The crisp autumn air swept through the cobblestone streets as I hurried across the university campus, my scarf trailing behind me like a banner in the wind.

  I was already ten minutes te for my International Business seminar when I almost collided with him. At 22, being te wasn't exactly my style - I'd built a reputation for having my life together, even if that meant intimidating some people along the way. Growing up as the only girl in pickup basketball games teaches you to hold your own.

  My coffee miraculously didn't spill - thank you, basketball reflexes - when I looked up to find myself staring into the most striking green eyes I'd ever seen. The guy was gorgeous in a way that seemed almost unfair, his features a perfect blend of Japanese and Brazilian heritage. At 190cm, he towered over my 160cm frame, and the amused smile pying on his lips made my stomach do an unexpected flip.

  "Nice save," he said, nodding at my intact coffee. "Though I'm disappointed – spilling it would've given me an excuse to buy you another one."

  I raised an eyebrow, fighting back a smile. "That's a terrible pickup line."

  "Who said it was a pickup line?" He grinned, extending his hand. "I'm Alex."

  That chance encounter marked the beginning of something I couldn't quite define. We didn't seek each other out, but whenever we crossed paths - in the library, the campus coffee shop, between lectures - there was this undeniable chemistry. Alex had a way of making even brief encounters feel like mini-adventures, turning mundane coffee runs into story-worthy moments with his ridiculous jokes and dramatic retellings of his test academic near-disasters.

  Being around Alex was easy in a way that retionships - even friendships - rarely were for me. We were both allergic to pretense, preferring brutal honesty to social niceties. He never treated me as delicate or intimidating, the two boxes most people tried to put me in. Instead, he saw me as an equal, someone to debate with, ugh with, share comfortable silences with.

  "You and Alex seem to have quite the chemistry," Liv commented once over dinner, after witnessing one of our bantering sessions in the campus café. "Has anything ever happened?"

  "We're just friends," I replied, focusing intently on my food.

  "Why not? He's gorgeous, you clearly get along, and it could be fun," she'd say with a suggestive smile, earning herself my best eye roll.

  I didn't think of him as anything more than a friend. Besides, Alex was clearly enjoying his position as the business school's resident heartthrob, his natural charm and Brazilian-Japanese good looks ensuring he never cked attention. I'd roll my eyes at his gym selfies and tease him about his endless stream of admirers, while he'd mock my intense study schedules and addiction to anime.

  Over the next few months, our friendship fell into comfortable rhythms. We'd meet for coffee between csses, him always running te, me pretending to be annoyed. He'd charm his way through group projects while I actually did the work, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to mind. There was something disarming about the way he'd fsh that smile and say "Mika, you're the only one who actually understands this stuff anyway."

  Then came Thomas's party. The night was a blur of vodka shots and heated debates about the coming Economics exams. I was expining my theory about future exams questions while he pretended to understand, standing closer than usual, his green eyes focused on me with an intensity that I brushed off as the alcohol's effect. The kiss happened somewhere between my expnation of the teacher’s comment during css and his pyful mockery of my enthusiasm. It was messy and drunk and over too quickly when someone stumbled in looking for more drinks. I didn't think much of it at the time - Alex was a natural flirt, and I'd seen him charm plenty of girls at parties before.

  The next morning, over coffee and hangovers with my best friend Liv watching us with knowing eyes, we did what came naturally - we joked about it. Turned it into another story, another shared memory to file away. Everything was normal, comfortable, exactly as it should be. If there was a new undercurrent of flirtation in our banter, well, that was just Alex being Alex.

  A week ter, he announced his exchange semester in Spain. Four months suddenly seemed like an eternity, though I convinced myself it was just because I'd miss having someone to share coffee breaks with. We promised to stay in touch, to share stories about our adventures. Just friends, keeping in contact. Nothing more.

  After all, I was Mika - independent, focused, unstoppable. I didn't do complicated emotions or messy retionships. I had pns, goals, ambitions. Romance wasn't part of the equation, especially not with someone like Alex, who treated life - and usually girls - like an easy game he was guaranteed to win.