CHAPTER 5 — THE BOY WHO SEES THROUGH LIES
1325 Words
For the rest of the week, the school halls whispered with theories about the fight.
Some said Kayden broke the glass door with one punch.
Some swore Malia fainted in his arms.
Others claimed she was the reason he snapped.
Malia ignored all of it.
Or… she tried to.
Because the truth was worse than any rumor:
Kayden actually saved her.
Defended her.
Touched her.
And she couldn’t stop replaying it.
Every time she closed her eyes, she felt the heat of his hand on her waist.
His voice—low, dangerous, soft only for her:
“Don’t let anyone touch you again.”
And God, she hated that she liked it.
But she also knew one thing for sure:
Kayden Ezekiel was a problem she didn’t have the strength to solve.
---
Monday Morning
She arrived early, hoping to avoid him.
The courtyard was quiet, except for the soft sweep of wind across the abandoned field. She breathed in, letting the air settle the storm in her chest.
Footsteps approached.
Slow. Unhurried. Familiar.
Her heart dropped.
Before she even turned, she recognized the presence behind her—dark, steady, heavy like a shadow with a heartbeat.
“Trying to avoid me?” Kayden’s voice slid in smoothly.
Malia stiffened. “I wasn’t avoiding you.”
He stepped into view, eyes narrowed a little. “Don’t lie. You’re terrible at it.”
She blinked. “I’m not lying.”
Kayden raised an eyebrow, leaning against the bench beside her.
His shoulders relaxed like he had all the time in the world.
“Malia,” he said quietly, “I see through lies. Yours are the easiest to read.”
She swallowed.
His gaze pinned her, warm and sharp all at once.
“Tell me why you’re avoiding me.”
“I’m… not,” she whispered, but the words trembled.
He gave her a long look—one that made her feel bare, like he saw everything she tried to hide.
Then he asked something that made her pulse stumble:
“Are you scared of me now?”
She turned to him fast. “No! Kayden, I’m not scared of you.”
He blinked once. “Then why are you running?”
Malia inhaled and looked away, unable to meet those piercing eyes.
“Because…”
She hesitated.
“Because I don’t know what you want.”
He didn’t respond for a moment.
Then his voice dropped—deep, honest, and unsettling.
“I want to protect you.”
Malia’s heart nearly stopped.
---
A Vulnerable Moment
She forced herself to breathe. “Kayden… you don’t even know me.”
He tilted his head a little. “I know enough.”
“Like what?” she challenged softly.
His answer was immediate.
“I know you pretend to be strong because showing weakness around rich predators is dangerous.”
He paused. “I know your smile is real but your silence is louder.”
“And I know someone hurt you long before Friday.”
Her throat tightened.
He said it like a fact.
No pity.
No pressure.
Just a truth he refused to let her bury.
“How do you know?” she whispered.
Kayden shrugged lightly. “I pay attention.”
Something in her chest cracked open—fear, relief, something else she couldn’t name.
He shifted slightly closer, not enough to touch her, but enough for her pulse to rise.
“Malia… if anyone else talks about you, looks at you wrong, touches you—”
His jaw clenched, accent sharpening.
“—I will tear them apart.”
She flinched—not from fear but because she knew he meant it.
“Kayden,” she whispered, “you can’t keep fighting people.”
“I can if they deserve it.”
“That’s not how things work.”
“It’s how my world works.”
She sighed. “But I don’t want you getting in trouble because of me.”
His eyes darkened. “I don’t care about trouble.”
She shook her head. “Well, I do.”
For a moment, they simply stared at each other.
Two stubborn hearts with different rules but the same storm.
Kayden finally looked away, running a thumb across his lower lip.
“I’m not used to this,” he muttered.
“To what?”
He glanced at her again, jaw tense.
“To someone worrying about me.”
The confession hung between them.
And it felt like something intimate—something raw.
---
The Stepbrother
“Malia!”
They both turned as a tall, brown-skinned boy jogged toward them—her stepbrother, Laju.
Kayden’s eyes immediately sharpened like a blade sensing danger.
Malia stiffened.
Not now.
Not in front of him.
Laju reached her, smiling too widely. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Kayden stayed silent but his entire aura darkened.
Laju’s gaze flicked to Kayden briefly:
Dismissive.
Unbothered.
Arrogant.
“You didn’t come home this weekend,” Laju said. “Dad was angry.”
Malia’s stomach twisted.
Dad.
Her stepfather.
“I stayed with a friend,” she replied flatly.
“You didn’t ask permission.”
“It wasn’t required.”
Laju scoffed. “Everything you do requires permission.”
Kayden straightened slowly.
A ticking bomb in human form.
Laju finally noticed him again. “Why is he here?”
“Malia was talking to me,” Kayden said coolly.
Laju folded his arms. “I wasn’t talking to you, thug.”
Kayden smiled.
A dangerous, slow, deathly smile.
Malia stepped between them. “Stop. Both of you.”
Laju rolled his eyes. “Dad needs you home today. Don’t be late.”
Then he walked away.
Not a single glance at Kayden.
Kayden exhaled sharply. “I hate him.”
“You hate everyone,” she said softly.
“Not you.”
That stopped her breathing for a full second.
---
Kayden’s Warning
He moved closer, voice low.
“Malia… stay away from him.”
“He’s my brother.”
“He’s not your blood.”
She frowned. “You don’t know anything about him.”
“I know enough to see he’s lying every time he touches you with his eyes.”
She shivered.
Because… Kayden wasn’t wrong.
“I’m serious,” he added, tone darkening. “Whatever your family is hiding—I want you to tell me.”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “Not yet.”
Kayden nodded once. Not angry. Not impatient.
Just accepting.
“Then I’ll wait.”
Her chest tightened.
Why was he like this?
Why was he breaking down walls she didn’t even know she had?
Kayden looked down at her, eyes softer now.
“But Malia?”
“Yes?”
“If anyone—your brother, your father, anyone—hurts you…”
He brushed a single finger down the bench between them, leaving a faint line.
“I will make sure they disappear.”
She swallowed hard.
“Kayden…”
“No.” His voice shook slightly—not from fear, but from something deeper.
“Don’t ask me to stand by and watch you suffer.”
She held his gaze.
Silent.
Shaken.
Moved.
He stepped back, breathing out.
“I’ll see you after classes,” he said quietly.
It wasn’t a question.
Then he turned and walked away, hands in pockets, leaving her heart beating far too loudly.
---
Malia’s Thoughts
She watched him disappear behind the admin block.
Kayden Ezekiel.
A boy feared by everyone.
A boy who felt too much.
A boy who saw the truth she tried to hide.
She didn’t know what scared her more—
her stepfather’s secrets…
or what she was starting to feel for Kayden.
Because slowly, silently, dangerously…
she was falling.
And falling for a boy like him was not safe.
But deep down, Malia knew something she refused to admit:
Kayden wasn’t her danger.
He was her only protection.
---
- Writer
