The days blurred into one another—fifteen of them, to be exact. College life had already begun to weave its steady rhythm: morning classes, chatter-filled corridors, stolen lunches in the cafeteria, and evenings that slipped into assignments and late-night calls home.
For Ishitha, it was simple—show up, do her part, and slip through the cracks without becoming too visible. Sofia and Emma had cemented themselves at her side, dragging her into their chatter, lightening her edges, weaving warmth where she had once preferred solitude.
And yet, one crack remained in her carefully built routine.
The Korean guy.
Every so often, she caught him watching her. Sometimes across the cafeteria, sometimes in the hallways, sometimes when passing through the quadrangle. His piercing eyes always carried the same unreadable weight, and each time, she would avert her gaze before it became something else.
Why does he keep looking? she wondered, annoyance prickling beneath her calm surface. It wasn't fear—she wasn't intimidated by him. But his presence felt like a challenge, like a game she had never agreed to play.
Still, she would be lying if she said those brief brushes of eye contact hadn't lingered far too long in her mind afterward.
---
On the other side, irritation had begun to coil in Seojin.
He was used to being looked at—chased, whispered about, envied. Indifference was his armor, his signature. But this one girl—this Indian girl with her calm eyes and untouchable aura—refused to bend the way everyone else did.
She didn't flinch. She didn't smile. She didn't stumble. She just kept walking, her expression steady, her nods reserved for her two friends as though he were invisible.
And that… unsettled him.
When her phone slipped from her pocket one afternoon, it became the moment that etched itself deeper than the rest. He had been heading toward the exit with Minho when it clattered onto the path. He slowed, waiting, watching.
She turned back, bent, and retrieved it—without even sparing him a glance. A casual rub against her sleeve, and she walked on as though nothing had happened.
That indifference sparked something in him. He didn't know what it was, only that it burned.
---
During break one day, Emma and Sofia spotted James standing with his group and waved eagerly. James grinned, waving back with boyish enthusiasm. Ishitha walked alongside her friends, her eyes steady on them rather than the crowd.
As they reached James, introductions passed quickly—names traded, smiles exchanged. Ishitha tucked them away politely, not dwelling. Seojin, however, lingered on one detail.
Ishitha.
The name settled in his mind like a key turning in a lock.
He watched as boys in the corridor stole glances at her, their curiosity obvious. She, in turn, ignored them all, her focus wholly on her friends. When she absently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, it was effortless, unthinking. And yet, it drew eyes, his own included.
So that was her name. Ishitha.
---