The morning was gray.

  Clouds hung low, heavy with the promise of rain.

  Sid didn’t notice.

  He was already scanning the school network, checking every channel, every security feed, every possible threat.

  Su appeared at his side, still sleepy, hair messy.

  “Sid… are you okay?”

  He looked at her.

  “Yes,” he said, though his jaw was tight.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “You never look okay these days,” she said softly.

  He didn’t answer. Not yet.

  Focus, he reminded himself.

  By mid-morning, the whispers had changed.

  It wasn’t just gossip anymore.

  Teachers were cautious. Students kept their distance.

  Sid felt it — the atmosphere was shifting.

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  Someone was watching. Always watching.

  Su’s hand brushed his again. A quiet, fleeting touch.

  He didn’t pull away.

  Too dangerous to think about it now, he told himself.

  The first attack happened during lunch.

  A sudden alarm blared.

  Students scrambled. Chaos erupted.

  Sid and Su stayed calm, moving instinctively.

  From the second-floor balcony, a glass bottle came flying.

  Sid caught it mid-air, tossing it aside.

  Two men rushed them from the cafeteria entrance.

  Sid moved with precision, disarming one, shoving the other into a table.

  Su clung to his arm, but didn’t scream.

  “Sid… why do they hate you so much?” she whispered.

  “They’re not after me,” he said.

  “Then who?”

  Her eyes widened.

  “You.”

  The final trap was outside, on the school grounds.

  A convoy of black cars appeared.

  Lee’s son stepped out, hands folded, calm as ever.

  “You’ve been careful,” he said. “But you can’t protect her forever.”

  Sid’s fists clenched.

  “You don’t scare me.”

  Lee’s son smiled. “Oh, but I do. Tomorrow, you’ll understand why.”

  He disappeared into the cars.

  Sid didn’t move immediately.

  He knew the battle was far from over.

  Su watched him, worry etched on her face.

  “Sid…”

  “I’ll handle it,” he said, voice low.

  Her hand lingered on his arm.

  I can’t lose her, he thought.

  That night, Sid reviewed every log, every pattern, every threat.

  The Phase Four trap was fully laid.

  Every move had been predicted. Every escape route monitored.

  He could anticipate it.

  He could counter it.

  But there was one factor he hadn’t accounted for.

  Su.

  And he couldn’t ignore that pull, the weight of protecting her, the feelings creeping up on him.

  Outside, Su stood by the window, watching him.

  She wanted to say something, to warn him, to stop him.

  But she didn’t.

  Because some things… you couldn’t stop.

  Sid’s eyes were on the screen, hands moving, calculating.

  The rain started to fall, cold, relentless.

  And somewhere in the darkness, the trap was closing.

  The chapter ends with a single thought lingering in Sid’s mind:

  Tomorrow, nothing will be the same.