STRINGS BETWEEN US

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX OF LOCKED GATES, LOUD WHISPERS, AND A CURFEW THEY COULDN'T OU

I wanted to stop him—grab his sleeve, shove the words back into his mouth before they did more damage. But the way he said it...
God, you couldn't match that kind of conviction.

"Do you realize the gravity of this, Dela Vega?"

A faint, dangerous curl touched his lips. Not quite a smile. Not quite anything safe.

 "Fully aware."

Lucian's jaw worked, like he was chewing on disbelief. "Then explain why."

The tension in the air shifted—tightened. My lungs fought to pull in air without making a sound. It was like a single wrong breath would snap whatever was holding this room together.

KD leaned back in his chair, every movement deliberate. Shoulders loose. Legs at ease. The kind of posture that screamed unbothered, even as every gaze in the room sharpened on him.

And his answer?

"Because I wanted to." It was soft. Unrushed. Almost casual. But it landed like a gunshot.

The room didn't just go quiet—it calcified. Air turned brittle, like even breathing too loud would shatter it.

Lucian's composure cracked, barely a hairline fracture, but enough for me to see the flicker of what just happened? in his eyes.

The Disciplinary Head's hands—veins standing out against his skin—snapped the folder shut with a sound too sharp for paper. It rang in my ears, sharp enough to cut. "This isn't a game, Dela Vega."

His voice carried the kind of finality that made you want to shrink, even if you didn't agree.

KD didn't flinch. Didn't even blink. Still calm.  "Never said it was."

No rise, no bite—just the kind of steady that made you realize he'd already decided how much of himself they were allowed to see.

Lucian's head turned toward me, slow, deliberate. His gaze found mine—no warning, no buffer.
Sharp. Piercing. He didn't need to raise his voice; the weight in his stare was already doing enough damage.

"And you, Ms. Del Rio? Were you willing in this... escapade?"

My heartbeat lurched hard against my ribs. My fingers curled slightly at my sides—not to hide the tremor, but to contain it. I swallowed once, feeling the drag of it in my throat. The smart thing would've been to look away. I didn't.

"I wasn't forced." No shake in my voice.

Lucian studied me for a beat too long, like he was searching for a seam to pull at. Then—just barely—a nod. Approval? Or just acknowledgment? I couldn't tell.

The Disciplinary Head exhaled, slow and tired, like each second with us was burning through the last of his patience. His eyes dropped briefly to the desk before lifting again, and when he spoke, it was with the weight of someone about to drop a verdict.

"Until further notice—Khaizer Dylan Dela Vega, your council privileges are hereby suspended pending the outcome of the investigation."

Suspended.

The word hit like a gunshot. Everything stopped. My lungs. My thoughts. The room itself.

I didn't even blink. Couldn't. Because that word kept echoing in my skull like a verdict too loud to swallow.

Suspended.

Khaizer Dylan Dela Vega—the Student Council President.

The unshakable constant in this school of shifting loyalties. The boy who made Supreme Allievo Academy run like clockwork even when no one saw the gears turning. Stripped of everything in a single sentence. And I—just sat there, frozen. Drowning in a silence no one else seemed to hear.