"Some truths don't hide in the shadows. They wear masks in plain sight."
Aluna hated coffee. The bitterness reminded her of every lie she'd ever told.
Still, she sipped it, sitting in the campus café with her laptop open and her mind elsewhere. Around her, students laughed, whispered, typed, and studied like the world outside didn't exist. Like pressure didn't sit on their backs like a ticking bomb. Like failure wasn't just one misstep away.
She stared at the blinking cursor.
An empty document.
A blank page, just like the future she feared she was heading toward.
Her inbox pinged.
1 New Message: [NO SUBJECT]
She clicked it.
Inside, a single line:
"You think secrets stay buried. But I know how to dig."
Her heart skipped.
Was it a threat? A warning? Or something worse—a clue?
She looked around, but no one seemed out of place. Just another ordinary day. But she knew better. Ordinary didn't exist in her world anymore. Not after that night. Not after the file. Not after they crossed the line together.
She tapped her phone and sent a group message to the three contacts she never thought she'd have in one thread.
ALUNA: We need to talk. Urgent. Someone knows.
Within minutes, three dots appeared.
ASKA: Where?
SAID: I'm in. Who leaked it?
ARA: I didn't. I swear. But I think someone's watching me.
---
That night, the four of them met in the abandoned archive room on the second floor of the old library. Dusty bookshelves lined the walls like forgotten guardians, and a single flickering light bulb buzzed above them like a dying star.
None of them spoke at first. Aluna broke the silence.
"I got an email. No name. Just a message: You think secrets stay buried. But I know how to dig."
Aska leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. "It's vague."
"But it's not random," Said said, laptop bag slung across his shoulder like a shield. "We're being watched."
Ara's eyes were wide. "What if it's someone from the scholarship board? If they find out—"
"They won't," Said cut in sharply. "I covered everything. The trail's clean."
Aluna snapped, "You said the same thing about the server breach."
"I didn't get caught, did I?"
"No," Aska said coldly. "But if someone knows, we're not just talking about losing a scholarship. We're talking expulsion. Charges. Maybe prison."
Ara's voice cracked. "I didn't sign up for this."
Aluna looked at her. "None of us did. But we're in it now. And we need a plan."
---
Back in her dorm that night, Aluna stared at the ceiling, headphones in, music playing, but her mind spiraling.
She knew what she had to do.
She just didn't know if she could do it.
Because secrets don't just destroy reputations.
They destroy people.
And in a game of truth and lies, the first to blink… loses everything.
---
Quote (end of chapter):
"Trust isn't something we earned — it was something we borrowed. And every debt comes due eventually."
---