Chapter 3 The Weight We Carry

Sharon lay sprawled on her bed, staring at the ceiling as the faint hum of voices drifted through the dorm walls. Tessa sat at the edge of the mattress with her phone in hand, but her attention was fixed on Sharon's unusually quiet mood.

"You're thinking about him again," Tessa said flatly.

Sharon rolled over, hugging her pillow. "I'm not."

"Don't lie to me. Your face gets all scrunched up whenever his name crosses your mind. Like right now."

Sharon groaned into the pillow. "I'm not even saying his name."

"You don't have to." Tessa set her phone down and crossed her arms. "Let me guess. He gave you another one of his arrogant lines?"

Sharon peeked up, her cheeks pink. "He said... tomorrow. The library. You will."

Tessa blinked, then burst out laughing. "Oh my God. He sounds like a mafia boss in a cheap movie."

"It's not funny!" Sharon snapped, sitting up. "He's serious. You should have seen his face."

Tessa shook her head, still grinning. "Classic Jake Lawson. He thinks the world bends because he says so. And for most people, it does."

Sharon hugged her knees to her chest. "Well, not for me. I'm not going."

"Good. Don't. The more you feed his ego, the more he'll chase. Ignore him and he'll get bored."

Sharon nodded, though her stomach knotted with unease. She wanted to believe that ignoring him would be enough. But the truth was, Jake didn't strike her as someone who gave up easily.

Tessa leaned closer, her voice dropping. "Look, Sharon. I know he's... distracting. He's rich, he's handsome, and he has that stupid confidence. But you don't need that kind of chaos. You're already carrying so much. Focus on your grades. On your future. Not some spoiled billionaire's son looking for entertainment."

The words stung because they were true. Sharon's mind wandered briefly to her little brother back home, struggling in school, and her mother who worked herself to the bone cleaning houses. Sharon's scholarship was their lifeline. She couldn't afford mistakes. Not with someone like Jake.

"I'm serious," she whispered. "I won't go."

"Promise?"

Sharon hesitated. "Promise."

But promises made in the quiet of a dorm room don't always survive the weight of reality.

Across campus, Jake Lawson sat alone at a wide oak table in the library. It was early, the morning sunlight spilling through tall windows. He wasn't used to arriving before anyone else. Usually, people waited for him.

His phone buzzed with messages-friends planning parties, girls hinting for his attention-but he ignored them. Instead, he leaned back in the chair, arms crossed, staring at the door.

For the first hour, he was confident. Sharon would come. She had to.

By the second hour, irritation crept in. No one made him wait.

By the third, a strange feeling settled over him-something Jake Lawson had never experienced before. Doubt.

Maybe she really wasn't coming. Maybe Sharon Walker was the one person in this entire city who didn't bend to him.

He tapped his fingers against the table, his jaw tight. He hated how curious he felt about her. Why did it matter if she came or not? She was just another student. A poor girl with nothing to offer his world.

And yet... she'd looked at him differently. Not with awe or hunger, but with fire. With defiance.

He almost laughed. Maybe that was it. Maybe he couldn't stand the idea that someone like Sharon thought she could reject him.

"Ridiculous," he muttered under his breath. Still, he stayed.

Hours passed. His books remained closed. Every time the library doors opened, his chest tightened, only to sink when it wasn't her.

By late afternoon, frustration burned hot in his chest. He shoved his chair back, ready to leave, telling himself he didn't care anymore. She wasn't worth it.

And then, just as he reached for his jacket, the doors creaked open.

Sharon stepped inside.

She looked flushed, as though she'd been pacing outside for a while before finally deciding. Her eyes swept the room, found him instantly, and narrowed.

Jake sank back into his chair, a slow smirk tugging at his lips.

So she came.

Sharon spotted him at once, lounging there like he owned the place. Heat rushed to her cheeks-part anger, part embarrassment. Why had she come? She could have walked away. She should have walked away.

But something in her chest had dragged her here anyway. Maybe it was anger. Maybe it was the need to confront him, to make him understand he couldn't just pull her into his orbit.

She marched toward him, every step echoing in the quiet library. Jake's eyes followed her, his smirk deepening, but he didn't speak. He waited.

"You're still here?" she demanded as she dropped her books on the table.

He tilted his head lazily. "I said tomorrow. You came."

"Don't flatter yourself. I came because I need quiet."

His smile sharpened, but he didn't argue. Instead, he leaned forward, elbows on the table, studying her like she was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Sharon shifted under his gaze, her chest tightening. She hated how much space he seemed to take up, even when he wasn't saying anything.

Finally, she snapped.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" The words came out louder than she meant, drawing a glance from the librarian across the room. Sharon lowered her voice, but her anger trembled in every syllable. "I don't have time for this-for games, for rumors, for someone like you. I'm barely keeping it together as it is."

Jake's smirk faltered, replaced by something quieter.

Sharon clenched her fists on the table, her voice cracking. "My family needs me to succeed. If I don't, I'm nothing. And if people keep whispering because I'm standing next to you, then I'll lose the one thing I've been fighting for."

The confession hung heavy between them.

For a long moment, Jake said nothing. His usual arrogance was gone. Instead, he looked at her as if seeing her for the first time-not just the girl who defied him, but the girl carrying battles no one else noticed.

And for once, Jake Lawson had no clever comeback.

The silence stretched. Sharon stared at the table, wishing she could pull her words back into her chest. She'd said too much, exposed too much. And to him, of all people.

Jake leaned back slowly, his arms crossing again, but the usual arrogance was missing. His eyes were searching, thoughtful, as if he were trying to piece together a puzzle.

"You think I'm here to ruin you," he said finally, his tone softer than she expected.

Sharon's head snapped up. "Aren't you?"

His lips curved faintly, but it wasn't the cocky smirk she was used to. "That's the thing, Sharon. I don't even know why I'm here."

She scoffed. "That makes two of us."

"Maybe," he continued, ignoring her sarcasm, "I'm curious. Maybe I don't like being ignored. Maybe I..." He paused, then shook his head, almost amused at himself. "Honestly, I don't know. But I'm not here to make you fail."

Sharon blinked, momentarily thrown.

He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table. His voice dropped lower, sincere in a way that startled her. "You said your family needs you to succeed. So succeed. Don't let me-or anyone else-get in the way of that. But don't push me away because of what people whisper."

Her throat tightened. It wasn't supposed to sound like that, like he cared. She was supposed to hate him, keep her walls high, remind herself that he belonged to another world entirely.

But his words pressed against the weakest parts of her defenses.

"You don't understand," she whispered.

"Then explain it to me."

Sharon's hands tightened around her notebook. She wanted to tell him it wasn't his business, that he should just leave. But something about the way he waited, quiet and steady, made her spill.

"My mom works three jobs," she said, her voice trembling. "My little brother's barely passing school. I'm on a scholarship that can be taken away if I slip up, even once. Every grade, every exam-it all matters. If I lose this, I lose everything. They lose everything."

Her eyes burned, but she blinked hard. "So no, Jake. I can't be seen running around with you. People will talk, professors will assume things, and before I know it, I'll be the poor girl who couldn't keep her head straight."

Jake's expression didn't change, but his jaw clenched. He wasn't used to hearing stories like hers. His world was one of excess, where failure had no real consequence. Her words landed like blows he didn't know how to deflect.

Finally, he spoke. "I didn't realize..."

"Of course you didn't." Sharon pushed her chair back, her voice sharp again, anger rising to mask the vulnerability she'd just revealed. "You wouldn't understand. People like you never do."

She stood quickly, ready to walk away, but his voice stopped her.

"Then let me try."

She froze.

Jake stood too, his height casting a shadow over the table. For once, there was no smirk, no arrogance. Just something raw in his eyes, something Sharon couldn't quite name.

"You think I've never had pressure?" he said. "Different from yours, sure. But pressure all the same. Every move I make, every person I talk to-it all gets reported back to my father. To the press. To people waiting for me to screw up. My life isn't mine either, Sharon. It's his."

She turned slightly, startled by his tone.

"I'm not saying it's the same as what you're dealing with," Jake added. "But don't think I don't know what it's like to feel trapped. To feel like you can't breathe without someone else dictating how."

For a moment, their eyes met-two worlds colliding, both scarred in ways the other couldn't fully understand, but could almost recognize.

Sharon's chest tightened. She didn't want to feel this flicker of connection. Not with him. Not with someone who could destroy everything she was fighting for.

"I should go," she whispered.

Jake didn't stop her this time. He only nodded, his expression unreadable.

Sharon gathered her books, her hands shaking. She walked toward the doors, her heart racing, but just as she reached them, she sensed it-eyes on her.

She glanced over her shoulder. At first, nothing seemed out of place. Students bent over books, the librarian stamping papers.

But in the far corner, half-hidden by shelves, someone slipped away the moment her gaze landed.

Her stomach dropped.

She pushed through the doors, the cool air of the hallway rushing over her, but the unease clung to her skin. She didn't know who it was or why they were watching, but one thing was certain:

Her secret conversation with Jake Lawson hadn't gone unnoticed.

And in a world where whispers carried faster than truth, that could cost her more than she was prepared to lose.