Chapter 7 — Ordinary Days
1715 Words
By Tuesday morning, Liana had already decided that she needed at least three extra hours every day.
One for studying.
One for sleeping.
And one for simply staring at the ceiling and questioning every decision that had led her to medical school.
She walked across campus with her backpack hanging heavily from one shoulder, her hair pulled into the same messy bun she’d been wearing more often lately.
“Don’t tell me you’re studying while walking again.”
Liana looked up.
Sienna was walking toward her, holding a notebook against her chest.
“I wasn’t studying.”
“You were reading.”
“There’s a difference.”
“Not when you nearly walked into a tree.”
Liana glanced behind her.
She had, in fact, been dangerously close to a tree.
Sienna laughed.
“See?”
“I was distracted.”
“By?”
“My notes.”
“Sure.”
Liana gave her a look.
Sienna smiled innocently.
“I said nothing.”
“You said everything.”
They continued toward the lecture hall.
For a few minutes, they talked about classes, assignments, and an upcoming practical.
Nothing important.
Nothing dramatic.
Just the kind of conversation two friends had when they had known each other long enough that silence never felt uncomfortable.
When they reached the building, Sienna suddenly stopped.
“Oh.”
Liana looked at her.
“What?”
“You’re smiling.”
“I am not.”
“You are.”
Liana touched the corner of her mouth.
“I am literally not.”
Sienna laughed.
“You don’t even know you’re doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Nothing.”
“Sienna.”
“Nothing!”
Liana narrowed her eyes.
But before she could question her further, the lecturer walked in.
Sienna leaned toward her.
“We’ll discuss this later.”
“There is nothing to discuss.”
“Of course.”
Liana shook her head.
She already knew she wasn’t going to win.
Across campus, Ethan was having a very different morning.
Adrian dropped into the seat beside him just before their lecture started.
“You look tired.”
Ethan didn’t look up from his laptop.
“So do you.”
“I look handsome.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Adrian grinned.
“Fair.”
Ethan closed his laptop.
“Did you finish the reading?”
“Absolutely.”
Ethan stared at him.
Adrian stared back.
“No.”
“I knew it.”
“I intended to.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“It does emotionally.”
Ethan laughed under his breath.
Adrian noticed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“That.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You laughed.”
“I laugh.”
“Not like that.”
Ethan rolled his eyes.
Adrian leaned closer.
“So…”
“No.”
“I haven’t asked anything.”
“I know what you’re going to ask.”
“You’re becoming predictable.”
“And you’re becoming annoying.”
“I’ve always been annoying.”
“That is true.”
Adrian smiled.
“I’m glad you’re settling in.”
Ethan’s expression softened slightly.
“Me too.”
And he meant it.
Ravencrest wasn’t what he had expected.
He had expected the usual things—the whispers, the attention, the constant curiosity that came with being associated with the Sterling name.
But here, nobody knew.
Nobody watched him because of his family.
Nobody cared what his father owned.
Nobody wanted something from him.
Here, he was just Ethan.
And, surprisingly, he was beginning to like that.
Liana met Ethan at the library later that afternoon.
This time, neither of them had to arrange it through messages.
It had simply become understood.
Library.
After lectures.
Work on the project.
She arrived to find him already there.
“You’re late.”
She looked at the clock.
“I’m two minutes late.”
“Still late.”
“You’re early.”
“Also true.”
She sat down.
“What did you find?”
Ethan turned his laptop toward her.
“I found three independent studies that challenge some of the conclusions we found yesterday.”
Liana leaned closer.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
She read through the first one.
“This is good.”
“I thought so.”
She opened the second.
“And this one talks about privacy.”
“Which fits our social impact section.”
She nodded.
They worked.
For nearly an hour, the only sounds around them were keyboards, turning pages, and the occasional quiet cough from another student.
Then Liana looked up.
“Do you ever get bored?”
Ethan stopped typing.
“Of what?”
“This.”
He glanced at the screen.
“The project?”
“Studying.”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“Fine. Often.”
She laughed.
“I knew it.”
“You don’t?”
“Of course I do.”
“What do you do when you get bored?”
Liana thought about it.
“Depends.”
“On?”
“How bored I am.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It can be.”
He smiled.
“What about you?”
“When I’m bored?”
“Yeah.”
“I go for a drive.”
Liana raised an eyebrow.
“A drive?”
“Sometimes.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
She looked at him curiously.
“You’re very vague.”
“You ask very specific questions.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
She shook her head.
“Fine.”
They returned to the project.
A few minutes later, Ethan spoke again.
“You should take a break.”
“I am taking a break.”
“You’ve been staring at that article for twenty minutes.”
“I was thinking.”
“You were frowning.”
“That’s how I think.”
He smiled.
“Right.”
Liana tried not to smile back.
She failed.
Later that evening, they left the library together.
The sun had already begun to disappear behind the university buildings, leaving the campus covered in soft golden light.
Students moved around them in every direction.
Some were heading toward the cafeteria.
Others were carrying books back to their dorms.
A group of students was laughing loudly near the fountain.
For once, Liana wasn’t thinking about the next lecture.
She wasn’t thinking about her uncle.
She wasn’t thinking about the letter hidden in her room.
She wasn’t even thinking about the future.
She was just walking.
And talking.
“So,” Ethan said, “you really don’t have anything you do for fun?”
“I have fun.”
“When?”
“Occasionally.”
“That wasn’t convincing.”
Liana laughed.
“Okay. I watch movies.”
“What kind?”
“Depends on my mood.”
“That’s another vague answer.”
“You started it.”
“Fair.”
She looked at him.
“What about you?”
“I read.”
“Business books?”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
He nodded.
“I like history.”
Liana looked surprised.
“I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“Why?”
“You don’t seem like someone who reads history.”
“What does someone who reads history look like?”
She thought for a moment.
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.”
She smiled.
They walked a little farther.
Then Liana noticed something.
A black luxury car had pulled up near the main entrance.
Ethan glanced toward it.
For just a second, his expression changed.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
Something closer to recognition.
Then he looked away.
Liana followed his gaze.
“Do you know that car?”
Ethan paused.
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
She looked at him.
He smiled lightly.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She wasn’t convinced.
But she didn’t press.
They continued walking.
That night, Ethan sat alone in his dorm room.
His phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
Another message.
We need confirmation that you’re safe.
He stared at it.
Then typed:
I’m fine.
A second message arrived.
Your mother asked if you’re eating properly.
Ethan smiled despite himself.
He typed:
Tell her I’m alive.
The response came almost immediately.
She knows you’re alive. She’s worried you’re surviving on coffee.
Ethan laughed quietly.
His mother knew him too well.
He put the phone down.
For a moment, he thought about calling.
He almost did.
Then he remembered why he had come here.
Not because he hated home.
Not because he hated his family.
Quite the opposite.
He loved them.
But he needed this.
A life where nobody knew his surname.
A life where people could meet him without already deciding who he was.
A life where friendships weren’t transactions.
His phone buzzed again.
This time, it was Adrian.
You alive?
Ethan replied:
Unfortunately.
Three dots appeared.
Good. I need someone to suffer through tomorrow’s lecture with me.
Ethan smiled.
See you tomorrow.
He put the phone aside.
Outside, campus was quiet.
For the first time in a long time, his life felt strangely normal.
Across campus, Liana was lying on her bed with her mother’s letter safely tucked away in the drawer beside her.
She hadn’t read it again.
Not yet.
But she thought about it sometimes.
More often than she wanted to admit.
There were questions she wasn’t ready to ask.
Questions about her parents.
Questions about her uncle.
Questions about what her mother had meant when she’d written that there were things that belonged to her.
But tonight, those thoughts stayed quiet.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Sienna.
Did you survive today?
Liana smiled.
Barely.
Another message came.
Good. I need you alive. I have gossip.
Liana laughed.
Of course you do.
She put her phone down.
Tomorrow would bring another lecture.
Another assignment.
Another long day.
Maybe another hour in the library with Ethan.
Nothing extraordinary.
Nothing that would make anyone else remember the day.
But sometimes, Liana was beginning to understand that ordinary days were the ones that quietly changed everything.
And she had no idea that some of the people she was beginning to trust were carrying secrets far bigger than she could imagine.
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