After witnessing that fight, Samantha couldn't get Nathan out of her head.
No matter how hard she tried.
The way he moved.
The way he smiled while bleeding.
The way he had looked at that girl afterward gentle, careful, almost like a completely different person.
Who are you… really?
The question followed her everywhere.
She left the rooftop that day with too many thoughts crowding her mind and met Chloe later in the library to study, but it was useless. Her eyes kept drifting over the same lines again and again without understanding a single word.
The sound of fists hitting flesh.
The look in Nathan's eyes.
The way he had broken down when he thought no one was watching.
It all replayed in her head like a broken film.
Finally, she closed her book and let out a slow breath.
"…I'm going to talk to him," she said suddenly.
Chloe looked up from her notes. "About time."
Samantha nodded. She needed answers.
But the very next day…
Nathan disappeared.
At first, nobody noticed.
University life had a way of swallowing people whole, classes, clubs, noise, deadlines, stress, new faces. One missing student didn't mean much.
But to Samantha…
It meant everything.
One day passed.
Then three.
Then a week.
No Nathan in the cafeteria.
No Nathan in the training hall.
No Nathan leaning against railings with that annoying half-smile like he owned the place.
It was like he had never existed.
"Maybe he transferred," Chloe said one afternoon as they crossed the courtyard, though even she didn't sound convinced.
Samantha didn't answer.
She knew better.
Nathan wasn't the kind of person who just left.
He was the kind who disappeared.
She found him by accident.
The old sports building near the edge of campus had a rooftop most students didn't bother with. It was quiet, forgotten, and lonely. Samantha had gone there to think to escape the noise, the questions, the strange weight pressing on her chest.
She pushed the door open.
And froze.
There he was.
Sitting on the edge of the roof.
Legs dangling over nothing.
Staring at the sky like it owed him answers.
Nathan.
He looked thinner. More tired. There was a fresh bandage on his brow and faint bruises still fading along his jaw.
Samantha stopped a few steps behind him.
"You're hard to find, you know."
Nathan didn't turn.
"…What do you want?"
His voice was flat. Empty. Like someone who had already decided nothing mattered.
She walked closer. "You disappeared."
"So?" he replied. "Not exactly a tragedy."
She crossed her arms. "People noticed."
He finally looked at her then eyes sharp, tired, guarded.
"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" he snapped. "I don't need your pity."
"That's not what this is."
"Then what is it?" he asked bitterly. "If you and Chloe want revenge, I'm right here. Do whatever you want. Hit me. Yell at me. Get it out of your system."
Samantha stared at him for a long moment.
Then she said something that made him freeze.
"I want to be your friend."
Nathan laughed.
It wasn't amused.
It was hollow.
"You want to be friends with someone like me? That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because people like me don't get that," he said quietly. "We get used. Or avoided. Or blamed."
Samantha took a step closer. "You saved that girl."
He looked genuinely shocked.
"You saw that?"
"Yes," she said. "And that should change something."
He looked away.
"…It doesn't."
But he didn't tell her to leave.
And that was something.
Two days later, it was Nathan's birthday.
Alex remembered.
Chloe somehow found out.
And Samantha made a very dangerous decision.
Nathan was getting a makeover.
Whether he liked it or not.
They cornered him after class.
"No," he said immediately.
"Yes," Chloe replied.
"I'm not going."
"You are," Samantha said.
"Why?"
"Because you look like you're trying to disappear."
"…Maybe I am."
They dragged him anyway.
Barber shop.
New clothes.
New shoes.
A very forced haircut.
Nathan resisted every step like a man being marched to execution.
But when he finally stepped out…
Silence.
He looked… different.
Not just clean.
Not just stylish.
He looked powerful.
Broad shoulders. Sharp eyes. Defined features. A body built like someone who fought often and never talked about it.
Chloe blinked.
Samantha forgot how to breathe.
"…Oh," Chloe muttered. "So that's what you were hiding."
Nathan frowned. "What?"
"Your face," Samantha said honestly.
For the first time in a long time…
He looked embarrassed.
On the way back to campus, girls stared.
Some whispered.
Some didn't even hide it.
A few stared at Alex too.
Samantha noticed.
And she didn't like it.
Chloe noticed that she noticed.
And smiled.
"Oh? Someone's jealous?"
"I am not."
"You're absolutely jealous."
"Chloe."
"I'm just saying. If you don't move fast, someone else will."
Samantha looked away.
But she didn't deny it.
That evening, the boys were playing basketball.
Sweaty. Loud. Competitive.
Jerseys came off.
Six-packs happened.
Campus suffered.
Nathan and Alex stood out.
Very much.
Samantha and Chloe were heading toward the park when they saw them.
Chloe stopped walking.
"…I hate him," she said. "But he's hot."
Samantha hesitated.
"…Unfortunately, yes."
Then Samantha noticed something else.
A group of girls nearby.
Whispering. Planning. Watching.
Their leader stepped forward.
Ariel.
The girl Nathan had saved.
Her eyes were fixed on him.
And she was clearly gathering courage.
Samantha's chest tightened.
She didn't know why.
But she didn't like it.
That night, she couldn't sleep.
She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
Thinking.
About Nathan.
About Alex.
About how nothing in her life felt simple anymore.
A small bird perched on the tree near her window, tilting its head as if watching her.
Far away…
In a place filled with screens and cold white light…
Someone else was watching them too.
Studying.
Testing.
Calculating.
And smiling.