Monday – Campus Café, 4:02 PM
Felix was sweating through his collar, and not in the charming, movie-star way.
Naomi Chen sat across from him, sipping black coffee like it was a religious ritual. She hadn't smiled once in twenty minutes.
"So," Felix began for the third time, "if you had to choose—aliens or mermaids?"
Naomi blinked.
"To date, fight, or become?"
He grinned. "You're learning."
"I'm regretting."
Felix laughed—too loud, too forced.
"Look," she said finally. "You're not… bad. You're just loud."
Felix blinked.
"I like equations. You like energy. We're not opposite magnets. We're incompatible variables."
Felix leaned back in his chair.
"That's the nicest rejection I've ever gotten," he said, genuinely impressed.
Naomi cracked the tiniest smile.
"That's because I didn't say no. I said… maybe not today."
Felix stared at her.
"You're dangerous."
"I'm logical."
She stood up, tossed a napkin at him with her number written in neat digits, and walked off like a spy vanishing into a crowd.
Felix grinned and turned to Leon later that night.
"She totally likes me."
Leon didn't look up from his book. "You're delusional."
"Maybe. But I've got digits."