The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the tall windows lining the Crestwood University hallway, casting long, muted shadows on the polished floors. The air was thick with the familiar hum of student chatter, footsteps echoing off the lockers, and the occasional slam of a classroom door closing behind a departing group. It was that chaotic in-between time when classes were shifting and the campus seemed to pulse with restless energy—some students laughing loudly as they made plans for the weekend, others hurrying past with textbooks clutched tightly, eyes fixed on their phones.

"Hey, isn't that Evren Luxford? He's back," your friend said, nodding subtly toward the crowd gathered near the entrance to the engineering building.

You glanced over and caught sight of him almost immediately. Evren was exactly how you remembered—tall, effortlessly confident, with that familiar smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. He was surrounded by a group of friends and a few girls who seemed drawn to his magnetic presence. His black hair caught the light, and those sharp gray eyes scanned the hallway until they locked onto you.

For a moment, time seemed to slow. His expression shifted—the easy charm faded into something colder, more guarded. His gaze was hard, almost piercing, and there was no mistaking the flicker of something sharper beneath it. A mean, unreadable edge that unsettled you more than it should.

Evren didn't move, didn't say a word. Instead, he just held your stare, that smirk vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a look that said he remembered everything—every argument, every silence, every word left unsaid. Around him, the noise of the hallway carried on as if nothing had changed, but between the two of you, something heavy hung in the air.