Collin stared at Jason, his eyes widening as he took in his friend’s transformation. It had only been a few months—Jason wasn’t gone that long—but the man standing in front of him now? This wasn’t the Jason he knew.

  The sharpness in his gaze, the way his shoulders squared with newfound weight, the muscle he’d packed on—it was like looking at a different person entirely.

  Jason held Collin’s stare, silently willing him not to ask about the change.

  Collin smirked, breaking the tension first. “I send you one video, and you come running? You must really like him.”

  Jason let out a slow exhale and sank onto the couch, the exhaustion hitting him all at once. Between the long flight, the life he had to leave behind, and the battle he was mentally preparing to fight, his patience was wearing thin.

  He leaned his head back, closing his eyes for a moment. “More on the grounds that I don’t like being fucked with.”

  Collin let out a low whistle, watching Jason’s fingers flex against his knee.

  Yeah. This definitely wasn’t the same Jason.

  Across campus, Gareth sat in the cafeteria, absentmindedly pushing the st remnants of his dinner around his pte. His mind was elsewhere, lost in thoughts he wasn’t sure he wanted to entertain.

  That is, until someone plopped down beside him, jolting him back to the present.

  He turned, startled, before his expression immediately dropped into one of boredom. Of course. Estelle, grinning like she knew something he didn’t.

  “What do you want?” he muttered, already bracing himself.

  Estelle scoffed, folding her arms with exaggerated fir. “I was going to tell you your boyfriend is back, but never mind.”

  Gareth frowned, barely sparing her a gnce. “What boyfriend? Last time I checked, I’m single.”

  Estelle gave him a long, unimpressed stare before tilting her head. “You can pretend to be a whore all you want, Gee, but we all know you’re obsessed with that tall Asian guy from the business faculty.”

  Gareth blinked. His mind took a second to register her words before realisation smmed into him like a freight train.

  His eyes widened. His heart jumped.

  “He’s back?!”

  His chair scraped loudly against the floor as he shot up, nearly knocking over his tray in the process.

  Estelle’s eyes went wide as heads turned in their direction, the entire cafeteria now watching him with varying degrees of curiosity. Before she could tell him to calm the hell down, Gareth was already grabbing his things, hastily tidying up his mess before bolting out the door.

  Estelle sighed, shaking her head in amusement. “Yeah, not obvious at all.”

  Collin was just about to step into the bathroom when a sudden knock echoed through the dorm.

  He frowned. It was te—who the hell could it be?

  With cautious steps, he approached the door, unlocking it with a slight hesitation. The moment it cracked open, a hand shot out, cmping around his throat in a vice-like grip.

  Collin barely had time to react before he was yanked inside, stumbling backward as his breath hitched. He struggled, hands gripping at the stranger’s wrist, trying to shove him off, but the man was too strong—his other hand already swinging the door shut with a soft click.

  And then, the stranger turned his full attention to him.

  A split second ter, Collin was smmed into the wall with such force that his skull cracked against the pster. His vision swam, pain fring white-hot in his head. His body sagged, and before he could even make a sound, darkness swallowed him whole.

  The intruder barely spared Collin another gnce.

  Instead, he stepped deeper into the dorm, moving with a natural, predatory grace toward Jason’s room. The door was slightly ajar, allowing him to push it open effortlessly.

  Inside, Jason y sprawled on the bed, fully dressed, the dim glow of the bedside mp casting shadows over his face. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm—fast asleep.

  The young man’s face twisted in disgust. Pathetic.

  And worse—he reeked.

  Jason was nothing like the man in the photos. Nothing like the person his brother had described so foolishly, so fondly.

  With slow, deliberate steps, he moved to the bedside, staring down at Jason the way one might stare at an insect crawling across their skin.

  This man was ugly. Unworthy. Beneath them.

  His brother was an idiot for even looking at him twice.

  And he was going to make damn sure that mistake was never made again.

  Jason’s eyes snapped open, instincts fring like wildfire.

  Danger.

  His body moved before his mind fully caught up, sitting up in bed just as his gaze locked onto the figure standing beside him.

  The younger man stiffened, surprised. Just seconds ago, Jason had been snoring like a bear—how the hell did he wake up so suddenly?

  Jason took in the sight of him: Dr. Judge.

  The medical prodigy.

  More importantly—Gareth’s brother.

  His presence here was all wrong. He shouldn’t even be on campus, let alone in Jason’s dorm in the middle of the night.

  Jason’s grip tightened on the gun hidden in his right hand, fingers ghosting over the trigger. Slowly, he pushed himself off the bed, keeping his eyes locked on the doctor.

  “How did you get in here?”

  Judge didn’t answer. His movements were lightning-fast—his hand shed out, the bde fshing under the dim light. Jason barely had time to react before pain bloomed across his chest, fabric slicing open as the knife carved a shallow line through his skin.

  For a second, Jason just stared at the wound. Then, his lips curled—not in pain, but amusement.

  ‘So that’s how it’s going to be?’

  With a low chuckle, he let the gun slip from his grip. The moment it hit the floor, his fist shot forward.

  The impact was solid.

  Judge’s head snapped to the side as Jason’s knuckles smashed into his jaw.

  The doctor stumbled but didn’t fall, his eyes burning with an icy fury. He wiped a drop of blood from his busted lip, his face twisting into something dark.

  Jason rolled his shoulders. “I was going to let you walk out of here because you’re his brother, but—” he gestured to the fresh cut on his chest, voice dropping into something almost amused, almost deadly, “—you attacked first.”

  That was all it took.

  Judge lunged.

  Jason met him head-on.

  The room erupted into chaos.

  Judge’s elbow shot forward, aiming for Jason’s ribs, but Jason twisted at the st second, catching the hit on his forearm before retaliating with a brutal knee to the doctor’s stomach.

  Judge grunted but retaliated immediately, grabbing a textbook from the desk and smming it into Jason’s face. The blow staggered Jason back, a low growl escaping him before he yanked the book from Judge’s hands and hurled it across the room.

  They crashed into the desk, sending papers and a mp flying. Jason grabbed the doctor by the colr and smmed him into the wall, but Judge twisted out of his grip, nding a brutal punch to Jason’s gut before swinging his knee up, aiming for Jason’s ribs.

  Jason caught it.

  For a split second, their eyes locked—Judge’s filled with cold determination, Jason’s burning with something darker.

  With a snarl, Jason twisted Judge’s leg, throwing him off bance. The doctor crashed into the bookshelf, sending books and gss trinkets shattering onto the floor.

  Judge barely had time to breathe before Jason was on him again, yanking him up and smming him onto the desk. The wooden surface cracked under the force.

  Jason’s fist cocked back—

  Judge’s hand darted out, gripping a broken gss shard from the wreckage.

  The bde swung up, aiming straight for Jason’s side—

  At the st second, Jason caught Judge’s wrist, stopping the bde mere inches from his skin.

  Their breaths were heavy.

  Their muscles tensed.

  Neither willing to back down.

  And for the first time that night—Jason smirked.

  “Nice try,” he muttered, twisting Judge’s wrist just enough to make him drop the shard.

  It cttered to the floor, and Jason shoved the doctor back, both men panting, both refusing to be the first to fall.

  Jason wiped the blood from his busted lip, tilting his head.

  “Not bad, Doctor,” he admitted. “But if you really wanted me dead—” He took a slow, deliberate step forward. “—you should’ve brought a scalpel instead.”

  Gareth made it to Jason’s dorm, unlocking the door with the spare key he still had.

  The moment he stepped inside, he nearly tripped over something—no, someone.

  Collin.

  Unconscious on the floor.

  Gareth raised a brow, smirked slightly, but didn’t let it faze him. The warning bells in his head rang, but he ignored them, his focus locked on his real destination.

  Jason.

  With light, eager steps, he made his way toward Jason’s room, anticipation curling in his chest. But as he pushed the door open, that excitement froze.

  The sight before him was chaos.

  Blood-streaked knuckles. Bruised faces. Heaving chests.

  Jason and his brother—Serenith—stood across from each other, their bodies battered, their expressions wild.

  Jason was just about to throw another punch when Gareth’s voice cut through the room, calm but sharp as a bde.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  Both men turned to him.

  Gareth stood there, arms crossed, unimpressed. If he was shaken by the blood and wreckage, he didn’t show it.

  Serenith wiped his split lip, looking at Jason with a twisted smirk. “You’re lucky he’s here to save you.”

  Jason barely spared Gareth a gnce, his focus still locked on Serenith. His voice was steady, his stance still ready for a fight.

  “Speak for yourself,” Jason shot back. “Ignore him. We’re going for round two.”

  Gareth’s gaze lingered on Jason now—really looking at him.

  The man before him wasn’t the Jason he had known.

  Jason was broader, muscles defined under the bloodied shirt clinging to his body. Tattoos, dark and intricate, snaked along his arms—ones that hadn’t been there before. His posture wasn’t casual or cocky like before. It was firm, unwavering, dangerous.

  ‘When did Jason become like this?’

  Gareth’s eyes narrowed slightly, but instead of questioning Jason, he turned to Serenith.

  “If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling Dad.”

  Serenith scoffed, completely unbothered. “Which one? Doesn’t matter. Either way, both our dads will deal with me.”

  But he didn’t press his luck. With one st gre at Jason, Serenith turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving them alone.

  The moment the door shut, Jason exhaled and sank onto the bed, wincing slightly as he gnced around at the mess. His hand pressed lightly against his bleeding chest, but his eyes weren’t on his wound.

  They were on Gareth.

  Gareth walked over, kneeling as he picked up a picture frame from the shattered remains of Jason’s desk. His fingers brushed over the gss, wiping away the dust and cracks. The photo inside was an old one—of the two of them.

  For a moment, neither spoke.

  Then, Gareth sighed and met Jason’s gaze.

  “Why do I have to hear from other people that you’re back?”

  Jason tilted his head, a slow smirk tugging at his lips, but there was no amusement in his eyes.

  “Why do I have to hear from other people that you’re a whore?”

  The room went still.

  Then—crack.

  Gareth’s palm struck Jason’s face, sharp and sudden.

  Jason’s head barely turned with the force of it.

  “I’m not a whore,” Gareth said, voice tight, eyes burning.

  Jason’s smirk widened, tongue running over the inside of his cheek.

  “You’re not innocent either,” he taunted.

  Gareth clenched his fists, his breathing shallow. His heart was pounding—whether from anger or something else entirely, he didn’t know.

  Jason just sat there, watching him.

  Waiting.

  Testing him.

  And Gareth, for the first time in a long time, wasn’t sure if he would pass.