Keifer’s POV
I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Jayjay.
Ever since we had left the warehouse, my mind kept replaying the same scene.
Forty men.
Forty trained men.
And Jayjay had taken them down.
Alone.
She hadn’t screamed.
She hadn’t panicked.
She hadn’t even looked afraid.
She had simply moved.
Calm.
Fast.
Precise.
Like she had done it a hundred times before.
I sat in the back seat of the car, staring through the window.
Yuri was sitting beside me.
Ci-N, Eman, Kit, Calix, Blaster, Edrix, Eren, Mayo, Josh, Denzel, Felix, Rory, and David were spread throughout the other cars.
Nobody was talking much.
The silence itself felt strange.
Finally, Yuri broke it.
Yuri: “Does anyone understand what just happened?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at him.
Keifer: “What exactly are you asking?”
Yuri turned toward me.
Yuri: “Jay.”
My jaw tightened.
Of course.
Her.
Yuri: “Since when can she fight like that?”
I looked back outside.
Keifer: “I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
I didn’t know.
And that bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
Ci-N spoke from the front.
Ci-N: “She didn’t even hesitate.”
Eman nodded.
Eman: “She knew exactly what she was doing.”
Kit added quietly.
Kit: “And she knew the ropes were loose.”
Everyone went silent again.
I remembered that moment.
Jayjay had walked toward us.
She had looked at the ropes.
And she had known.
She had known they were loose the entire time.
Yet she hadn’t said anything.
Why?
Why had she been so calm?
Why had she walked into a warehouse filled with forty armed men without bringing anyone?
Why had she looked at Alex like she had already expected him to be there?
And most importantly…
Why did Alex seem to know her so well?
My fingers tightened.
I didn’t like that question.
Not even slightly.
We eventually returned home.
I walked into my room and shut the door.
The silence should have helped.
It didn’t.
I threw my jacket onto the chair and sat down.
My mind immediately returned to school.
Jayjay sitting at her desk.
Ignoring me.
Smiling at her phone.
Laughing at messages.
I remembered how she had looked that day.
She had been hurt.
Yet she had smiled.
Not at us.
At someone else.
I had seen her expression change the moment she looked at her phone.
It had been soft.
Genuine.
A smile she never gave me anymore.
I hated that I noticed.
I hated that I cared.
And I hated myself most for wondering who was behind those messages.
Who were all those people?
She had called them her favorite idiots.
She trusted them.
She smiled because of them.
And somehow…
I was jealous.
I leaned back and closed my eyes.
Keifer: “What is wrong with me?”
I already knew the answer.
I had pushed her away.
I had hurt her.
I had told her I used her.
I had watched her walk away without shedding a single tear.
I thought that would make things easier.
It hadn’t.
It had made everything worse.
Because now she didn’t hate me.
She didn’t fight with me.
She didn’t even look at me.
She simply…
didn’t care.
And somehow, that hurt more than anger ever could.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Yuri.
Yuri: We’re meeting tomorrow.
I replied.
Keifer: About what?
His response came quickly.
Yuri: Jayjay.
I stared at the screen.
Of course.
Another message appeared.
Yuri: Something isn’t adding up.
I didn’t answer immediately.
Because I agreed.
Something wasn’t adding up.
Not even close.
Section E was unusually quiet.
Nobody was joking.
Nobody was arguing.
Everyone was thinking about the same thing.
Jayjay.
She walked into class exactly like she always did.
Calm.
Bag over one shoulder.
Hair tied back.
Expression unreadable.
She didn’t look at anyone.
She simply walked to her desk and sat down.
I watched her.
She didn’t notice.
Or maybe she did.
With Jayjay…
I could never tell anymore.
She opened her notebook.
Her phone vibrated.
She glanced down.
And smiled.
That same smile.
The one I had seen before.
My chest tightened.
Who was texting her?
I looked away.
Then, against my better judgment, looked back.
She was typing.
Her fingers moved quickly.
Then she laughed softly.
I clenched my jaw.
Yuri noticed.
He leaned toward me.
Yuri: “You’re staring.”
I immediately looked away.
Keifer: “I’m not.”
Yuri gave me an unimpressed look.
Yuri: “Sure.”
I ignored him.
Then I heard Mayo.
Mayo: “Jayjay.”
She looked up.
Jayjay: “Hmm?”
Mayo: “Who keeps texting you?”
Her expression became slightly amused.
Jayjay: “Why?”
Josh: “Because you’re always smiling at your phone.”
Denzel: “And yesterday too.”
Felix: “They’re obviously important.”
Jayjay raised an eyebrow.
Jayjay: “Maybe.”
That single word made everyone more curious.
Rory: “Are they your friends?”
She nodded.
Jayjay: “Yes.”
Ci-N: “From school?”
She shook her head.
Jayjay: “No.”
Kit frowned.
Kit: “Then how do we not know them?”
Jayjay smiled.
Jayjay: “Because you’re not supposed to.”
Everyone went quiet.
I stared at her.
She had said it casually.
But there was something behind those words.
Something hidden.
Something we weren’t supposed to see.
The bell rang.
The teacher entered.
Everyone returned to their seats.
I tried to focus.
I couldn’t.
My eyes kept drifting toward Jayjay.
She was writing.
Completely focused.
Like yesterday hadn’t happened.
Like she hadn’t fought forty men.
Like Alex hadn’t appeared.
Like someone wasn’t watching her.
And then I noticed something.
A tiny bandage on her arm.
The cut.
The one Alex had treated.
My jaw tightened.
I didn’t like seeing his bandage on her.
I didn’t like that he had touched her.
I didn’t like that he knew things about her that I didn’t.
I looked away.
Why do I care?
I had no right to care.
I had lost that right myself.
During lunch, Yuri pulled me aside.
Yuri: “We need to talk.”
I followed him toward the empty corridor.
Ci-N, Eman, Kit, Calix, Blaster, Edrix, Eren, Mayo, Josh, Denzel, Felix, and Rory followed.
David came last.
Yuri crossed his arms.
Yuri: “Something is wrong.”
Keifer: “I know.”
Yuri: “No. I mean something is seriously wrong.”
I looked at him.
Yuri: “Jayjay isn’t who we thought she was.”
Nobody spoke.
David looked uncomfortable.
I noticed.
Keifer: “You know something.”
David looked at me.
David: “Not everything.”
Keifer: “Then tell us what you know.”
David shook his head.
David: “I can’t.”
I stepped closer.
Keifer: “Why?”
David’s expression hardened.
David: “Because some things aren’t mine to tell.”
That answer only made me more suspicious.
Yuri sighed.
Ci-N added:
Ci-N: “We don’t know who Alex is.”
Kit continued:
Kit: “We don’t know who keeps texting her.”
Eman: “We don’t know why she has a bodyguard.”
Calix: “We don’t know how she got that car.”
Blaster: “And we definitely don’t know why she walked into that warehouse alone.”
I stayed silent.
Because there was one thing I knew.
Jayjay had secrets.
Big ones.
And I had a feeling we had only seen the smallest part of them.
That evening, I was sitting alone when my phone buzzed.
An unknown message.
I opened it.
There was a photograph.
Jayjay.
Walking out of school.
The photograph had clearly been taken from a distance.
My blood ran cold.
Another message appeared.
Unknown: She’s closer to danger than you realize.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message.
Unknown: Stay away from her.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
Whoever sent this…
knew about Jayjay.
And they were watching her.
I immediately called Yuri.
Yuri: “Hello?”
Keifer: “Check your phone.”
A few seconds of silence.
Then—
Yuri: “What the hell?”
He had received the same photograph.
I stood.
Keifer: “Someone is watching her.”
Yuri’s voice became serious.
Yuri: “Then what do we do?”
I looked at Jayjay’s photograph.
She was walking alone.
Calm.
Unaware.
Or at least…
that’s what the picture showed.
I remembered something.
Jayjay had always noticed everything.
Maybe she already knew.
The next morning, I saw her again.
She entered the classroom.
Same calm expression.
Same steady steps.
She placed her bag down.
Then her phone vibrated.
She looked at it.
Her eyes softened.
She smiled.
I heard a message notification.
I glanced at her phone screen
She typed:
Jay: Good morning, idiots.
I couldn’t hear the reply.
But her smile grew.
I looked down.
For some reason, I felt angry.
Not at her.
At myself.
Because I finally understood something.
I didn’t want her to stop smiling.
I wanted to be the reason she smiled.
But I had destroyed that possibility myself.
Later, during the break, Jayjay walked past me.
She stopped for half a second.
Our eyes met.
For a moment, I thought she might say something.
She didn’t.
She simply looked at me.
Calm.
Unreadable.
Then she continued walking.
I watched her disappear through the doorway.
My hands curled into fists.
I whispered quietly.
Keifer: “Jay…”
But she was already gone.
That night, I opened the photograph again.
The mysterious sender had left one final message.
Unknown: You think you know Jayjay Mariano.
A second message appeared.
Unknown: You don’t.
I stared at the words.
Then another message arrived.
Unknown: And if you keep getting closer to her…
The typing indicator appeared.
Then disappeared.
One final message.
Unknown: You’ll become a target too.
I stared at the screen.
For the first time…
I wasn’t thinking about my jealousy.
I wasn’t thinking about Alex.
I wasn’t even thinking about what Jayjay had done to us.
I was thinking about one thing.
Someone was watching her.
Someone knew things about her.
And someone wanted me to stay away.
I should have listened.
I knew that.
But I couldn’t.
Because despite everything…
I still cared about her.
More than I wanted to admit.
And somewhere deep inside me, one thought became impossible to ignore.
If someone was coming for Jayjay…
they would have to get through me first.