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“Well, think about it this way. Are our emotions not directly connected to our overall wellbeing and vitality? If you are sick, hurt, tired, does that not impact emotion? And is vitality not directly connected to our heart?”
She muses and her face lights up. “I guess I never really considered it from that perspective.”
I move closer to her and casually position myself directly in front of her. “Have you ever taken the time to think about what it truly means to have a broken heart? Why is it that the emotions we feel in our chest are connected to our brain? And if that’s the case, why do we perceive them here?” I softly place my hand on her chest, right over her heart, and her lips part slightly.
As soon as I make physical contact, Mikael withers inside me, bursting to come out. Luckily, my walls are stronger while in my office. Here, I am in charge, and he has no place fronting at work.
“Huh,” she says, her brain working through it. Her little mouth chewing on that pen.
I mirror her confused facial expression and move my hand. “It’s a powerful metaphor, but it helps put it all in perspective. Go back to the classic philosophers. I’m convinced they all had it figured out back then, and scientists have merely been wasting our time ever since.”
Her eyes linger on mine, her pale face filling with the same beautiful color as it does when she’s turned on.
“And that, Summer, is the reason your heart is beating so fast right now while you’re talking to me. It’s all connected right there.” My eyes drift to her cleavage, then back to her questioning gaze. A moment of silence passes between us.
“Have we met before, Lincoln?” she finally asks, rising, her body now positioned between my legs. Our faces are in line with each other and our eyes meet. “I feel like we have. You seem so familiar to me.”
I tilt my head, and she mirrors my movement.
“I must have one of those faces,” I tease, arching my brows.
She studies me, peering into my eyes, trying to find some evidence of him, which she won’t find. Our mouths are so close, and I wonder if she wants me to kiss her.
“Yeah,” she whispers. “I guess you kind of do.”
She pulls away, slipping her body away from mine, but the electricity between us is still simmering. “Thank you for everything,” she says and leans over to grab her computer.
“Anytime, Summer. I want you to succeed.”
She turns to leave but pauses. “What did you mean when you said…him?”
My eyes shoot to her.
“Earlier, when you asked me about my study partner. I don’t recall telling you my study partner was male.”
I let my eyes fall to her sexy bare legs. “I guess I just assumed. Apologies if that was presumptuous.”
She presses her lips into a thin line. “I have a couple of roommates I can talk to, but sometimes it’s nice talking to a stranger, you know?”
“My door is always open, if you ever want to talk.”
She pulls her backpack over her shoulder as a flush hits her face.
“Oh, and Summer.” She glances back at me, her white hair gradually darkening as the room dims with the onset of evening. “Take care out there. This school always gets a little crazy with Shadowface. Don’t let him distract you.”
Her face is unreadable as she listens to my words. A hint of a smile, a touch of emotion.
“Thanks, Lincoln. It was really nice to meet you.”
“It was nice to meet you, too, Summer.”
She melts into the darkness of the hallway and a jolt hits me like an electric current, nearly paralyzing me.
With calm and ease, I rise and close the door behind her. My jaw clenches at the laughter that echoes in my mind and the current that runs over my skin, like I had an unexpected jab into my heart.
He’s here with me, I realize, completely synchronized with my mind like a spider spinning its web. The level of control and precision astonishes me. He weaved this whole time, like a whisper in the wind, and I didn’t notice the complexity of the pattern until after it was finished.
The hairs on my neck stand on end, and it’s not from Mikael. The sudden jolt of emotion wasn’t caused by him—it didn’t carry his emotional signature. Whatever it was is far more unexpected and alarming.
