A man in a black leather jacket and jeans, with a Polaroid camera, stood just at the edge of the dark alley, which was beside the coffee shop. He was hidden well among the shadows and no one noticed him standing there, keeping an eagle eye on the brunette and the blonde man who made their way to the shop. He watched as the brunette hugged her jacket tighter around her and moved a little closer to the man. He watched as she turned around once, before entering the shop. Her eyes scanned the air where he was standing but her plain human eyes could not see through the darkness and make out the man watching her. The man raised his camera, and quickly clicked a picture of the brunette and the blonde. She turned around and entered the shop, oblivious of the action. The man looked at the picture and felt satisfied. This was going to be fun.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The small bell on the shop jingled as Erik pushed the door and held it open for Nicole to pass through.

The coffee shop was aesthetically decorated, with wooden tables and bean bags and fairy lights illuminating the room. There was a chalkboard in the front with the menu written on it, and Amy, one of the waitresses at the shop who had become a close acquaintance of Nicole and Maddy's, was bustling around, taking the last orders of the day.

She smiled when she saw Nicole and nearly did a double take when her gaze shifted to Erik. Her eyes widened and the coffee tray she was holding shook a bit.

Nicole internally rolled her eyes and went over to her favourite spot by the window. It was at the corner of the room and was sort of separated from the other parts of the shop.

They sat down at the wooden table, facing each other.

"This shop is really well decorated," Erik said, his eyes scanning the walls on which antique vinyl recorders were mounted.

"Yes it is, it's one of my favourite places besides the library and one other".

He raised his eyebrows at this.

"What's the other favourite place?"

"It's a secret," Nicole said slyly.

"Ah, and I'm guessing I won't have the honour of sharing the burden of the secret with you?"

"Not yet, you won't."

"But, someday?"

"Someday, we'll see".

Erik stared into Nicole's black eyes. She's so beautiful, he thought. But something is bothering her. She looks skittish.

Just then Amy came over to them, interrupting his train of thoughts.

"Ready to order?", she asked, the question mostly directed at Erik.

God, she's literally ogling him, thought Nicole.

"I'll have the usual," Nicole said, breaking Amy's lustful gaze, directed at Erik.

"Mocha latte and a chocolate eclair then?", she asked Nicole.

"Yes".

"And what would you like sir?", Amy bit her lip and batted her eyelashes.

"I'll have what she's having, thanks", Erik smiled at her, completely ignoring her attempt at seduction. Too desperate, he thought. He hated it when women did that with him. Looking good could be such a headache sometimes, everyone's eyes are naturally drawn to you and you can never really melt away into a corner. It was infuriating.

"Okay then," Amy wrote down the order and went away, swaying her hips. But before that, she gave Nicole an appreciative glance, who ignored her completely.

Nicole felt uncomfortable, for some reason. She suddenly felt angry at Amy. She couldn't quite explain why she felt that way. And Erik was smiling amusedly again, watching her reaction.

Nicole toned down the murderous glare she had fixed at Amy's retreating figure. Instead, she cleared her throat and attempted to make some conversation.

"So, tell me something about yourself," she asked Erik.

"Well I'm from Russia. We shifted here recently, as you already know, due to my father's business. He works for Google, he's a programmer there. He earns enough to keep us in a luxurious way, a bit more than others". Nicole noticed how he didn't say the word 'rich' . Modest, she thought. "My mother was previously a professor, back in Russia, but now she has decided to retire and enjoy some solitude in the house. They live in Chicago in Illinois. I don't have any siblings and journalism is my life. Well that's the basics, what about you?"

"I lived downtown with my aunt before University and before that I used to live in Florida with my parents. Both of them were cops. They worked for the Orlando Police Department."

"Worked?"

"Yes, my father died in a crossfire when I was six and my mother died four years ago as well". Nicole looked down at her hands on her lap, which were clamped around each other, their knuckles white. She pressed harder to stop them from shaking.

"How did she die?"

Thankfully, Nicole didn't have to answer that question because Amy came with their order. She didn't want to lie to Erik, but everytime, the words choked her. No one really knew how her mother died, except her aunt, Sarah Winters. Everyone thought that she had died on her police duty, much like her father. Maddy knew that was not how she died, but she didn't know the whole story either. No one did.

Amy kept the coffee mugs and eclairs on the table.

"Anything else?", she asked in a chirpy voice.

"No, thank you," Erik said. He seemed to want to get rid of her as quickly as he could. He looked uncomfortable under her intense stare.

"So, what did you need help with?" Nicole asked, quickly changing the topic. She didn't want to answer the previous question.

"Well, since I just came here, I need some help with the assignments. Our way of teaching in Russia was different and I'm struggling quite a bit. I would have asked Ryder, but then he wouldn't have been able to spend time with Maddy, and I didn't want their relationship to suffer at my expense. You are the only other friend I have here and hence I wanted to ask if you would help me." He looked at her hopefully. Erik noticed that Nicole hadn't answered his previous question, but he didn't push. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable. He had noticed how her eyes had glazed over when she was talking about her parents, specially her mother, and that was enough to tell him that that was a sensitive topic.

"Of course, I would love to help you. But what do you need help with?"

They talked for sometime more and decided that they would meet every Friday so that Nicole could help him catch up. The more Nicole talked with him, the more at ease she felt. He was nice and polite, yet not boring. He teased and flirted with her, but just enough to make her smile and not creep her out. By the time they left the coffee shop, Nicole's eyes were happy and bright once more, and she was smiling. She had completely forgotten about the sensation of being watched and of the silhouette.

Erik bade her goodbye at the entrance to the University. She watched as he walked down the street, his platinum blonde hair standing out in the darkness. He turned around once and saw her still standing there, looking confused yet contented. He smiled to himself and walked back to the apartment. There was something about Nicole that drew him in, whether it was her shy, quiet yet intelligent nature or those beautiful black eyes of hers, he couldn't tell.

Nicole turned around after Erik's figure disappeared around the bend and she crossed the grassy field to the entrance to the girls' dorms. It was very quiet. No parties were raging and music wasn't blasting from anywhere. But today was Thursday, the parties would happen tomorrow.

She bounded up the stairs, humming to herself. The caffeine in her system had boosted her energy, and she wasn't tired anymore, infact, she was completely prepared to finish the assignment, even if it took her the entire night.

She reached the door to her and Maddy's room and saw a post it stuck on it. Maddy had written it saying that she would be back in a while, she and Ryder had decided to go for a late night walk. She had also scribbled that a sealed letter had arrived for her and was kept on her study table.

Nicole removed the note and unlocked the door, curious about the letter. Who could have written her a letter?

She entered the room and switched on the lights. She went over to her table and saw a white envelope kept on it. She picked it up and flipped it around. Her name was written on the back in elegant handwriting. The handwriting seemed familiar but she couldn't place where she had seen it.

She took out the envelope cutter from her drawer and sliced it open. A small paper slipped out. Her heart suddenly started beating violently against her chest. She couldn't breathe. Her hands which held the paper started shaking as her eyes read the four words written in bold, blood red ink.

"I'm back. Miss me?"

There was a Polaroid attached to it with a paperclip, of her and Erik. It was taken just outside the coffee shop.