Things He Shouldn’t Have Said
471 Words
Chapter Five: Things He Shouldn’t Have Said
The next morning, Layla couldn’t stop replaying his words in her head.
> “Because I don’t want to.”
It wasn’t romantic. It wasn’t even gentle.
It was a confession laced with warning — and something darker beneath.
She told herself it meant nothing. He was her professor. She was just a student with a fascination for broken things.
But her heart didn’t listen.
---
She saw him again three days later.
It was supposed to be an ordinary Thursday lecture. He walked in five minutes late, eyes darker than usual, jaw tense, sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms like he couldn’t stand the feel of fabric on skin.
He didn’t greet the class. Didn’t smile. Just picked up the marker and wrote on the board in hard, deliberate strokes:
“EVERYONE HIDES SOMETHING.”
Then he turned and looked directly at her.
No one noticed.
But she felt it.
That stare that stripped her down to thoughts she hadn’t even had yet.
---
After class, Layla waited until the room cleared out.
He didn’t move.
Just stood at the desk, flipping through a book that didn’t need flipping.
“You okay?” she asked.
Cole glanced up. “Are you asking as a student?”
“No,” she said quietly. “As a person.”
That made him pause.
He closed the book slowly.
Then said something he shouldn’t have.
> “I lost someone once.”
She blinked. “Who?”
He looked past her like he saw a different time.
> “A student. She trusted me. I let her down.”
The silence hit hard.
Layla stepped closer. “Was it your fault?”
He hesitated.
> “Depends on who you ask.”
Her voice was barely a whisper. “Who do you ask?”
Cole looked at her like she was the question he’d been avoiding his whole life.
> “I ask myself every damn day.”
---
That should’ve been the end.
But he didn’t leave. And neither did she.
They stood there, staring at each other, two people held together by tension and truth.
Then, softly, he added:
> “This is a line, Layla. And you’re standing on it.”
She swallowed.
“I know.”
> “Then walk away.”
She didn’t.
- Writer
