray.
Everyone in their own rhythm.
Everyone in their own world.
Mia stood there, leaning against the window in silence.
Life at the university felt lighter for her than at home. At least here, breathing felt easier. No one monitored every step she took or every word she said.
But the weight inside her still didn’t go away.
The pressure from home wasn’t here.
But its traces were.
As if something had moved from there to here and hadn’t stayed behind—it had followed her inside.
Even among people, Mia often felt like she didn’t belong.
Laughter was heard, conversations continued, life went on.
But she felt like she couldn’t join them from within.
Even sitting among others, loneliness still existed.
And the worst part—it felt like no one would ever understand it.
She looked at her reflection in the window.
Outside, everything looked normal.
Inside, something was pressing.
And she couldn’t explain it to anyone.
At that moment, David slowly came down the stairs again, walking firmly toward Mia.
Mia watched him anxiously. There was an expression on her face as if her patience was running out.
“Please…” she said in a colder tone. “I’m not in the mood to talk or argue with you right now.”
David stepped forward.
“Do you always do this?” he said in a colder tone.
“What?”
“You act like you’re above everyone, and then complain that no one understands you.”
That sentence hung heavily in the air.
Mia slowly turned.
“What did you say?”
David didn’t look away.
“The truth. You don’t let people get close to you, and then you say you’re lonely.”
Mia laughed, but it was a very cold laugh.
“So now you’re analyzing me?”
“I’m just seeing it.”
“No, you’re judging me.”
David slightly lowered his head.
“Maybe you think you’re too important.”
That sentence suddenly silenced Mia.
Her eyes turned cold.
“What did you say?”
David didn’t lower his voice.
“You’re making everything revolve around yourself. As if everyone should understand your mood and adapt to your situation.”
Mia stepped closer.
“You don’t know me, so don’t adapt to my situation or my mood, and don’t care about it. Just leave me alone.”
Anna stopped on her way out of the cafeteria, the coffee in her hand almost forgotten.
Mia lowered her voice, but her anger was still clear:
“You are too overconfident.”
David shrugged.
“I at least don’t hide myself.”
That hurt Mia even more.
She stayed silent for a second, then said in a cold tone:
“Great. So you’re perfect.”
David gave a short laugh.
“I didn’t say I’m perfect. I just don’t swallow everything like you do.”
Mia looked away.
For a moment, she couldn’t find words.
Then only one sentence came out:
“You don’t understand me at all.”
David replied very calmly:
“Maybe you don’t even want to be understood.”
That sentence broke something inside Mia.
She said nothing.
She just held her bag tightly and walked away quickly.
After Mia left, silence stretched through the corridor. Anna had watched their argument from start to finish.
David was still standing there, slightly frozen, his face still heavy with emotion.
Anna slowly walked up to him.
“Wow…” she said quietly. “You really hurt her.”
David looked at her but said nothing.
Anna stayed silent for a moment, then shrugged.
Silence.
Anna softened a little, then said in a firm tone:
“Listen. If you want to make up for it… come to ‘Campus Live Club’ tonight.”
David raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
Anna continued, calm but confident:
“We’re going there too.”
“Is Mia going to the club?”
Anna stared at him.
Then she stepped closer and lowered her voice, firmly:
“Look at me.”
David looked at her.
Anna lowered her phone.
“Do you know who is standing in front of you?”
David stayed silent.
Anna gave a slight smile.
“I can handle everything. Don’t worry about the rest.”
Then she returned to her normal tone:
“You’re coming tonight. We’ll be there.”
David suddenly replied with a half-laugh:
“Alright.”
- Writer
