The walk to the Student Center was less chaotic than earlier, but only slightly. Students still gawked. A girl walking her bike actually paused and turned fully around. A guy near the vending machine whispered “It’s him” to his friend like they were discussing a comet.

  Mia walked beside him with a mix of amusement and curiosity.

  “They’re all staring,” she said.

  “I’ve noticed,” Bharath muttered.

  “Do you moonlight as a campus heartthrob?”

  “No. But I do dance terribly. That might count.”

  They ordered a couple of personal pan pizzas - and found a table by the window. He got her a Coke from the fountain, then sat across from her, arms folded as he tried to rex.

  “You okay?” she asked, taking a bite.

  “Yeah. Just… trying not to spontaneously combust after the tutoring session.”

  Mia ughed, low and knowing. “You did look like you were struggling back there.”

  He didn’t deny it. “You’re not subtle.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be,” she said sweetly, then leaned in a little. “So. Want to tell me what’s really going on? With all the staring. And the whispering. And the note-passing?”

  Bharath wiped his mouth with a napkin and met her eyes. “I will. Tonight. When we’re not surrounded.”

  She tilted her head. “Tonight?”

  “I was going to ask,” he said. “If you wanted to spend the night. With Marisol.”

  Her expression flickered. Something unreadable passed over it. But then she nodded.

  “I’d like that. It’s been a while.”

  He nodded back, then added, “And I think it’s time you saw… everything for yourself. Instead of hearing it secondhand.”

  She didn’t press further, but he could tell she was filing that away for ter.

  They finished their pizza, shared a few jokes about cafeteria food, and gathered their things. As they stepped outside again, dusk had begun to settle over the campus. The air was brisk, crisp with the coming cold, and golden leaves fluttered down like confetti.

  Mia fell into step beside him, arms crossed for warmth, but her heart was anything but cold.

  She’d been flirted with more times than she could count-by cssmates, waiters, even her friends’ older brothers. She’d been called beautiful, magnetic, unforgettable. But no one had ever made her feel like this. Not breathless, not smitten-but undone. Not because of how he looked, though God help her, that didn’t hurt. But because Bharath talked to her like she mattered. Not like a prize. Not like a project. Just... a person.

  “God, what am I doing? He belongs with Marisol. But then why does every stupid joke he makes feel like it’s just for me?”

  Every time he smiled at his own terrible dad jokes, every time he tilted his head thoughtfully when she spoke, every time he said something smart without making her feel small-it cracked something open inside her. He didn’t even know he was doing it. He was just being himself. Steady. Sincere. Kind in a way that made her want to cry and scream and lean into his warmth all at once.

  And that terrified her.

  Because her sister loved this man. And now Mia understood why. She felt it. That same pull. That same weightless falling.

  And she hated that she couldn’t stop it.

  She tried to ugh it off, tamp it down, pretend it was just a crush-but it wasn’t. It was something slower, deeper, coiling quietly in her chest with every word he spoke. And the worst part? He didn’t have a clue. Bharath was just walking beside her like nothing had changed-because for him, nothing had. But for her, the world was already tilting.

  He gestured to the left, his voice as casual and warm as ever. “Come on. I’ll walk you through campus. Shortcut to our apartment’s this way.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded, forcing her voice steady. “This pce is pretty,” she said after a moment. “I see why Marisol loves it here.”

  “It grows on you,” Bharath agreed. “And it helps when the people around you make it feel like home.”

  They passed the reflecting pool, then the mechanical engineering building, the windows glowing orange with early evening light. Mia paused occasionally to take it all in-pointing out an ivy-covered arch, a group of students stringing fairy lights near the quad, and the tower where students swore a ghost haunted the fourth-floor b.

  “You know,” she said quietly, “you don’t act like someone who knows everyone’s obsessed with him.”

  “I’m not obsessed with me,” he replied, smirking like made a good joke again.

  “No,” she agreed. “But you could be. And you’re not.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that. So he said nothing.

  And maybe that was what made her look at him differently as they rounded the final path, campus quiet behind them.

  Mia had seen a lot of boys with big mouths and big egos.

  But Bharath… was all heart. And apparently, a legend.

  Tonight, she was going to find out why.

  They had just passed the corner of the civil engineering building when Mia gnced sideways at him, brow furrowed.

  “Hey, wait a second,” she said. “Why are we still walking? Don’t you live on campus?”

  “I do,” Bharath said, hands in his pockets. “Technically.”

  Mia blinked. “So why are we walking twenty minutes off-campus like it’s a field trip?”

  He smiled faintly. “I don’t really stay in the dorm anymore. I only go back for gaming nights with the guys.”

  Mia shook her head. “You’re ridiculous. You have a perfectly good bed on campus.”

  “You saw what that dorm is like,” he pointed out. “You really want me sleeping somewhere where guys post countdowns about when I might appear?”

  Mia visibly shuddered. “Touché.”

  He nodded toward the tree-lined ne ahead. “Besides, the house we’re going to-it’s kind of home now. Everyone hangs out there.”

  “Whose house is it?”

  “Sarah’s.”

  That name. Again.

  Mia’s ears perked up, even as she kept her tone casual. “Sarah. As in… the girl you rescued outside MARTA?”

  “Yeah,” Bharath nodded. “That night changed everything. For both of us.”

  There was something in his voice-soft, respectful, weighted. The same kind of tone he used when talking about Marisol.

  Mia tried to ignore the flutter in her chest. Curiouser and curiouser, she thought.

  “She’s a junior,” he continued, oblivious. “Chemical Engineering. Has a full ride here. One of the best in her program. And she came up through the foster care system. No parents. No safety nets. Just grit.”

  Mia blinked. That wasn’t what she expected.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone more quietly fierce,” he said.

  Something in her heart tugged again. He talked about Sarah the same way he talked about Marisol-with reverence, respect, and that maddening gravity like he wasn’t just describing people… but altars.

  They reached the small two-bedroom bungalow tucked between older brick buildings. The porch light was on. The curtains were drawn. There was a warm glow behind the windows, and music-something Latin and cheerful-was pying faintly inside.

  Then the door swung open and a familiar figure bolted out.

  “MIIIIIIIIIAAAA!”

  “MAAAAAAAARIIIIISOLLLLL!”

  They collided in a blur of denim, curls, and shrieks. There was hugging. Spinning. The kind of excited squealing that could be heard three blocks away.

  Bharath stood on the walkway, smiling like a man witnessing a seasonal phenomenon.

  “I’m just going to stand here,” he said, to no one in particur. “While my hearing recovers.”

  Sarah appeared behind them in the doorway, watching with a soft smile.

  Slender yet fit but with bombshell curves. Effortlessly graceful, even in a loose grey sweatshirt that slipped off one shoulder and cotton shorts that barely touched mid-thigh. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun that somehow made her look more radiant, not less.

  And her face-

  Mia’s breath caught.

  Oh my god.

  She was stupidly beautiful. Like, not just college-pretty or sorority-pretty. Not even model-pretty.

  This was Pyboy centerfold in a "girl-next-door discovers astrophysics" special edition kind of beautiful.

  Mia actually stepped back a little.

  She wasn’t often intimidated. She’d grown up being the one girls whispered about in bathrooms. She was used to stares, compliments, double-takes. She had curves, shes, walk, voice, wit-she knew her toolkit.

  But this girl?

  She was... something else.

  Sarah’s skin practically glowed in the porch light, warm and gold-toned. Her lips curved up in a knowing, dimpled smile as she walked barefoot toward them, as if she were gliding. Even the way she waved-soft, warm, slow-felt like something out of a shampoo commercial.

  As Sarah turned to grab the door, Mia caught her own reflection in the dark gss of the window.

  Just for a second-just long enough to see her own wide eyes, the too-carefully applied lip gloss, the blouse she had picked out that morning after trying on four others.

  Her reflection looked younger than she felt. Smaller.

  She straightened her shoulders. Tilted her chin up a degree. Blinked slowly. Get your game face on Mia.

  “Hi, Mia,” she said gently.

  That voice. Low, honeyed. Unfair.

  “Uh… hi,” Mia managed. “You’re Sarah?”

  Sarah nodded. “It’s really nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  Mia blinked, still processing. She gnced back at Bharath, who had that same quiet, steady expression he always had when he looked at Marisol. That soft smile, the weight in his eyes, like he was proud and awestruck and a little bit overwhelmed to be in the company of someone he adored.

  He looked at Sarah like that too.

  Mia’s brain began assembling pieces.

  Marisol had said they were close. Bharath had said this house felt like home. He had described Sarah the same way he spoke about her sister. And now this woman-this beautiful, barefoot, golden goddess-was smiling at her like she was being welcomed into something.

  Mia’s eyes narrowed slightly.

  Something is going on here.

  Sarah opened the door wider and gestured inside. “Come on. It’s freezing out here. We’ve got cocoa, bnkets, and the world’s worst sitcom reruns waiting.”

  Marisol looped her arm around Mia’s. “Wait till you see the couch. It eats people.”

  Bharath just ughed softly. “That couch has devoured half the friend group. Sit on it at your own risk.”

  They stepped inside together, warmth washing over her like a hug. The house smelled faintly of cinnamon, popcorn, and vender. The lights were low, the mood cozy, and everything felt… weirdly intimate.

  Mia gnced again at Sarah-now leaning against the arm of the couch, grinning at something Marisol had said-and then looked over at Bharath.

  He wasn’t even looking at either girl.

  He was looking at her, his expression calm and unreadable.

  Mia shivered.

  This was not a normal tutoring visit.

  She didn’t know what awaited her inside this warm, softly-lit home, but her heart already knew one terrifying truth: whatever y beyond that door would change her forever.