Our Constant Friction

CHAPTER 1: Zero Gravity

Recto is not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for those who easily tire or give up. Just outside the gates of the University of Manila, the chorus of the city feels like a heavy slap to the face. There are the piercing shrieks of jeepneys wrestling for space on the road, the thick smog blending with the scent of fried isaw at the corner, and the crush of students swarming like ants rushing to get inside.

But for Nyxiel Soler, the noise outside is music compared to the chaos waiting inside the Architecture Building.

There, brainpower alone isn't enough. There, every mark you get on an exam isn't just a number—it’s your ticket. It's either a chance to pull your family out of the mud of poverty, or a single wrong answer that sends you right back to square one with nothing at all.

"Nyx! Wait! You left your coffee on the bench!"

Nyx heard the voice of Lumi, the only friend who could tolerate his introverted nature. He didn't stop. He adjusted the frayed straps of his old backpack, a reminder of how many years he had poured into this university. With every step, he felt the heavy weight of the thick Advanced Calculus textbook against his arm. This was his weapon. The single thing that gave him power in this world.

"Just leave it, Lumi," he replied without looking back. His voice was devoid of emotion, like a robot.

He raised a finger to push up his thick glasses, which kept sliding down his sweaty nose. "I'm going to be late for my consultation with the Dean. You know I need his recommendation for the extra scholarship stipend."

"Come on, it's only 7:15 AM! Chill out, Nyx! Even with your eyes closed, you could probably solve any derivative on the board," Lumi joked, breathless as he struggled to match Nyx's fast pace.

A bitter smile flashed across Nyxiel's lips. Chill. A word that had never once been part of his vocabulary.

How could he chill when every single night he had to wipe down and care for his father, Danilo, who seemed to be slowly consumed by illness? How could he rest when every dawn, before the sun even rose, he was the one hauling goods at his mother Maricel's small sari-sari store?

Nyxiel Soler's life was a carefully constructed equation. Every minute had a corresponding value. Every centavo had an allocated purpose. He had no room for mistakes. And he certainly had no room for any distractions.

Until he heard that sound.

It was the rhythmic sound of shoes hitting the polished hallway floor—heavy, arrogant, and brimming with confidence. This was followed by loud laughter that seemed utterly unbothered by the pressure of exams or the hardships of life. The air suddenly shifted. The scent of dust and old paper was instantly replaced by a fragrance you couldn't simply buy at the mall: the smell of expensive citrus perfume mixed with the scent of a freshly washed jersey.

The members of the UM Eagles. The university's so-called Golden Boys.

And right in the middle of them, like a storm wrapped in a varsity jacket, was Vesper Thorne Silverio.

Vesper didn't just walk, he owned the space he occupied. He moved with grace, standing tall at 6'2, with a carved, perfect jawline. His eyes always carried a mocking look, as if everyone around him were merely characters in a game where he always won.

He was the son of Arthur Silverio. The name engraved on the new gym. A name that sounded like money and power.

"Bro, did you see coach's post? Is the 2.0 GPA requirement serious?" complained Jax, the team's point guard who acted like Vesper's shadow.

"GPA is just a number, Jax. Numbers can be manipulated," Vesper replied. His voice was deep, a baritone tinged with arrogance. He bounced an invisible basketball in the air as he walked. "Besides, I'm a Silverio. I don't lose, whether on the court or in the classroom."

To Vesper, the University of Manila wasn't a school. It was a playground. A stage where he was forever the MVP.

On the other side, Nyxiel kept his head down, staring at his old watch as he counted every second. He was nearing the corner of the Design Studio, the central hub where Architecture students like him spent most of their time.

Because he was rushing so much, he didn't notice the group of giants turning the corner just as fast. Nyxiel's equation, which had always yielded the right answer for years, suddenly encountered a variable he couldn't compute.

The collision was heavy.

The impact felt like slamming into a hard stone wall. Nyxiel's slender frame bounced backward. In a split second, the world seemed to slow down. His Advanced Calculus book flew out of his hands. His reviewers, which he had stayed up nights studying, scattered into the air.

And worst of all, the coffee Lumi had just handed him joined the flight. A brown liquid painted the air before crashing straight onto Vesper's pure white shoes.

Nyx lost his balance. His glasses flew off somewhere. Everything turned blurry. All that remained was the scent of citrus and the sudden silence that enveloped the entire UM hallway.

Time seemed to freeze for the students witnessing the scene. In the middle of the corridor, Nyxiel was kneeling on the cold floor, frantically groping for his glasses while his vision was shrouded in a thick fog.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, clumsy!" snapped Rico, Vesper's wingman, but Nyx didn't hear him.

His only thought was his glasses. The glasses he needed to study. The glasses his mother had saved up for by selling retail sugar and coffee just so she could buy them for him.

"M-My glasses... where are my glasses?" he muttered. His voice trembled, not out of fear, but from the terrifying thought that they might have broken.

A towering shadow blocked the meager light Nyx could see. Vesper slowly lowered his gaze to his feet. His limited edition white Jordans, which should have been as white as snow, now bore a large brown stain of coffee. The liquid was slowly seeping into the expensive leather of the shoes.

The smile on Vesper's lips completely vanished. It was replaced by a cold expression that seemed capable of dropping the temperature of the entire building.

"Do you have any idea how much this pair costs?" Vesper asked. His voice was calm, almost a whisper, but every word carried the edge of a knife.

He stepped closer, the tip of his shoe tapping against Nyx's hand, which was still searching the floor.

"This costs way more than your entire tuition for a semester, kid. It could probably pay for your house rent for an entire year," Vesper added with open contempt.

Finally, Nyx's fingers brushed against the cold frame of his glasses under a bench. He quickly put them on and stood up. His vision cleared, and the first thing that met his eyes was Vesper's glare.

At this point, everyone expected Nyx to apologize. They expected him to cry and beg for mercy. But Nyx's exhaustion from hauling goods at dawn and his sleepless nights caring for his father all merged into irritation.

He didn't blink. He looked up at the 6'2 man standing in front of him.

"I don't care if your shoes are made of unicorn skin," Nyx answered defiantly.

He heard the surrounding people gasp. His small fists clenched at the sides of his faded jeans. "If you weren't busy flirting with your friends and turning a hallway meant for everyone into a basketball court, you would've seen me. And next time, don't belittle my tuition. I work hard for every single centavo I pay here. I don't beg my dad just to buy shoes I can't even take care of."

Nyx's voice echoed. Even Vesper's teammates stopped breathing. No one in the history of the University of Manila had ever dared to disrespect a Silverio face-to-face.

Vesper's eyes narrowed. He stepped forward slowly, close enough for Nyx to catch the scent of his citrus cologne. The distance between them vanished, leaving only a breath's space.

"You're brave. Who do you think you are?" Vesper hissed.

"Nyxiel Soler. Write that down on the list of people who aren't scared of your Silverio name," Nyx retorted.

He didn't wait for the guy to answer. Boldly, he slammed his shoulder against Vesper's in a hard shoulder check and walked away without looking back.

Vesper was left standing there, staring at Nyx's retreating back. He could feel his heart beating fast. It wasn't out of anger over his ruined shoe. It was because of the way those eyes behind the thick glasses had looked at him.

It was as if Nyx hadn't seen him as the famous Vesper the Star Player. To that guy, he was just an annoyance.

"Vesper, you okay? Should we get him back at the canteen later?" Rico asked, staring at the stain on their captain's shoe.

"No," Vesper whispered. A dangerous smile slowly crept onto his lips as he tracked Nyxiel's departing figure. "Let him be. I like a good challenge."

Ten minutes later. Inside Dean Hernandez's office, Vesper leaned back in an expensive chair, his dirty shoe propped carelessly on the Dean's desk.

"Calculus is just a total waste of my time, Dean. Just give me a passing grade. My father donated the new gym equipment, remember? One call to him and I can have this entire office renovated," Vesper said while lazily playing with his phone.

"Mr. Silverio, rules are rules. No matter how many donations your family makes, you still need to pass the boards in the future. You need a tutor," Dean Hernandez sighed. "I was thinking of Kael, from the Science department. He's very patient and—"

"No," Vesper interrupted. He remembered Nyxiel's fierce glare from earlier. There was some kind of friction in his chest he couldn't explain. A single name kept running through his mind. "Kael is way too boring. He might get intimidated by me far too easily."

"Then who? You need a tutor who won't be intimidated by your arrogance."

Vesper dropped his foot from the desk and leaned toward the Dean. His eyes gleamed with strange amusement.

"I want the guy who just walked out of the Architecture wing. The skinny one carrying that ridiculously thick book. Nyxiel Soler."

Dean Hernandez looked up, surprise written across his face. "Nyxiel? Vesper, he's very busy and he won't tolerate your attitude. He's a scholar, and he needs peace and quiet to study. You two might just end up killing each other."

"Even better," Vesper leaned forward, his eyes glinting with mischief. "I want him. Tell him the university will cover everything, his fees, his meals. Whatever it takes to make him say yes. I want to see how long that bravery of his will last once he's stuck with me for three hours a day."

When Nyxiel stepped out of the office's other door a few minutes later, he had no idea his quiet, controlled world was about to collapse.

Nyx arrived at the Dean's Office, his heart still refusing to calm down. His hand trembled slightly as he pushed the door open.

"Mr. Soler, please sit down," Dean Hernandez began. "I'll be direct. The University of Manila needs your help. In exchange, we'll offer full coverage of your laboratory fees, an added allowance for your father's medicine, and a guarantee that your scholarship won't be revoked until graduation."

Nyx's eyes lit up. "Anything, Dean. For my father. What is it?"

The Dean set down Vesper Thorne Silverio's folder. "Our star player, the captain of the UM Eagles, is failing Calculus. If he fails the finals, he's out of the league. The Silverios are major donors to the University, but more than that, Vesper has potential. He specifically requested the top of the class to tutor him. And that's you, Nyxiel."

Nyx closed his eyes. The face of the arrogant guy from earlier flashed in his mind. Out of all people, why him?

"Dean... could it be Kael instead? Kael is smart too, and he's much more patient," Nyx pleaded, thinking of his peaceful life that a Silverio was guaranteed to wreck.

"He wants the best, Nyx. And that's you. Do we have a deal?"

Nyx thought of his mother's face and his father's medical prescription that he still hadn't been able to buy. "Fine, Dean. Deal."

When Nyx walked out of the office, he hadn't even gone far when he spotted a familiar shadow. Vesper was leaning against the wall right across the door, acting as though he'd been waiting there like a predator lying in wait for its prey. He was holding a brand-new coffee from Starbucks, the most expensive kind.

"Oh, look who's here," Vesper smirked, blocking Nyx's path with his muscular arm. "My new tutor. Welcome to hell, Soler. I hope you're ready to fail along with me."

Nyxiel looked at him, completely expressionless, even though he could feel the chilling coldness in his pockets where his hands rested.

"I'm not the one who's going to fail, Silverio. You are. And I'll make sure that with every tutoring session we have, you'll wish I was just someone you bumped into earlier."

Vesper chuckled softly and leaned in closer, until their noses were nearly touching. Nyx caught the scent of citrus and high-end coffee radiating off Vesper. "We'll see, Nerd. We'll see."