Chapter 2: The confrontation.

Aiden angrily stormed out of the classroom, not responding to the lecturer’s call. How was this even fair? Among all the seniors, he had to be paired with Tristan? That alone got on his nerves and he hated everything else about it too. In fact, it gave him a reason to drop this course—if only he could.

“Aiden?” He heard someone call after him but without turning back, he knew it would be one of his friends.

“You shouldn’t have left class like that.” Troy said, catching up with him. Aiden rolled his eyes and flicked his hand at the comment.

“But that’s not my concern” Troy kept going, “What’s up with you and Tristan?”

At that, Aiden suddenly turned towards him, the look on his face so deadly it could stop a heart.

“Don’t ever, 'ever', mention that name near me again. ’’ Aiden said through tight lips. Troy only nodded and threw up his hands, not particularly bothered. That was Aiden's problem and he could deal with it however he wanted.

“So, what about today’s game? You in?” Troy asked, trying to lighten the mood.

It did the trick. Aiden didn’t respond but began to walk off towards the locker room, still furious. He needed time to try and relax before he blew a gasket.

****

Aiden gripped the basketball, his dribble harder than it needed to be, his teeth clenched with each bounce as he moved across the outdoor court. His mind was somewhere else, far from the game and consumed by one thought—Tristan.

If he had to partner with anyone in the class for this project couldn’t it have been anyone other than his stepbrother? The guy had managed to annoy him since day one. They never even pretended to like each other. Now they were forced to work together.

“That bastard…” Aiden muttered, clenching his fist.

Without thinking, he flung the ball towards the net. It soared far past it but Aiden didn’t care. His mind was too distracted. His friends who were standing a little distance away exchanged confused looks.

This wasn’t like Aiden at all. They knew they didn’t particularly like each other, but they never really understood why Aiden got so riled up about being paired with Tristan? They also had no clue why he hated him either since he never spoke of it.

Meanwhile on the other side of the court, Tristan was making his way towards the library. It was where he usually was seen in school; no doubt that was actually where he spends most of his time. Assigned president of the library council kept him busy enough but he wasn’t bothered by it.

The library was one of the few places he could escape everything—including Aiden, who was only in his first year. Tristan walked with a steady, purposeful stride, ignoring the gazes of some of the female students that didn’t stop gawking at him. It wasn't until someone called out his name did he stop.

“Hey, Tristan!”

He turned to see a girl approaching with a smile.

“Hey,” he greeted her politely.

“Could you help me find that book you recommended? I couldn’t find it yesterday,” she asked, her smile widening. Tristan, known for his reserved politeness, nodded.

“Sure. It’s in the fiction section, third row,” he replied, pausing for a moment. “I can help you find it later if you’d like, or you can come with me. I’m on my way to the library now.”

His voice was calm, even kind. The brief exchange was just long enough to hold him up, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Sure,” she agreed, her smile growing even brighter at the thought of walking with him. Though Tristan rarely smiled at others, she was surprised to catch the faint hint of one on his face.

"I'm Catherine, a business administration major," she said. Tristan only nodded, figuring there was no need to introduce himself—everyone in the school already knew him.

By the time he resumed walking and reached the basketball court, Aiden had completely lost his patience. Without warning, he hurled the ball in Tristan’s direction. He wasn’t aiming at anything in particular—he just threw it as hard as his frustration allowed. But fate, or perhaps Aiden’s anger, had other plans.

The ball flew straight at Tristan and hit him in the face with a loud thud. He stumbled backward, eyes wide with shock as sharp pain hit him. Moments later, he felt the warm trickle of blood running down his nose

"Oh no! You're bleeding," Catherine gasped. Tristan blinked in disbelief, his hand moving to his nose. He sighed, raising his head up to stop the bleeding.

Nearby students gasped, but Tristan barely heard them. All he could focus on was the pain and the blood that had now stained his shirt.

"Here," Catherine offered him a tissue, which Tristan took to stop the bleeding.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Aiden was momentarily surprised by what had just happened. He hadn’t meant to hit Tristan, at least, not like that. For a split second, his lips parted, ready to shout something, maybe an apology. But as he watched Tristan clutch his bleeding nose, a strange sense of satisfaction washed over him. 'This wasn’t so bad after all.'

A smirk appeared at the corner of Aiden’s mouth. His frustration melted away, replaced by a twisted sense of relief and contentment.

'Maybe he deserved it,' Aiden thought, his anger turning into something darker. Without a second thought, he walked over to the spot Tristan was standing.

“Next time, watch your step, alright?” Aiden said, sounding quite sarcastic. Instead of offering help or admit the hit had been an accident, he bumped hard into Tristan’s shoulder as he walked past, leaving his stepbrother standing there.

"That was so childish of him," Catherine said, ready to go after Aiden, but Tristan held her back.

"It's alright" he assured her.

"I'll take you to the clinic," she said, helping him with his backpack as they made their way there.

"What was that all about?" Aiden's friends wondered, staring at Aiden as he walked away, completely unbothered.

Aiden didn’t look back. Even as he made his way to the dorm, yet another awful place he had to share with Tristan, the smirk turned in to an even wider grin. He didn’t care about the basketball game anymore. All he knew was that, for the first time that day, he felt...well... good. The smirk never left his face as he disappeared from view.

*****

Later that evening, after leaving the library to their shared dorm, Tristan was welcomed by the sound of loud music emerging from the room. The dorm was a complete disaster. Clothes, both clean and dirty were carelessly tossed across the floor, some hanging off the edge of the bed, and spilling out of drawers that had clearly been yanked open without a care. There were also shoes scattered and more than four baskets had been thrown helter-shelter and were rolling on the floor having been used as goal posts and not returned back on their shelves.

And there in the middle of it all Aiden’s jersey lay draped over the desk chair as a flag. He figured that this was not an accident. No, this was intentional. Another childish act in their never-ending fight of how to irritate the other.

Tristan exhaled as he stepped closer towards the panel to switch the music off. Aiden, who apparently had been sleeping with his eyes closed suddenly opened them the moment silence engulfed the room.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Aiden barked, clearly annoyed. Tristan didn’t respond, making his way to his bed and tossing his backpack down. Aiden let out an irritated laugh. If there was one thing that drove him crazy, it was Tristan’s ability to act as if he didn’t exist.

Without another word, Aiden stood and went to turn the music back on.

"Touch that speaker again, and I won’t hold back," Tristan warned, his voice and expression deadly serious. He’d always been serious, but this time it was different, intense.

“What?” Aiden furrowed his brow, disbelief in his tone. Tristan shut his eyes, his hand rubbing at his temples as though trying to control his own frustration.

“Aiden, at first, I thought your behavior was just ignorance, immaturity, even. But now I see it’s worse than that. You’re not just ignorant; you’re plain stupid and annoying.”

“What did you just say?” Aiden took a threatening step forward, his fists clenched as he tried to hold himself back from throwing a punch.

“I know you can’t stand me, and you know I can't stand you either. But everything you’ve been doing, picking fights, trying to get under my skin... it’s funny. Shouldn’t 'I' be the one doing that? After all…” Tristan paused, locking eyes with Aiden. “You’re the one from a family of gold diggers.”

Aiden’s breath caught in his throat, his fists tightening even further. “What did you just say?”

“Remember what I told you months ago? Right before you started college?” He stepped closer, his voice dripping with venom. “Or did you already forget? Your mom dumped your dad when he went broke. I still don’t know how he managed to force his way into my mom’s life, but everyone knows the truth; He went after her for her money, plain... and simple.”

Aiden didn’t hesitate. His fist flew forward, connecting squarely with Tristan’s face, landing a hard punch that shattered what remained of his already injured nose.