Rina followed, Jian and Rowen behind her. The room shifted conversations dipped, attention bent. Ling Kwong carried that effect like gravity.
Rhea froze for half a second.
Then she kept walking.
She joined the line, posture straight, expression unreadable.
Ling noticed immediately.
She tilted her head, lips curving faintly not a smile. Recognition.
Ling stepped forward, cutting past two students without apology, and stopped directly in front of the counter.
"I'll have a black coffee," Ling said calmly. "Extra hot."
The barista nodded instantly.
Rhea stood just behind her.
Ling didn't turn.
"Add another," Ling continued casually. "Same order."
Rhea's fingers curled.
"That's not necessary," Rhea said evenly.
Ling turned slowly now, eyes locking onto hers.
"I know," Ling replied. "I like being unnecessary."
The barista hesitated, eyes flicking between them.
Ling smiled at the barista. "Make it quick."
The cups were placed on the counter moments later.
Ling picked up both.
She took one sip from the first, then held the second out not offering, not forcing. Just holding it there, occupying Rhea's space.
Rhea stared at the cup.
Her chest tightened.
Then she did something no one expected.
She reached out not to take it.
She knocked it.
The coffee spilled across the counter, sloshed down the edge, splattered onto the floor between them. Dark liquid spread outward, steaming against the tiles.
The café went silent.
Rhea looked down at the mess, then back up at Ling.
Her voice was steady. Too steady.
"I can buy my own."
A few students gasped softly.
Ling didn't move.
She looked at the spilled coffee.
Then at Rhea.
Something sharp flickered in her eyes anger, yes but also something deeper. Satisfaction.
"Oh," Ling said quietly. "There it is."
Rhea stepped back, jaw tight. "Don't do this."
Ling set her remaining cup down carefully on the counter.
"I didn't," Ling replied. "You did."
Roin was already on his feet.
"Enough," he said, stepping closer to Rhea. "We're leaving."
Ling's gaze snapped to him cold, assessing.
"You," Ling said flatly. "Sit down."
Roin didn't move.
Ling stepped closer not threatening, just present.
"I wasn't talking to you," she continued. "This conversation doesn't include you."
Rhea moved instantly, stepping between them.
"Stop," Rhea snapped. "Both of you."
She turned to Ling, eyes burning now. "I told you not to come near me."
Ling leaned down slightly so only Rhea could hear.
"And yet," she said softly, "you keep standing exactly where I can reach."
Rhea's breath hitched.
"Leave me alone," Rhea whispered not weak, not begging. Controlled. Fractured.
Ling straightened and raised her voice just enough for others to hear.
"Relax," Ling said lightly. "It's just coffee."
She looked down at the spill again.
"Clean that up," Ling added calmly to the staff and turned away as if nothing had happened.
Rina exhaled slowly, watching Rhea with narrowed eyes.
"That," Rina murmured to Ling as they walked away, "wasn't indifference."
Ling didn't look back.
"I know," she said. "That was restraint cracking."
At the table, Rhea's hands trembled now just slightly.
Roin touched her arm. "Let's go."
Rhea nodded.
As they left the café, Rhea glanced once just once toward Ling's back.
Ling felt it.
She didn't turn.
She smiled.
Rhea and Roin had almost cleared the café wing.
The corridor widened near the marble pillars light pouring in from the glass panels, footsteps echoing faintly. Students moved around them, distracted, unaware.
Rhea walked ahead of Roin by half a step.
Her shoulders were tight. Her jaw still locked from the café.
Ling followed.
Not close enough to be obvious.
Close enough to control the space.
As Rhea reached the pillar, Ling shifted subtle, deliberate. One foot extended just enough.
A placement.
Rhea didn't see it.
Her heel caught.
The world tilted.
She gasped sharply as her balance snapped body pitching forward, breath tearing out of her chest.
Before Roin could react, arms closed around her.
Strong. Immediate. Possessive.
Ling caught her mid-fall, one arm locked around Rhea's waist, the other gripping her upper back, pulling her fully in. Rhea's body hit Ling's chest hard enough to knock the air out of both of them.
Ling didn't loosen her hold.
She tightened it.
Rhea froze.
Her palms pressed instinctively against Ling's blazer, fingers digging into fabric she knew too well. Her face was inches away. Too close. Familiar in a way that hurt.
Ling lowered her head slightly, lips near Rhea's ear.
"Careful," Ling murmured. Her voice was low, almost amused. "You fall so easily when I'm around."
Rhea inhaled sharply, the scent of Ling clean, familiar, dangerous flooding her senses.
"Let go," Rhea said, breathless. It didn't sound like a command.
Ling didn't move.
Her hand stayed firm at Rhea's waist, fingers splayed, thumb pressing in slightly not groping, not gentle. Claiming.
"You're shaking," Ling said softly. "That's new."
Rhea's eyes filled instantly.
"Don't," she whispered. "Don't do this."
Ling pulled back just enough to look at her face.
Her gaze dropped deliberately to Rhea's lips, her throat, the way her chest rose too fast then lifted back to her eyes.
"You always say that," Ling said. "But you never mean it."
Rhea tried to step back.
Ling didn't allow it.
She leaned in closer instead, her forehead nearly brushing Rhea's temple.
"You spill my coffee," Ling continued quietly, "you threaten me, you walk away with another man—" her grip tightened almost imperceptibly, "—and you still land exactly where you know I'll catch you."
Rhea's voice broke. "It was an accident."
Ling smiled faintly.
"Everything between us is," she replied.
Roin reached them then, anger flashing across his face.
"Get your hands off her," he snapped.
Ling didn't even look at him.
She spoke to Rhea only.
"Tell him," Ling said calmly. "Tell him to make me."
Rhea swallowed hard.
"Ling," she said, pleading now, "please."
That word.
Please.
Ling's jaw tightened.
She finally loosened her hold slowly, deliberately letting her hands slide away as if proving she could touch her and leave marks without leaving bruises.
But before stepping back, Ling leaned in one last time.
Her lips brushed the air near Rhea's cheek not a kiss, not quite.
"You don't belong in anyone else's arms," Ling whispered. "Your body already knows that."
Rhea flinched as if struck.
Ling straightened, stepping back fully now, her expression composed, almost bored.
"Watch your step next time," she said aloud. "I won't always be there to catch you."
She turned and walked away.
Rhea stood frozen beside the pillar, heart pounding violently, tears threatening to spill.
Roin touched her arm. "Rhea—"
She pulled away sharply.
"Don't," she said. Her voice shook despite herself.
Her eyes followed Ling's retreating back for half a second longer than she meant to.
Ling didn't turn.
She didn't need to.
Rhea locked herself inside the bathroom stall and slid down against the cold wall.
The door clicked shut behind her, sealing out the noise of the corridor, the students,
Roin's voice calling her name. Her hands went to her ears first not to block sound, but to press herself back into her body.
Her breathing was wrong. Too fast. Too shallow.
She stared at the floor tiles, unblinking.
Ling's arms were still on her.
Not literally but her body hadn't caught up to reality yet. Her waist still burned where Ling's hand had held her. Her back still remembered the pressure. Her chest still felt compressed by Ling's body catching her, stopping her, deciding for her.
"I hate you," Rhea whispered.
The words sounded weak in the small space.
Her throat tightened violently.
She pressed her forehead to her knees, fingers curling into her hair, nails biting into her scalp as if pain might pull her out of this fog.
You fall so easily when I'm around.
Her breath hitched.
She shook her head hard, as if she could shake the memory loose.
"No," she muttered. "No, no, no."
Her body betrayed her. Again.
She had told herself she was done. That she had survived worse. That Ling's cruelty had ended everything.
Then one slip. One arm. One second.
And her body had gone quiet. Familiar. Safe.
That was what terrified her.
Tears came without warning not slow, not cinematic. Violent. Ugly. Her shoulders shook as she tried to muffle the sound with her sleeve.
"I didn't ask you to catch me," she cried under her breath. "I didn't ask you to touch me."
But another voice answered inside her crueler, more honest.
You leaned into it.
She slammed her fist into her thigh once. Hard.
"Shut up," she whispered to herself.
Images assaulted her without permission Ling's face close to hers, the way her voice dropped when she spoke only to Rhea, the certainty in her grip. Not begging. Not pleading. Owning.
Rhea squeezed her eyes shut.
Her chest hurt now. A dull, expanding ache that made it hard to breathe.
"I survived you once," she whispered. "I survived you breaking me."
Her lips trembled.
"I won't let you do it again."
The door rattled softly.
"Rhea?" Roin's voice. Careful. Concerned.
She didn't answer.
He tried again. "Please. Just say something."
She dragged her sleeve across her face, smearing tears without caring how she looked.
"I'm fine," she lied hoarsely.
Silence stretched.
Then his voice again, closer to the door. "You're not."
That did it.
Her control snapped completely.
She hugged herself tightly, arms wrapping around her torso as if trying to hold herself together.
"I hate her," she said aloud now, the words breaking apart. "I hate that she knows how to touch me without touching me. I hate that she looks at me and my body listens."
Her voice cracked.
"I hate that I still want to run to her when she's the one who destroyed me."
She slid sideways, curling tighter, forehead resting against the wall.
"I feel stupid," she whispered. "I feel weak. I feel like everything I worked so hard to lock away comes undone when she's near."
Outside, Roin leaned his forehead against the stall door, helpless.
"Rhea," he said quietly. "You don't have to go through this alone."
Her laugh came out broken and sharp.
"Yes," she said. "I do."
She wiped her face roughly and forced herself upright, legs trembling beneath her.
She stared at her reflection in the dull metal panel — swollen eyes, flushed skin, lips bitten raw.
Ling's words echoed again.
Your body already knows that.
Rhea swallowed hard.
"You don't own me," she said to her reflection. Louder this time. Firmer. "You don't."
She unlocked the stall and stepped out.
Roin straightened immediately.
She didn't look at him.
"I need air," she said flatly. "Don't follow me."
He hesitated. "Rhea—"
She turned then, eyes still wet but sharp enough to cut.
"If you follow me," she said, "I will break completely. And I won't forgive you for seeing it."
He stepped back.
She walked past him without another word, shoulders squared, pain contained carrying the war entirely inside her chest.
And somewhere else on campus, Ling felt restless without knowing why.