A Love Meant To Be

Chapter 20

The cafeteria buzzed with its usual midday chaos—trays clattering, friends chatting over half-eaten bowls of ramen, someone in the far corner shouting across tables about a deadline they forgot. The windows rattled every time the wind pressed against them, and the scent of fried rice and cheap coffee clung to the air like a second skin.

Ryan sat at the edge of a corner table, a fork twirling slowly in his noodles, half-listening to the hum of voices and the occasional clang of dishes. Eli sat across from him, animated as ever, gesturing with his chopsticks while retelling some absurd incident from their literature class.

"And then—get this—he says 'unreliable narrator', but the man hasn’t updated the syllabus since last semester! Isn’t that irony? Or just tragic comedy?"

Ryan raised a brow but said nothing. His attention was split—part of him following Eli’s rant, part of him listening for footsteps.

They came a minute later.

Raya arrived with her tray—vegetable soup, rice, and something wrapped in tinfoil. She looked a little tired still, but better. Her hair was down today, tucked loosely behind her ears, and her eyes scanned the room before locking onto their table.

Ryan straightened almost imperceptibly. Just enough for Eli to notice.

“Well, well,” Eli whispered, grinning. “Firefly joins the flame.”

Raya sat beside Ryan, placing her tray down with care. “What’s burning?”

“Only our professor’s credibility,” Eli said cheerfully. “You missed a literary roast this morning.”

“I was catching up on reading,” she said, then glanced at Ryan. “Thanks… for the food. The other day.”

Ryan nodded.

Eli looked between them, fork paused mid-air. “Wait. What?”

Ryan didn’t answer. But the silence said enough.

“Oh, this is better than fanfiction,” Eli declared, leaning in. “Should I excuse myself or continue narrating your romantic slow burn in real time?”

Raya groaned and reached for her soup. “Please don’t.”

“You’re no fun when you’re recovering.”

“She fainted, Eli,” Ryan said flatly, side-eyeing him.

“Exactly. Now’s the perfect time for soft gestures, forehead touches, spoon-feeding—”

“Shut up,” both Ryan and Raya said at once.

Their eyes met for a beat too long.

Eli clapped once, mockingly. “A duet. Precious.”

Ryan stabbed a piece of tofu with unnecessary force. “Don’t you have an essay to write?”

“Don’t you have emotions to process?”

Raya choked on her soup. Ryan reached for her water instinctively but she waved him off, cheeks slightly red.

“I’m fine,” she muttered.

The table fell quiet for a moment—just the noise of the cafeteria filling in the gaps.

Then Eli leaned back with a smug grin. “This is my favorite meal in weeks.”

Tessa came rushing in through the wide cafeteria entrance, practically jogging between tables, her expression a mix of panic and frustration.

“There you are!” she called out, eyes locking on them like a heat-seeking missile. “Have any of you seen my laptop?”

Eli paused mid-chew. “Uh… what?”

“I left it at the library,” Tessa said, breathless, both hands flying up in exasperation. “Literally five minutes. I went to the restroom. My books, bag, charger—everything else was still there. But my laptop? Gone.”

Raya immediately straightened, her relaxed posture forgotten. “Gone? As in—gone gone?”

“I checked the help desk. I even searched under tables. It’s not there.” Tessa looked like she was trying very hard not to cry or combust. “Everything I’ve worked on since midterms is in that laptop.”

Ryan was already setting aside his tray, eyes sharpening. “Okay. We’re going to the library.”

“Right now?” Eli asked, eyes wide.

“Right now,” Raya said firmly, standing too.

Tessa exhaled, looking at all of them like they’d just pulled her out of a burning building. “Thank you. Seriously. I’m losing my mind.”

Eli grabbed his drink with a grimace. “We were having a moment with our lunch, but fine. Friendship crisis mode: activated.”

Raya offered Tessa a small smile. “Hey, if someone took it, we’ll find them.”

“And if not,” Ryan added, “we’ll make them regret it.”

Without another word, the four of them gathered their things and hurried toward the library, the weight of the missing laptop hanging heavily in the air.

The automatic doors whooshed open as the four of them stepped into the library, the air cooler and quieter than it had been just an hour ago. Rows of tall shelves stood like sentinels, casting long shadows from the soft overhead lighting. Students whispered in corners, pages turned, and keyboards clicked in a steady rhythm.

Tessa led the way, her pace brisk and her eyes scanning every table like she was on a mission—because she was.

“There,” she said sharply, pointing to the spot where she’d been earlier.

Her tote bag still sat beside the chair, books neatly stacked, charger coiled just like she left it.

And resting awkwardly at an angle on top of her notebook, as if it had just been placed there, was her laptop.

Tessa’s fingers trembled slightly as she reached for the laptop. The way it sat there—too neatly angled—felt off, like a stranger’s signature left behind.

“…That wasn’t there before,” she whispered.

“Definitely not,” Raya murmured.

Eli leaned in, squinting. “That looks staged.”

Ryan stepped forward slowly, eyes narrowed. “Someone took it… and then put it back.”

Tessa didn’t hesitate. She moved to her chair and snatched up the laptop, her fingers flying across the keys as she powered it up. Her breath caught for a second—but the desktop blinked on normally. No files gone. No new folders. Nothing moved.

She opened her documents. Her projects. Her notes.

“It’s all here,” she said, blinking. “Nothing’s missing.”

“Check your browser history,” Ryan muttered, crossing his arms.

“Already on it.” Tessa clicked through tabs with practiced speed. After a long beat, she looked up. “Everything’s… untouched.”

The silence between them tightened.

“That’s worse, right?” Eli said, frowning. “Like, if someone steals it, you get mad. But if they steal it and bring it back without doing anything—that’s... creepy.”

Raya hugged her arms, unease flickering in her chest. “Maybe they panicked and returned it?”

“Maybe,” Ryan said softly, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Tessa sat back in the chair, staring at the screen like it might still bite. “This is weird. Super weird.”

“And weird things don’t just happen randomly,” Ryan added, his voice low.

The four of them stood there for a few more moments—quietly staring at the innocent-looking laptop like it might start talking.

The rain hadn’t let up. If anything, it had gotten worse—its steady rhythm now drummed insistently on the library’s glass windows and tin roof, blurring the outside world into watercolor grays.

The group had pushed the strange laptop incident aside—for now. They had promised to do a group study session for the upcoming quiz, and distraction was, perhaps, the best medicine.

They settled into their usual cozy corner in the campus library’s upper floor—round table, slightly wobbly, surrounded by beanbags and mismatched chairs. The lights above were warm, the scent of old books and fresh paper filling the air.

Tessa was curled up in her seat like a cat, her laptop now firmly under her arm like she might never let it go again. Eli sprawled beside her, notes spread haphazardly, offering sarcastic commentary on every question he read out.

Raya sat opposite Ryan. She looked more like herself now—alert, pen in hand, a faint line of focus between her brows as she studied her highlighted pages.

It was warm, it was messy, and it was perfect.

Midway through a discussion on literary modernism, a student from another department walked in—a tall, well-dressed guy with charming confidence and a coffee in each hand. He scanned the tables before heading toward them.

"Raya, right?" he asked, offering a friendly smile. "You left your draft poems in the seminar room the other day. I was going to drop them at the office, but I figured I’d give them to you in person."

He handed her a folder and the spare coffee. "Also, thanks for your feedback last month. It really helped."

Raya blinked. "Oh. Um. Right. Thank you. That was nice of you."

Ryan stared at the guy. Not hostile. But not friendly, either.

The stranger gave a little wave to the rest, then walked off.

Tessa smirked. "New fan?"

Raya made a face. "He’s just someone from the lit club."

"Mhm," Eli added, raising an eyebrow at Ryan. "Bet he likes indie boy playlists too."

Ryan didn’t react. But his pencil snapped clean in half.