Chapter 2 Collision course

The cafeteria was louder than she expected.

Brianna stood near the entrance with her tray, scanning for an empty seat that wasn't surrounded by overly energetic freshmen. Most tables were full - strangers bonding over shared timetables and awkward laughter.

She hated this part. The trying-to-fit-in part.

"Brianna!" Lydia waved her over from across the room, already seated with a group of students. Her hair was pulled up into another messy bun, and she looked completely at ease, chatting animatedly with a guy beside her.

Brianna walked over slowly, keeping her face neutral, calm.

"Hey! This is-" Lydia started, but the guy beside her cut in.

"-a seat you're welcome to take," he said, gesturing to the empty chair across from him. He didn't smile. Just looked at Brianna with an unreadable expression. His voice was smooth but flat, like he didn't care one way or another.

She sat down.

Their eyes met for the briefest second.

There was something about him-he seemed... distant, like he was in the room but not really part of it. His hair was dark, a little messy, and his posture was annoyingly relaxed, like nothing in the world could shake him. He barely looked at her again after that initial glance.

"Malvin," he said casually, not really offering his hand but not ignoring her either.

"Brianna."

He gave a short nod, then looked down at his plate.

So that was it.

He didn't smile. He didn't flirt. He didn't do any of the things that would've annoyed her enough to dismiss him. He just... existed, quietly and confidently. Like a shadow.

And for some reason, that stuck with her.

She didn't know it yet, but that moment - barely five minutes, barely a conversation - would become the start of everything.

The conversation at the table moved on without them.

Lydia and the others talked about orientation events, course schedules, and some professor who was already infamous for giving surprise quizzes. Laughter circled the table, light and fast. But Brianna barely listened.

She was aware of him - Malvin - more than she wanted to admit. The way he sat back in his chair, chewing slowly. The way his fingers tapped the side of his tray in a quiet rhythm. He wasn't trying to be noticed. That only made him harder to ignore.

"So, Brianna," one of the girls asked across the table, "what are you majoring in?"

"Information science," she said.

"Ooh, brainy," Lydia teased. "She's our smart and mysterious one."

Brianna rolled her eyes but smiled faintly. She glanced up-and caught Malvin looking at her.

Not staring.

Not watching.

Just... looking.

Then he looked away, calm as ever, like it hadn't happened.

Her heart did something stupid. She told it to stop.

The rest of lunch passed without anything significant. But somehow, she left the table with Malvin's name echoing in her mind like a song she didn't mean to memorize.

---

Later that evening, Brianna sat by the window in their dorm room, her laptop on her knees and her fingers motionless on the keyboard. Lydia had gone out to some welcome event with people from the table.

Brianna hadn't gone. Of course she hadn't.

She didn't do crowds, or small talk, or aimless fun. That's what she told herself. But somewhere beneath all that self-protection, she knew the real reason.

Malvin would probably be there.

And she wasn't ready for that.

Not because she liked him. She didn't.

He barely spoke. He wasn't even that friendly. He seemed like the kind of person who didn't care if you liked him or not.

But somehow... that made her curious.

And curiosity was dangerous.

She closed her laptop and looked out the window, the campus lights glowing like scattered stars across the quiet night. Somewhere out there, he existed. Breathing the same air. Thinking thoughts she'd never be able to guess.

And without meaning to, Brianna whispered to herself:

"Don't start something you can't finish."

( Malvins POV)

Malvin leaned against the metal railing outside the auditorium, earbuds in but no music playing. The buzz of the welcome event filtered out through the glass doors behind him-people laughing, music pulsing, voices overlapping.

He should've been inside.

He was invited. Dragged, actually. But after five minutes of standing under cheap lights and hearing the same conversations on loop, he slipped out.

Too much noise.

Too many people pretending they weren't pretending.

He took a slow breath, staring at the sky. No stars tonight. Just clouds. Fitting.

His mind drifted, unwillingly, to the girl from lunch. Brianna.

There was something... strange about her. Not in a bad way. Just... still.

She hadn't tried to impress anyone. She hadn't filled the space with words or fake smiles. She had just existed. Quietly. Sharply. Like a thought you couldn't shake.

And for a brief second-just one-he'd looked at her.

Not because she was pretty, though she was. Not because she smiled, because she barely had.

He looked because she looked like someone who had learned how to be alone the hard way.

And he understood that.

Malvin didn't do attachments. He didn't do vulnerability. People always took more than they gave, and when they left, they never looked back. He'd learned that young and learned it well.

Still... there was something in her eyes. Something familiar.

Like maybe she knew what it felt like to be disappointed by someone you trusted.

He pushed the thought away. This wasn't what he came to school for. He had goals. A plan. A future that didn't include messy feelings or people who left you wondering.

But Brianna had gotten stuck in his head anyway.

And that annoyed him more