Off the Record

Bernadette Ezeani has college down to a science-or so she tells herself. Between endless coding labs, caffeine streaks, and a roommate who treats their dorm like a hotel, she's perfected the art of surviving without feeling too much.

Then comes Elikai Rhodes: calm, brilliant, and far too observant for her own comfort. When he becomes her lab mentor, their connection starts as academic-until late-night debugging sessions turn into conversations she never saw coming. The lines between logic and emotion, discipline and desire, begin to blur.

But as the semester unfolds, Bernadette learns that not everything needs to be perfect, published, or proven. Some things don't belong in reports or records.

Some truths live quietly, off the record.