The day had been a blur for Hazel. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the image of Ace sitting at the back of the classroom from her mind. His sudden arrival had thrown her off balance, and her thoughts kept drifting back to him despite her best efforts to focus on her studies. Every time she looked at her notes, the words seemed to swim before her eyes, refusing to settle into anything coherent. Her teachers’ voices faded into the background, a dull hum that she couldn’t bring herself to tune into.
Hazel’s heart was in turmoil. She had spent the past days worrying endlessly about Ace, feeling the sting of betrayal as rumors swirled around him. And now, seeing him again had only intensified the storm of emotions inside her. She couldn’t understand what was happening between
