DWC Nov 2025 Day 3 - Crush/Serious
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re too serious?”
Nahi looked up from the open textbook beside her. She was holding half of a ham and brie sandwich with garlic whole-grain mustard, and didn’t want to smear it over the section on gastrointestinal maladies. Violet eyes blinked at the speaker, one of her classmates.
“You know,” she said, “that’s not something I’ve ever been accused of.” That wasn’t true, well not exactly, Irenthalas had said things similar, but not exactly.
Gavelin turned the chair on her left around and sat astride it, arms folded over the backrest. “You are. You might smile, charm, and tease with the best of them, but the inside of your head is very serious.”
He had a reputation for unnervingly sharp insight, and most of their classmates had been subjected to his too-knowing observations. So far, Nahi had been spared.
She set down her sandwich and wiped her hands clean, meeting his gaze long enough to make most people uncomfortable. Not him, he just waited her out until she broke and said, “Alright, enlighten me.”
“You joined every study group last semester even though your grades were fine.”
The word fine made her wrinkle her nose. He noticed, chuckled, and marked an invisible tally in the air.
“You had the worst case of test anxiety,” he went on.
“Other people had test anxiety too.”
“I said the worst case. If you were as carefree as you like to seem, you wouldn’t have been so bothered.”
When she didn’t argue, he continued. “You care deeply about being good at everything you do.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with being good at things.”
His knowing gold eyes, as rich as amber, stayed on her until she waved a hand. “Go on.”
“When they announced placements for the practicals today, you looked like someone shot your puppy.”
She groaned softly. He was second in their class and had gotten one of the two emergency rotations she’d been hoping for.
Nahi held up a finger. “Alright, but I’m planning to work in the field, and you know that. Getting that kind of experience would’ve been helpful.”
The cheeky bastard picked up the other half of her sandwich and took a bite, earning a dirty look.
“You owe me fifty silver,” she said flatly.
“That whole sandwich was only ten.”
Nahi smiled sweetly. “Yes, but it was more valuable to me because it was mine.”
Gavelin snorted, then grabbed her pencil and scribbled an IOU on the napkin she’d thrown at him. “Practicals are only a month long. That’s not enough time to learn how to be a combat medic. It’s barely enough to know if you’d even enjoy that sort of work.”
She didn’t argue, he wasn’t wrong, but disappointment still lingered.
“You got a surgical rotation,” he added. “That’s just as good for you as the ER would’ve been. Better hours, real surgeries. Honestly, I’m jealous.”
“Want to trade?” she asked with a deceptively sweet smile.
“Not on your life,” he scoffed. “I earned it.”
“Ouch.”
He marked another invisible point in the air. “See?”
“Jerk.”
@daily-writing-challenge
