Clash Of Crowns I: Shadows Of Love And Sacrifices.

XV || Secret

Please note: This story may contain errors and grammatical mistakes. Your understanding and patience are appreciated as this is a work in progress.

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MAXINE'S POV

Andito ko sa likod ng school namin, needing some air to clear my head.

I could still hear the sounds of the fight in my mind, the adrenaline not quite fading yet.

I shouldn’t have let things escalate like that, pero nang makita ko kung paano nila itulak lang nang basta si cole, I couldn’t just stand there and let it happen.

Kaya nung umalis kami sa cafeteria humiwalay muna ko sa kanila, I needed space.

That’s how I ended up here, at the back of Elite Academy, It was quiet here, secluded, trees formed a half-circle around an old bench.

For a moment, I could breathe and could just sit without the weight of everyone’s expectations pressing down on me.

My thoughts kept drifting back to Aiesha. The way she looked at me in the cafeteria, worried… concerned.

It didn’t make sense. We were supposed to be enemies. Her family and mine had a history......bad history.

And yet, here we were, constantly crossing paths, and each time felt more confusing than the last.

Sumandal ako sa kina-uupuan ko and I let myself relax and just take a breath for a while...

Nang biglang may narinig akong nag lalakad papunta sa gawi ko. I opened my eyes, half-expecting one of my friends, maybe Cole or Skye, checking up on me after the fight.

But instead, it was Aiesha.

I looked at her at pansin ko na hindi siya sa mata ko nakatingin kung hindi sa labi ko, kala ko may sasabihin siya tungkol sa nangyari kanina sa cafeteria.

Instead, she just held up a small first aid kit. "I figured you might need this."

"You-what?" nag tatakang tanong ko sa kanya.

She shrugged, at mas lumapit pa sakin. "You’ve got a cut. I saw it earlier."

I stared at her for a moment, unsure how to respond. This was… strange. I mean, her showing up here was already unexpected, but her offering to help me? That felt even weirder. And yet, I didn’t feel like pushing her away.

"Alright," I said quietly, motioning for her to sit next to me. "But don’t expect me to say thank you or anything."

She gave me a small smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes, and sat down beside me. "Noted."

For a few minutes, neither of us said anything as she opened the kit and started cleaning my wound.

Her fingers were gentle as they worked over the split skin on my lip, and I found myself watching her face, the way her brows furrowed in concentration, the way she was so careful not to hurt me.

"Why are you doing this?" I finally asked, with my soft voice....f*ck maxine hindi ka ganyan kila cole...piskit.

Napatigil naman siya sa ginagawa at pinantayan yung tingin ko, pero wala siyang sinabi at bumalik na lang sa pang gagamot sa sugat ko at tsaka siya nag salita "Because I know what it’s like, to feel like you have to do everything on your own," she said softly.

"And because you’re not the only one who's caught in the middle of this." sa paraan niya ng pag sasalita, alam kong pati siya ay nahihirapan rin sa sitwasyon niya.

I looked away, trying to focus on anything but the softness of her touch or the way her presence was oddly calming. "We shouldn’t be doing this," I muttered.

"What?" she asked, her voice still gentle.

"This," I gestured between us, "our families… they hate each other." at pag nalaman ng pamilya namin na nag uusap kami nang ganto baka tuluyan nang mawala yung konting kalayaan namin sa mga buhay namin

She sighed, finishing up with the first aid and sitting back slightly, but not enough to create distance. "I know. But what if that doesn’t matter?"

I laughed bitterly. "It always matters."

She didn’t argue, but her silence felt louder than any words she could’ve said.

She was thinking the same thing I was. Maybe we didn’t have to follow in our families’ footsteps.

Maybe things could be different. But it was just a dangerous thought, one that could get both of us into more trouble than we were already in.

I looked at her again, and for the first time, I saw her not as the daughter of the Alvarez family but just as Aiesha.

The girl who kept showing up in my life in the most unexpected ways. And for a second, it scared me....how natural for me to be her...

"Aiesha," tawag ko sa kanya.

"I know this is complicated. But I don’t think I can just ignore it anymore."

My heart pounded in my chest as I said that to her part of me, wanted to pull away, to keep my distance because getting closer to her meant risking more than I was ready for.

But another part of me, the part that felt the pull toward her every time we crossed paths, wanted to stay right here in this moment.

"I don’t know what to do with that," she admitted.

"Neither do I." pabulong na saad ko rin.

For a few seconds, we just sat there, the silence stretching between us. But it wasn’t uncomfortable, it was… something else.

Something that felt almost dangerous, like standing on the edge of something we couldn’t come back from.

Her hand brushed against mine, and I froze, the small contact sending a jolt through me.

Ganto pa lang pero ang bilis na ng tibok ng puso ko, at alam kong hindi pwede tong nararamdaman ko....but....

I looked down at our hands, then back up at her. She didn’t pull away, and neither did I. We were both caught in this weird, confusing space where nothing made sense, pero parang pag kasama ko siya lahat na lang tama...

"We can’t," I whispered, I need to stop myself kasi kung mag papatuloy toh pareho lang kaming masasaktan.

"I know. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop caring." nakangiting saad niya sakin.

Hindi ko alam kung ano ung sasabihin ko, hindi ako sanay nang may nag aalala sakin. But when I'm with her, It felt… different. Like maybe, just maybe, I didn’t have to carry all of this on my own.

Without thinking, I leaned in just a little until our faces were only inches apart. I could feel her breath on my lips, and for a moment, the world seemed to stop.

But then she pulled back, the reality of the situation crashing down around me. “We shouldn’t,” she said while looking directly into my eyes.

I nodded, "I know..." we sat there for a little while longer, neither of us saying anything, just sitting in the quiet.

Eventually, she stood up, brushing off her clothes. "We should probably get back before they notice we’re gone."

“Yeah,” I agreed, kahit ayaw ko pang unalis dito at gusto ko pa siyang makasama.

As we started walking back, side by side, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t over. Whatever was happening between us, it was far from finished.

And that scared me more than anything else.

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