Page 48 of Toxic

I’d also regularly sniff his neck, and he seemed to like it when my nose made small movements, skimming over his neck gland. After he finished smoking, we’d head to class like nothing had happened, but something was happening. Something was growing between us—an incessant need to be around each other.

The day after our first Python class, I got a surprise. After a lecture that I attended alone, I walked out of the classroom and spotted a slender figure by the exit—Soren, leaning nonchalantly against the wall, smoking. Seeing him there made my heart race. As I walked up to him, I knew better than to investigate why he was there. He simply was there—and that was enough. The rule was: no questions asked.

From that moment, it was like a door had opened, and I started to slide through it more and more. Later that same day, I decided to search for him myself. He had a class in the side building, and I had a lecture in the main one. They ended at the same time. As I walked out of the main exit, I kept looking for Soren, hoping I’d run into him. Suddenly, I spotted him heading toward the cafeteria, his head on a swivel. When he saw me, he slowed down, almost like he was waiting for me to catch up. And I did. We walked into the cafeteria together.

It became another part of our new routine.

He’d come to the building where my labs were, and when I left the classroom, he’d always be standing there, smoking, waiting for me—obviously. I memorized his schedule, and I’d wait for him too. He never said anything about it, and neither did I. It just became how things were between us.

For some reason, it felt nice, almost sweet. I wondered how much of it was intentional on his part. He did everything with this strange, ambivalent expression—like he wanted it but didn’t, yet couldn’t resist. I think he just gave up fighting the need to be close to me.

For the next three days, we had intense Python tutoring sessions. Soren was surprisingly empathetic as a teacher. You’d think a guy with his personality would be easily annoyed or even condescending, but that wasn’t true at all! If anything, it was the other way around. He was super patient—gentle and kind when correcting my mistakes, even the dumb ones. He neverscolded me or made a face! There was something different about him during our tutoring sessions—softer, sweeter, like another, secret side of him came out.

But on the fourth day of this tutoring session, something weird happened. I was a bit late for my second class, the first one I had with Soren that day. When I walked into the lecture room, Soren was sitting in the corner, looking unusually pale and slightly sweaty, like he had a fever.

I sat next to him, and he didn’t say a word. I glanced at him. "You okay? You don’t look so good."

He shrugged, his gaze fixed on the lecturer. "I’m alright. Just not feeling great today, but I’ll be fine."

Throughout the lecture, I kept gazing at him, and could almost sense his condition worsening. He leaned forward slightly, like something was hurting him. His skin got sweatier and even paler. His shoulders were hunched, he barely took notes, and he seemed distracted, struggling just to swallow.

"Soren, I can see something’s wrong. What’s going on? Are you in pain?"

He just shook his head and slowly closed his eyes. "Nothing can be done about it. It is what it is."

I had no idea what he meant by that.

"Soren, please, tell me what’s happening."

"It’s nothing, Skye. It doesn’t concern you."

"But I can see you’re in pain. I can’t just ignore it, for fuck’s sake. Are you having stomach cramps?"

Soren didn’t respond.

When the lecture ended, he looked even worse. At one point, he pressed his hands to his face, took a deep breath, and trembled slightly. He didn’t even stand up to leave the room. I could almost see the wave of pain passing through him.

"Listen, let me help you get back to your dorm. You really don’t look well. You shouldn’t be here."

To my surprise, Soren didn’t protest.

As the students started to leave, I gently took his elbow and helped him up. I could tell he appreciated it. He wobbled slightly, struggling to stay on his feet, his shaky hand gripping my forearm as he squeezed his eyelids shut.

I felt a wave of fear. His condition seemed serious.

Protectively, I put my arm around him, and again, to my surprise, he didn't pull away. We walked out of the building, with me guiding him. We moved slowly, and I noticed that his lips were trembling.

Occasionally, he’d stop to gather his strength before moving forward again. Fortunately, his dorm wasn’t far. But when he looked at the steep steps leading to the entrance, I could see panic in his eyes. Without saying anything, I bent down, slipped my hands under his knees, and lifted him up, carrying him up the stairs. Soren made a vague sound of protest, but he was too weak to fight me. Some students passing by turned their heads.

We got to his dorm room in about two minutes. Once there, he pushed his hand against my chest, signaling me to put him down.

He was standing on his own, but still swaying slightly. "Thanks. I can manage from here. You’ve got another class soon, so you should go, or you’ll be late."

"What about you? Can you tell me what’s wrong? Is it stomach pain?"

"It’s nothing major. Sometimes I get these pains. I just need to lie down, and it’ll pass. See you."

He opened his door, slipped inside, and quickly shut it behind him.

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