Aiden was still feeling unsettled after his conversation with Ryker. He had told Ryker confidently that he wanted nothing to do with him, but deep down he knew he had lied. The truth was that he liked how Ryker had held him earlier. He liked the security, the warmth, and the strange calm it brought him. As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted to be near Ryker, wanted to stay by his side all the ti.
But he couldn’t.
Ryker already had a fiancée, and Aiden refused to let himself be the reason soone else’s relationship fell apart. He wasn’t the type to be called a howrecker.
Aiden sighed heavily, almost feeling the weight of his thoughts pressing against his chest. "You did the right thing, Aiden," he muttered to himself under his breath. "You and Ryker can’t work... not unless you want the whole school to see you as the person who ruined an engagent."
He stood still for a mont, as though convincing himself, before straightening his back and forcing himself to shake off the lingering ache in his chest. Dwelling on it would do no good. He needed a distraction.
Pulling himself together, he made his way to the dining building. Instead of going through the main entrance where the students were already filing in, he slipped through the back door that the head chef had shown him earlier that morning. The back door led directly into the kitchen, bypassing the crowd completely.
The kitchen was bustling. The cooks were busy moving about, carrying dishes and preparing to serve the hungry students in the hall. The head chef, the kind old man was standing near the counter, giving instructions to the cooks. When he spotted Aiden walking in, he smiled warmly, as though he had been expecting him.
"I already have your lunch set aside," the head chef said with an easygoing tone, pointing to a tray sitting on the cabinet, neatly covered with a clean white cloth.
Aiden’s shoulders relaxed a little as he walked over to retrieve the tray. "Thank you so much," he said sincerely, smiling at the man. "I really appreciate it."
The head chef simply shook his head. "There’s no need to thank . We are all humans here, even in a school full of supernatural students. We should take care of one another when we can."
That made Aiden laugh softly, a small but genuine sound. He nodded in agreent. "You’re right about that."
He sat at one of the stools near the counter and ate quietly, enjoying the montary peace of the kitchen away from the noise of the hall. When he finished, he didn’t just leave the tray for the cooks to deal with. Instead, he carried the dishes over to the sink and washed them himself.
To him, it was only fair. The cooks had already gone out of their way to prepare his al separately and let him use the kitchen space whenever he wanted. The least he could do was wash his own dishes.
He had just finished rinsing the last plate when the back door opened and Langley walked in.
Aiden brightened imdiately and smiled. "Just the person I was waiting for," he said, drying his hands.
Langley raised a brow, a little amused. "Waiting for ? What for?"
Aiden’s grin widened. "Do you know where I can find a hamr?"
That was clearly the last thing Langley expected him to ask for. His brows shot up in surprise. "A hamr? Out of all the things you could ask , why a hamr? What do you need it for?"
Aiden shrugged casually. "I need it for sothing in my room. I want to fix or make sothing myself."
Langley tilted his head. "You know you don’t actually have to do that yourself, right? You can just report whatever you want to the school maintenance building. They’ll send soone to handle it for you. Doing it yourself... you might end up injuring yourself."
Aiden shook his head. "I don’t want to bother the school over sothing so simple. I can handle it myself."
Langley studied him for a mont before nodding. "Alright, if you say so. Wait here. I think my dad keeps a hamr in his toolbox sowhere around here. I’ll check."
"Thanks, Langley," Aiden said, looking genuinely grateful.
Langley chuckled softly and waved his hand. "It’s nothing. You don’t need to thank for sothing so small."Langley then turn around to leave.
Aiden watched him leave through another back door leading to the storage area. With nothing to do but wait, he sat back down on the stool.
While he was waiting, he felt a vibration against his leg. It took him a second to realize it was his phone. He had almost forgotten he even had one. The only person who usually called him through the phone was his mother, and he wasn’t expecting a call from her today.
He pulled it out of his pocket, expecting to see his mother’s na flash across the screen, but froze when he saw Ashton’s na instead. That was surprising. Though Ashton, Julian, and Aiden had exchanged numbers early on, they had never actually used them to call one another. Ashton himself had once said that phones were useless in Skyline Academy since everyone saw each other in person every day.
Curious, Aiden swiped to answer. "Hello—"
"Aiden, where are you?" Ashton’s voice ca through imdiately, quick and slightly breathless.
Aiden sat up straight, instantly alert. "I just finished lunch in the dining hall," he said, frowning slightly. "What’s wrong? Did sothing happen? Where are you?"
"Yes, sothing happened," Ashton replied, his words still coming fast. "I went to the dining hall looking for you but you weren’t there and now you’re saying you were there all this while, did you beco invisible or sothing, you know what forget. Can you just et in front of your dorm building"
"Yeah, I can, I’ll be there now," Aiden said without hesitation. But before he could ask anything else, Ashton had already hung up.
Feeling his stomach twist with worry, Aiden stood up and moved toward the door quickly. He was almost at the back door when Langley ca jogging back into the kitchen with a hamr in his hand.
"Hey! I told you to wait," Langley said, only to stop short when he saw Aiden’s tense expression.
"What’s wrong?" Langley asked, frowning. "Did sothing happen, is it bad, can I do sothing to help.?"
Aiden hesitated, then nodded once before shaking his head imdiately.
Langley blinked at him, confused. "Wait, did sothing happen or not? You’re nodding one second and shaking your head the next."
Aiden let out a breath. "I don’t know if sothing happened. I’ll only know when I see my friend."
Langley seed to put two and two together and figured Aiden must have gotten a call from soone. So Langley then ask Aiden "do you need my help, I can actually follow you if you are going to need soone", Aiden then shook his head and then said to Langley "don’t worry about it, I’m sure that whatever it is can’t be that serious".
Langley then nod,Without asking more questions, he handed Aiden the hamr.
"Thanks," Aiden said quickly before pushing the door open and rushing out.
He jogged most of the way to the dorm building, his mind running through all kinds of scenarios. Was Ashton hurt? Did sothing bad happen to Julian? Or had sothing gone wrong in class?
When he reached the front of the dorm building, he spotted Ashton standing there waiting for him. Relief washed over him that Ashton was in one piece, but his worry wasn’t fully gone yet.
He hurried over and grabbed Ashton’s arm, inspecting him from head to toe as though expecting to find an injury. He even crouched slightly, about to lift Ashton’s trouser leg to check his skin when Ashton finally found his voice.
"What are you doing?" Ashton asked in shock, stepping back quickly.
Aiden looked up at him, frowning. "I’m checking to see if you’re injured."
"Why would you think I’m injured?" Ashton asked, baffled.
"You sounded breathless over the phone, and you were talking so fast," Aiden said. "And you never call on the phone, so I thought sothing bad had happened."
Ashton blinked at him, then laughed lightly. "Nothing bad happened. I just witnessed sothing phenonal, sothing that will definitely go down in Skyline Academy’s history. I had to find you quickly before I exploded from holding it in. That’s why I sounded hurried."
Aiden stared at him, speechless. He had been prepared for the worst, thinking Ashton was in trouble, only to find out that Ashton had just wanted to share gossip.
Ashton’s eyes dropped to Aiden’s hand, where he still held the hamr Langley had given him. Curiosity filled his face. "What are you doing with a hamr?" he asked, tilting his head.
Aiden blinked and looked down at the hamr in his hand as though he had forgotten he was still holding it.
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