They walked side by side along the lighted paths that led back to the hostels. The campus was quieter now, the earlier commotion reduced to distant murmurs and the hum of night insects. The lamps cast long shadows ahead of them, stretching their figures across the pavement.
Axel couldn't stop looking at Dallas.
Dallas had left earlier—hurt, disappointed. Axel had seen it in the way he walked away without turning back. And yet, when Axel hadn't shown up at the hostel, Dallas had come back to look for him.
He had come back.
Even while angry.
Even while hurting.
That fact alone made something inside Axel ache in a completely different way. Dallas was clearly still upset, clearly still wounded by what had happened with Ivan, but he had still searched for him. Still worried.
It made Axel's chest tighten painfully.
