Chapter: The Mysterious Encounter – Jay's POV
I was walking alone to school, the morning air crisp and chilly, the kind that makes your skin tingle and your thoughts sharper.
The streets were unusually quiet.
Maybe it was the early hour.
Maybe it was just me, lost in my own head.
I had been thinking about everything… Keif, the chaos, my heart still racing from yesterday… when I noticed movement by the sidewalk.
A figure emerged from the shadows of a large black SUV.
Blue eyes. The same piercing eyes I had seen before.
My heart stopped for a second.
"No… it can't be," I whispered to myself.
He stepped closer, calm and deliberate, like he had been expecting me.
"Hello," he said softly, his voice smooth, almost unfamiliar yet hauntingly familiar.
I stared at him, trying to make sense of it.
"Wait… you… you're Percy, right?" I asked cautiously.
He nodded.
"And… you're my… stepbrother?" My voice trembled as I spoke the words aloud.
He didn't smile.
Not yet.
"My full name is Percy Mariano," he said quietly, matter-of-factly.
I froze.
Mariano.
The same surname as me.
The same surname as Jasper Jean Mariano.
My mind whirled.
"So… we… we have the same last name?" I whispered, shocked.
He nodded again, calm, almost serene, like he had been carrying this secret for a long time.
"I see… I…" My words failed me.
So many questions bubbled inside me.
"Why didn't anyone tell me? How… why… where have you been all this time?" I asked, my voice almost cracking.
He didn't answer.
His eyes flicked briefly toward the street.
And then I noticed it.
A sleek black car approaching.
My stomach twisted.
Keif's car.
Immediately, Percy stiffened, his expression unreadable, distant, mysterious.
He reached into his pocket and handed me a small card.
A number.
"Call me… when you're ready," he said softly.
And just like that, he turned, slipping into the shadows, his presence vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
I stood frozen, the card clutched tightly in my hand.
Questions collided with emotions I couldn't name—shock, confusion, curiosity, longing, and… fear.
Why now?
Why reveal himself like this?
What was he hiding?
And why did Keif have to drive by at that exact moment, forcing Percy to vanish into thin air before I could even speak?
I sank to the curb, my chest tight, my thoughts chaotic.
Everything felt mysterious, like a puzzle I didn't know how to solve.
Who was he really?
Why did he disappear so easily?
And how… how was I supposed to process that the boy standing in front of me was somehow connected to my past… my family… my life?
The streets felt colder now.
The air heavier.
And yet… the card in my hand felt like a lifeline.
I held it tightly, turning it over again and again.
Percy Mariano.
The name burned into my mind.
I couldn't stop thinking.
Couldn't stop wondering.
Would he call?
Would he explain everything?
And in the distance, Keif's black car disappeared around the corner.
My heart sank, not just from Percy's sudden departure, but from the collision of emotions I didn't know how to handle.
Confusion, excitement, fear, longing… all tangled together, impossible to separate.
I shivered.
This was only the beginning.
A mysterious beginning.
And I had no idea where it would lead.
But I knew one thing for certain—Percy Mariano had just changed everything.
And somehow… I was both terrified and desperate to know more.