Cian shuddered, biting his tongue. He couldn't bring himself to say that it did work, and worked, probably, as powerfully as the chemistry student had wanted it to. That ever since drinking the mix and seeing the man he couldn't stop thinking about him and that every moment of growing shyness was slowly killing him. That his shyness was affecting Cian's ability to just tell the man what he thought and felt. That it hurt to be so completely rejected, though logical thought process tried to tell him that Cian hadn't been the man's choice, that it was someone else, and Cian had ruined that chance.

Instead, he pulled his sketchbook out of his bag and ripped the sketch of the man out, folding it in half and shoving it into his hand. "I dunno. T-tell me if it works." He stepped back, but was stopped by the wall before he was able to sidle away and run outside. All he did was run---it was what Cian knew, because confrontation paralyzed him, even if he were so entranced by the one confronting him. He stopped halfway down the walkway and collapsed onto the nearby bench---there were two, each with a dedication to some names that helped fund the building of the school. It didn't seem to matter who the man was. He didn't really care who Cian was, though he had gone a step ahead of Cian to figure out who his new, unwanted suitor was.

It was hard to accept that the chemistry student wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, that he actually hoped he had gotten the mixture wrong just because Cian had accidentally thought it was meant for him. He cradled his head in his hands, feeling his face burn with humiliation, and his vision blurred with tears that fell steadily to the dry sidewalk between his feet.