Jayjay's POV
Morning came softly, like it was afraid of me.
My body didn't feel the same. My head was heavy, my throat burned, and every breath felt like I'd swallowed cold air straight from last night's storm. Staying out in the rain that long had finally caught up with me. I stared at the ceiling of the dorm, blinking slowly, listening to the faint sounds of students moving around outside. Life was going on. Mine felt paused 🤍
I dragged myself out of bed and took a proper bath, letting the warm water run over my shoulders, hoping it would chase away the chills clinging to me. Steam filled the room, but even then, I couldn't shake the tight feeling in my chest. Last night replayed itself in fragments. Raised voices. Rain. Promises cracking under pressure.
When I got dressed, I told Ciel quietly that I'd explain everything that happened yesterday later. Not now. Not yet. I also told her something else. Something final.
"She's not my friend," I said.
Ciel didn't ask who. She just nodded.
After resting for a bit, I realized I couldn't avoid it anymore. I needed medicine. So I grabbed my bag and headed out to the pharmacy, my steps slow but steady.
The pharmacist barely looked surprised when I described my symptoms. Cold. Fever starting. Headache. He handed me medicine with a prescription, explained how to take it, and I paid before stepping back outside. The air was cool, clean. Deceptively calm 🌤️
That's when I saw him.
Keifer.
He stood near the entrance of the girls' dorm, not inside. He couldn't go in. Just… waiting. Like he'd been there longer than he wanted to admit.
"Jay," he said softly. "Are you okay?"
Before I could answer properly, he lifted his hand and gently touched my forehead, checking my temperature. The gesture was careful. Familiar. And somehow… wrong.
"I'm fine," I said quickly, stepping back.
But inside, my thoughts were a mess.
Why was he acting like this?
Why now?
This wasn't the Keifer from yesterday. Or the one from before. He felt like a stranger wearing someone else's face 🫧
"You don't look fine," he said.
"What about you?" I asked instead. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I am. Just… worried."
I didn't know what to say to that. So I thanked him, told him to take care, and walked inside the dorm before my thoughts could spill out.
That's when I saw it.
A small package, neatly placed near my door.
It had a label.
Jasper Jean Mariano Fernandez
Dorm No. 12
My name.
My hands went cold.
I picked it up and went inside, locking the door behind me. The room felt too quiet as I opened the package.
Photos.
My breath caught.
Photos of Keifer and Sienna.
Not just one or two. Many. Taken over months. Different places. Different days. And what made my stomach twist was this detail I couldn't ignore.
Two of the photos showed Keifer wearing the exact same outfit he was wearing today.
Not similar. The same.
They looked real. Painfully real. No obvious edits. No blur. Just moments captured and preserved like evidence 📸
Anger rose in my chest, hot and sharp. I wasn't furious because someone forced them. I was furious because it felt deliberate. Like someone wanted me to see this. To doubt. To break.
My phone rang.
Keifer.
I didn't answer.
A thought slipped into my mind, quiet but poisonous.
Was this why he came?
To distract me before I found this?
I swallowed hard and took pictures of every single photo. Then I sent them to Yuri.
His reply came fast.
I'll take care of them.
Just that. No questions. No panic. I trusted him 🛡️
Not long after, my phone buzzed again. This time, Ci-N.
Jay, remember the family picture we saw at Sienna's house?
I froze.
Yeah.
Think about it. You said the man in that picture looked familiar.
My heart started racing.
Then I replied, half irritated, half stunned.
You want us to go back to a house full of guards? Are you nuts?
A pause.
Then Ci-N answered.
Jay. pictures were taken around the house before. Maybe the family frame appears in one of those photos.
I stared at the screen.
He was right.
Another message came.
Let's meet. Andrew's uncle's restaurant. Ten minutes.
I looked at the medicine on my desk. The photos on my phone. The quiet room around me.
Something big was moving beneath the surface. And I was already standing in its shadow.
Okay, I typed back.
I grabbed my bag.
The rain might have stopped, but whatever it uncovered wasn't going away anytime soon 🌧️➡️🔥