Chapter 15: why...? Why...Did you do it...?
(Keifer's POV)
There are patterns in betrayal.
You don't see them at first.
You remember loyalty.
History.
Shared secrets.
But if you strip the emotion away…
There are always cracks.
Aries came to the hospital at night.
Not during visiting hours.
Not through the front entrance.
He didn't look calm.
That told me enough.
"Say it," I said.
He shut the door behind him.
"It's Yuri."
For a second—
Nothing.
No reaction.
No denial.
Just silence.
Yuri.
Red hair. Loud laugh. Reckless grin.
The first person who ever punched someone for insulting me in middle school.
The same guy who stood beside me through Freya.
Through Ella.
Through every mess.
Aries continued carefully.
"The drunk driver wasn't random. He was hired."
"I know."
"We traced the cleared debt."
Pause.
"It loops back to someone inside Section E."
I didn't blink.
"Yuri."
Aries nodded.
"He used a third party. Paid through layered accounts. But the starting source was clean."
"Too clean," I said.
"Yes."
Which meant intention.
Not impulse.
Planning.
I leaned back slightly despite the pull in my ribs.
"When did he start?" I asked.
Aries exhaled slowly.
"Probably when you didn't choose him."
That wasn't what he meant.
But it was close enough.
Yuri and I had loved the same girl three times.
First — Freya.
She liked confidence.
He was louder.
I was quieter.
She chose him.
I didn't care.
Second — Ella.
She liked stability.
I didn't show enough.
Aries did.
She chose Aries.
Yuri laughed about it.
Said we had cursed taste.
Third —
Jay.
And that time?
Yuri didn't laugh.
The first time he looked at her differently, I noticed.
I notice everything.
But I trusted him.
That was my mistake.
Aries stepped closer.
"He didn't plan to kill Jay."
I looked at him slowly.
"Explain."
"The impact angle was calculated for your seat."
Silence.
"He thought removing you would remove the problem."
The problem.
Me.
Not her.
Which meant—
He never intended to hurt her.
He intended to take me out.
And failed.
That made him desperate.
Jay was asleep in the chair again.
She trusted all of us.
That part made this worse.
"Does she know?" I asked.
"No."
"Good."
Aries studied me carefully.
"What are you going to do?"
The answer was simple.
"Confirm it myself."
Three Days Later
Discharge papers.
Bandages still wrapped.
Movement limited.
Doesn't matter.
I didn't go home first.
I went to the old basketball court behind the school.
The place where Section E always met before we became "officially chaotic."
Yuri was already there.
Red hair bright under the afternoon sun.
Hands in pockets.
Like nothing happened.
Like he didn't almost kill me.
He smiled when he saw me.
"…You look like hell."
I walked toward him slowly.
Each step deliberate.
"And you look nervous."
He laughed lightly.
"Why would I be nervous?"
I stopped in front of him.
Close enough to see the flicker in his eyes.
"You hired someone."
Silence.
The smile didn't disappear.
But it thinned.
"That's a big accusation."
"The money trail was sloppy."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Sloppy?"
"You assumed I wouldn't wake up."
There it was.
A crack.
Just for a second.
"You think I'd kill you?" he asked.
"Yes."
No hesitation.
That made him laugh again.
But this time it wasn't warm.
"You were always dramatic, Keifer."
I stepped closer.
"You calculated the impact angle."
His jaw tightened.
"You didn't account for my survival."
Silence stretched between us.
Then he said it.
Quietly.
"You always had everything."
That wasn't denial.
That was confession.
I didn't interrupt.
"Freya chose me," he continued.
"Ella chose Aries."
"And Jay—"
His voice shifted.
"She looked at you like you were gravity."
I said nothing.
He stepped closer.
"You don't even try, Keifer. You just exist. And people choose you."
That wasn't true.
But it didn't matter.
"You tried to kill me," I said calmly.
"I tried to fix balance."
That word.
Balance.
He really believed that.
"You risked her life," I said.
His eyes flickered.
"I knew the angle."
"You don't control physics," I replied.
Silence.
The wind moved lightly across the court.
We had been friends for years.
Fought together.
Protected each other.
Now we were standing like strangers.
"You should've just let her choose me once," Yuri said.
"She did," I answered.
His face froze.
"She chose me."
That's when the resentment fully surfaced.
"You think you're untouchable," he said.
"No."
I met his eyes.
"I'm just still standing."
That was the difference.
Behind us, I heard footsteps.
Aries.
Felix.
The rest of Section E.
They had heard enough.
Felix looked at Yuri like he didn't recognize him.
"…Bro."
Yuri didn't turn around.
"You told them?" he asked me.
"No," I said.
"They figured it out."
Because betrayal leaves traces.
Aries stepped forward.
"You endangered all of us."
Yuri finally turned.
"And you didn't benefit?"
That hit.
Because if I had died—
Aries would have had more control.
More space.
More leadership.
But Aries shook his head.
"I'd rather lose to him fairly than win like that."
Silence.
Yuri looked back at me.
"So what now?"
He expected anger.
Violence.
Retaliation.
Instead, I said calmly:
"You're done."
He blinked.
"Done?"
"You're not Section E anymore."
Felix's face fell.
Aries didn't argue.
Yuri laughed once.
"That's it?"
"No."
I stepped closer one final time.
"If you come near her again…"
My voice didn't rise.
Didn't shake.
"…I won't miss."
That time—
He understood.
Because this wasn't about rivalry.
This wasn't about girls.
This was about survival.
He looked at each of us once.
Then walked away.
Red hair fading down the street.
Just like that.
Years of friendship—
Over.
That night, I sat beside Jay again.
She looked up at me.
"You look tired."
"I am."
She touched my hand.
"Is it over?"
I studied her face.
The one thing in my life I refused to lose.
"Yes," I said quietly.
"It's over."
But inside—
I knew something else.
Yuri didn't try to kill me because he hated me.
He tried because he couldn't stand losing again.
And men like that?
They don't disappear quietly.
They wait.