That Killed Us 14

Chapter14 

Lydia Rivers spent her first month in London wrestling with language and rhythm. 

Professors spoke fast. Her English was solid, but she still had to track the slides to keep pace. 

Meals felt unfamiliar–too plain, too bland–and the damp chill seeped into her bones. 

Even walking routes demanded focus so she wouldn’t get lost by taking the wrong turn off Alderton High Street. 

But people were kind. 

Classmates offered their notes without being asked. The librarian smiled and showed her how to use the catalog to find stacks and call numbers. 

Slowly, she made friends–someone to sit with in lecture, someone to split a club sandwich between seminars, someone to whisper–joke with in the back of the room. 

Those small, steady kindnesses eased the pressure that had followed her out of Westbridge Hills. 

By week three, her department assigned a group project. Lydia was paired with a Chinese American student she had already noticed. Noah Sterling. 

He was striking–clean lines, strong jaw, a profile people’s eyes returned to even when he sat perfectly still. Yet he kept to himself, always in the last row. He either took 

k notes that weren’t class–related or wore headphones. He rarely spoke, even during group work, 

but when the professor called on him, he always hit the exact point. 

After class, while others went out for a drink, Noah shouldered his backpack and headed to the Copper Kettle Diner near campus, working shifts bussing tables or organizing orders. Even so, his grades stayed at the top of the department; whenever scholarships were posted, his name led the list. 

Lydia hadn’t expected to land on the same team as him. 

It didn’t take long to learn his reputation for 

rilliance was well earned. 

“You solved this model too?” During one meeting, Lydia stared at the formulas he had just sketched across scrap paper, genuinely impressed. 

Their professor had said this framework wouldn’t be covered until next year. Lydia had taught herself the derivation and still in places. 

Noah glanced up without commentary, nudged the paper toward her, and tapped a single number with his fingertip. 

She followed where he pointed and immediately saw the error in her earlier work. 

A rush of admiration went through her. 

She had always respected sharp minds–especially the quiet kind that didn’t show off. 

got stuck 

The night before their presentation, the teammate assigned to speak texted from the ER with acute appendicitis. Panic rippled through the group. 

Twenty–plus slides, academic English, tight Q&A–there was no time to bring anyone new up to speed. 

“I can try,” Lydia started, drawing, a breath. 

“I’ve got it.” Noah stood first. His voice was low and clipped. 

He took the deck, sat, and began reading fast. 

Everyone watched him, uneasy, 

Thirty minutes wasn’t enough time for most native speakers to absorb the details. 

Chapter14 

Dreame–Read Romance Stories 

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Noah read without fuss. His fingers tapped a few keys, then he jotted a couple of keywords. It took him under two minutes. 

When their turn came, he walked to the front, opened the slides, and launched in without a hiccup. 

His cadence was steady, his logic crisp. Even when the professor interrupted with a granular challenge, Noah answered on the fly, threading the question into his next point as if it had been there all along. 

They finished with the highest score. The professor even paused to praise their team. 

By the time they packed up, snow had already started to fall outside. 

Lydia gathered her things and saw Noah heading for the door, backpack on, no umbrella. Snowflakes already speckled his hair. 

“Noah–wait!” She grabbed her umbrella and hurried after him. “I’ve got one. We can share to the bus stop.” 

He stopped and, without turning, said flatly, “No.” 

The blunt refusal caught her short. Her hand–still offering the umbrella–hovered in the air. 

Then he turned and realized it was her. Something flick his eyes. After a quiet beat, he amended, almost awkwardly, “…Okay. 

Thanks.” 

‘s wront a little pink, or how his fingers curled at his side as he fell into step beneath the 

Lydia didn’t notice the way the tips of his ears 

umbrella. 

From then on, Lydia kept running into Noah. 

In the library, he would appear with a stack of books, settling wordlessly at the table beside her, studying with relentless focus. 

In the cafeteria, he ate alone in a corner booth, quiet and neat. 

They overlapped in electives more often than chance warranted. Once, when her laptop suddenly blue–screened, she stood in the hall, stunned and near tears. Noah passed by, took the computer without a word, crouched, and worked for ten minutes. He restored 

everything. 

“You can fix laptops too?” Lydia blinked as he stood, brushing dust from his jeans. 

“Learned a bit before.” He paused, then added, “If it breaks again, you can come find me.” 

He turned away into the drifting snow, tall and spare, profile cut clean. 

For no good reason Lydia could name, her heart stumbled once, hard. 

Chapter 14