“Hi John, I got your text and I will meet up with you at the place and time you choose.”The message from Mr. Shack lit up John’s phone screen, and for the first time in days, he felt a flicker of excitement. Mr. Shack had been digging into the truth about his parents’ death for years, but John’s grandfather had always turned him down whenever he asked for permission to investigate further. John once believed it was grief that kept his grandfather silent, but now he was beginning to doubt.Meanwhile, the school had transformed into a carnival. The field was bursting with students and guests, far more than John had ever seen. The stadium chairs were filled to the brim, with extra bodies spilling into standing spaces. Everyone wanted to witness the next phase of the pageant.John had woken up to a storm of notifications. His phone buzzed nonstop until he finally gave in and checked. The school’s media platform was ablaze with posts about the big reveal. The committee had promised transp

John still felt a sting of regret as he thought about what almost happened with Anna. His chest tightened at the memory of her lips so close to his. If only they hadn’t been interrupted. He clenched his fists, straightening his back.“I need to be a man about this once and for all,” he muttered under his breath. Tonight, after the selection was over, he would take her out on a proper date and finally confess his heart to her. With that decision made, he slipped into his fresh clothes and prepared himself for the stage.Meanwhile, Jerry and Rita’s faces glowed with satisfaction. Their plan seemed flawless—John was missing, and the show was moving forward. Contestants were being called one by one, and the one they dreaded most was nowhere to be seen.The couple had already planned several backup traps, but seeing Anna whisk John away earlier had confirmed something they long suspected. Anna’s concern wasn’t ordinary—it was affection. That only deepened their determination to destroy him

John felt his body moving as though the ground beneath him shifted. His head throbbed, darkness pressing on his eyes. He tried to lift his face, but it was too heavy, and his limbs refused to obey. He could feel every part of his body—except his hands and legs, which were bound too tightly.Flashes of memory stabbed through his head: the roaring crowd, Anna’s smile, the kiss, the sudden blackout. Each time the images returned, pain sliced through his skull so sharply he was forced to stop remembering. He tried again, only for the ache to grow worse.“Go and check him, he’s shaking a lot,” the first kidnapper ordered, his eyes fixed on the tunnel ahead as he drove the underground train deeper into the hidden station.“It’s annoying,” the second muttered. “We tied him properly, yet he keeps moving like he’s about to escape.” His voice dripped with complaint, as if the bound figure were a burden rather than a man.“Quit whining and check him now. I won’t take the blame if he gets away,”

Collins froze the moment he saw the man standing before him. His heart sank into his stomach. It was him—the face he had heard so much about, the shadow that had haunted his girlfriend’s stories. Sarah’s ex.The memory rushed back like a tide. Before she returned to school, Sarah had sat Collins down and told him about this best friend who had once been more than a friend. She confessed how passionate their relationship had been, how much she had trusted him, until she caught him cheating. That betrayal had been her breaking point.She had begged Collins for one thing: never to cheat on her. And he, desperate to prove he was nothing like her ex, promised in return. They sealed it with a hug.Yet now, seeing the man in flesh and blood, every insecurity Collins had buried began to claw its way up.“You look familiar,” Sarah’s ex said, lifting his eyes with a faint smile.“I don’t think so. Have we met before?” Collins asked, though his chest tightened as he studied the man’s face. He kn

Collins ran as fast as his legs could carry him, his chest heaving and his lungs burning. He didn’t stop until his body forced him to. Bent over, hands on his knees, he gasped for air.“What the heck was that?” he muttered between breaths, his heart still pounding wildly.When he finally straightened, he turned to look behind him and was shocked by the distance he had covered. “I can’t believe I just ran two miles,” he whispered, disbelief written across his face.“Finally, I caught up with you,” a voice said from behind, breathless but sharp. “How can you let an injured person chase you like this? You’re lucky it’s just a scratch on my hand. Otherwise…”Collins spun around. It was the girl obsessed with John, though she looked different—calmer, stripped of her usual manic energy. For a moment, Collins simply stared, his mind struggling to place where he had seen her before.“I’m so sorry,” Collins said when his breathing steadied. “I thought it was…”“You thought I was Anna, right?”