MELISSA’S POV

I was still staring at him when he repeated it.

“Want to grab food later?”

He wasn’t smirking like usual. No signature Xavier smugness. Just... waiting. Casual. Calm. Not his usual brand of chaos.

But I wasn’t ready for calm. Not from him.

Still, something about the silence stretched a little too long between us.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” he added.

I blinked. “Like what?”

“Like I just asked you to walk into a pit of fire.”

“Well, ...