The Red String Theory

Chapter 13: Shattered Strings

The warmth of the sea breeze still lingered on Yeshin’s skin even days after that cliffside escape. For once, things felt manageable. Calm.

Xavio had been different lately—gentler, thoughtful. And Yeshin? She was learning to let go of the pain Huevon left behind.

But peace, she was about to learn, is often the silence before the fall.

---

It started in whispers.

Two girls giggling in the hallway. A group of upperclassmen exchanging glances.

Then one afternoon, while Yeshin was in the library with Crisantie, Yula came rushing in—face pale.

“Shin…” she panted. “You need to see this.”

She handed over a phone.

A group chat. A screenshot. A message.

Xavio Yen: "It was all just a dare. A game. Let’s see how far I can take the loser girl. Might even make her fall in love."

The words hit her like ice down her spine.

“No… no, that’s not real,” she whispered, heart pounding.

But the screenshots kept coming. Old messages. Group threads. Xavio boasting. Laughing. Talking about her.

Her.

The same girl who sat with him on the cliff, who cried on stairwells, who trusted him with pieces of herself she’d never given to anyone else.

“He wouldn’t…” she said, standing up. “He wouldn’t do that.”

But even as she said it, doubt snuck in—coiling in her chest.

Crisantie grabbed her hand. “Yeshin—don’t go after him. Not like this.”

But she was already running.

---

She found him by the vending machines, casually sipping a drink, as if the world hadn’t just caved in.

When he saw her, his smile faltered.

“Yeshin—”

“Was it true?”

Silence.

Her voice shook. “Was I just a game to you?”

He looked away.

That was all she needed.

She slapped the drink from his hand. It hit the ground, shattering like her chest.

“You made me feel safe,” she said, choking. “You made me believe in something again.”

Still, he said nothing.

“Say something!” she yelled.

But it was Atasha’s voice that answered—coming from behind her.

“Oh, sweetie. Did you really think he liked you?” Atasha purred, arms crossed smugly. “Boys like Xavio don’t fall for girls like you.”

Yeshin stared at her, then back at Xavio. “You let her laugh at me. You let them all laugh at me.”

“I didn’t mean for it to go this far,” Xavio finally muttered.

“But it did,” she said, her heart breaking all over again. “And you let it.”

She turned around.

Walked away.

Didn’t look back.

The string that tied her heart to his—snapped.