With that, he dove back in. Ashley was horrified. There is literally someone standing outside knocking! How could we just ignore this? She struggled harder, but Arthur's grip was firm. She didn't dare use full strength, afraid of hurting him. The knocking continued, each thud hammering against Ashley's nerves. She realized that she'd only closed the door, not locked it! If the person outside barged in now and saw them like this, she'd never recover from the shame! Taylor had heard Arthur was back. Having spent days immersed in his research, he'd only just emerged to find Arthur absent from the dorm. Texts went unanswered, and inquiries revealed Arthur had just returned from the hospital. He'd gotten into another fight while still injured! Last time, at the student council office, by the time Taylor arrived after the scuffle with Henry's group, everyone had already left. The downside of living in this quiet area was being out of the loop on campus happenings. Though this only applied to Taylor. Mia and Sage were abroad for academic exchanges and wouldn't be back soon. Taylor had been holed up studying computer science. But if witnesses saw Arthur heading toward the dorm, why wasn't he answering the door? With each unanswered knock, Taylor grew more frantic. What if something is wrong? Ashley has returned with him. Surely they couldn't both be in trouble? Isn't Ashley less severely hurt? His knocking escalated to pounding as he shouted, "Arthur! Arthur! Open up! Are you okay?!" When silence persisted, Taylor's voice rose to a bellow. "Arthur! Ashley! What's wrong?? Open the door!" Finally, Arthur's furious roar came from inside. "Stop yelling!" Taylor paused mid-pound. "Oh… you are in there." Silence resumed. Taylor's anxiety spiked again. "Arthur, open the door!" As his calls grew increasingly desperate, he paced like a caged animal. "They answered once but then nothing… What if something happened? I can't just stand here!" He stepped back, bracing to shoulder-charge the door. Just as he lunged, the door swung open.Arthur stood there, face cold and dark. A closer look revealed frustration of another kind beneath the anger. For the first time, Arthur found his friend annoying. His lips were slightly swollen, clothes were hastily thrown on. As he adjusted his collar, Taylor's charging figure came into view. Instinctively, Arthur sidestepped. Taylor crashed face-first onto the floor. Instead of helping him up immediately, Arthur felt a petty satisfaction at the interruption's payoff. Rubbing his sore forehead, Taylor scrambled to his feet. He was more concerned about Arthur than his own pain. "Arthur, are you okay? Why didn't you answer sooner? What happened? Where's Ashley?" His barrage of questions, delivered with pure oblivious concern, showed no awareness of what he'd interrupted.