Chapter 12 — The Side No One Talks About
1280 Words
It didn’t happen all at once.
That’s what stayed with me later.
Not the moment itself—
but how normal everything felt before it shifted.
The evening had settled quietly over campus. Not empty, just slower. The kind of calm that comes when most people are already leaving, conversations thinning out, footsteps less rushed.
I wasn’t in a hurry.
I had taken a different path again.
Not to avoid him this time.
Just… to think.
That was becoming a habit.
I walked past the side of the main building, toward a quieter stretch that led behind the lecture halls. Fewer people here. Less noise. The kind of place where you could hear your own thoughts a little too clearly.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice them immediately.
Two guys standing near the corner.
Not blocking the path.
Not doing anything obvious.
Just… there.
I would have walked past them without thinking—
if one of them hadn’t stepped slightly into my way.
“Hey.”
I stopped.
Not because I wanted to.
Because it was easier than pretending I hadn’t heard him.
“Yes?”
The other one looked me over briefly, then back at his friend.
“This is her,” he said.
Something about that made my chest tighten slightly.
“Excuse me?”
The first one smiled.
Not friendly.
Just… knowing.
“You’ve been around Jace,” he said.
Not a question.
Of course.
It was never a question anymore.
“I don’t think that concerns you,” I replied.
I kept my voice steady.
Didn’t give them anything more than necessary.
It should have ended there.
It didn’t.
“You should be careful,” the second one added.
His tone wasn’t like Olivia’s.
Not like Amelia’s.
This wasn’t a warning.
It felt more like… pressure.
“I’ve heard that already,” I said.
“Then you’re not listening.”
“That’s not your problem.”
The first one stepped closer.
Too close.
Not enough to touch.
Just enough to make it uncomfortable.
“It becomes our problem if you make it one,” he said.
My fingers tightened slightly around my bag.
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It will.”
I exhaled slowly.
“Look, I don’t know what you think this is, but—”
“You don’t need to know,” he cut in. “You just need to stay where you belong.”
That did it.
Something shifted.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
Just… irritation.
Sharp.
Clear.
“And where exactly is that?” I asked.
He smiled again.
“Not near him.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Unnecessary.
I could feel it now.
This wasn’t random.
This wasn’t casual.
This was something else.
Something connected.
“I’ll decide that,” I said.
“No,” the second one replied quietly.
“You won’t.”
The air changed.
Not loudly.
Not in a way anyone passing by would notice.
Just enough.
Enough for something in me to go still.
Then—
a voice.
Behind them.
“Move.”
It wasn’t raised.
It didn’t need to be.
Both of them froze.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to show they had heard it the way I did.
Clearly.
Slowly, they stepped aside.
And then I saw him.
Jace.
Standing a few steps behind them.
Not rushing.
Not tense.
Just… there.
But something was different.
Not in the way he stood.
In the way the space around him felt.
Quieter.
Heavier.
Like everything had shifted slightly out of place to make room for him.
His gaze moved to me first.
Quick.
Checking.
Then back to them.
“You shouldn’t be here,” one of them said.
Jace didn’t respond to that.
He stepped forward once.
That was enough.
The first guy straightened slightly.
Not confident anymore.
Just… trying to hold something in place.
“This isn’t your business,” he added.
Jace’s expression didn’t change.
“It is now.”
His voice was low.
Controlled.
But there was something under it this time.
Something sharper.
Something that didn’t need to be loud to be understood.
The second guy let out a small breath.
“This is exactly why people talk,” he said.
Jace stopped a few steps away from them.
Close enough now.
Too close.
“They talk anyway,” he replied.
That wasn’t the point.
Everyone knew that.
But no one said it.
“Walk away,” Jace added.
Simple.
Clear.
Final.
For a second, it looked like they might argue.
Push back.
Say something else.
They didn’t.
The first one glanced at me once.
Then back at Jace.
Something unreadable passed between them.
Then—
they stepped back.
Not quickly.
Not dramatically.
Just… enough.
“We’ll leave it,” one of them said.
Jace didn’t respond.
Didn’t move.
Didn’t need to.
They turned.
Walked away.
And just like that—
the tension broke.
Not completely.
But enough for the air to feel like it belonged to the space again.
I exhaled slowly.
I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Jace’s gaze shifted back to me.
Softer now.
But not completely.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he said.
The words sounded familiar.
But they felt different this time.
“I could say the same thing,” I replied.
“That’s not the same.”
“It never is with you.”
A faint shift in his expression.
Not quite a smile.
But close.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
The question caught me off guard.
Not because of the words.
Because of how he said them.
Quieter.
Careful.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“You’re not.”
“That’s becoming your favorite line.”
“It’s usually accurate.”
I looked at him for a moment.
Longer than I meant to.
Because now—
I saw it.
Not just the calm.
Not just the control.
Something else.
Something underneath it.
Something that explained why people warned me without explaining anything at all.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said.
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
A pause.
Then—
“Because they don’t know when to stop.”
That wasn’t what I meant.
“You know that’s not what I’m asking.”
“I know.”
“Then answer me.”
He didn’t.
Not immediately.
Instead, he looked at me in a way that felt… different.
Less distant.
More real.
“Because it was you,” he said finally.
The words were simple.
But they didn’t feel simple.
They settled somewhere deeper than I expected.
And that—
that was the problem.
Because now it wasn’t just tension.
It wasn’t just curiosity.
It was something else.
Something that made it harder to ignore everything I had been told.
“You said you were dangerous,” I said quietly.
“I am.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“It should bother you.”
It did.
But not in the way it was supposed to.
I looked away for a second.
Just to think.
Just to steady something that was already shifting again.
Then back at him.
“It doesn’t,” I admitted.
The words came out softer than I expected.
More honest than I intended.
Something in his expression changed.
Not surprise.
Not confusion.
Just… understanding.
“That’s the problem,” he said quietly.
I knew.
I already knew.
And somehow—
that made it worse.
Because now there was no distance left to hide behind.
No uncertainty.
Just a truth I wasn’t ready to accept.
I had seen the side of him people warned me about.
And instead of walking away—
I stayed.
- Writer
