Ten Years Unsaid

Chapter Three

The city looked different before sunrise.

Mas tahimik mas malamig parang humihinga pa lang bago tuluyang magising ang lahat.

Streetlights flickered weakly against the dim blue sky, and the usual chaos of the city hadn’t started yet. No traffic. No crowds. No laughter just silence.

The kind Johan understood.

“Positions.”

His voice came through the comms—low, steady, controlled.Around him, shadows moved.

Men dressed in black blended into the darkness of the warehouse district. Their footsteps were careful, calculated, trained. Walang nagsasalita. Walang nagdadalawang-isip. Because when Johan Eryx Vale gave an order you followed.

“Target confirmed inside,” one of his men whispered through the earpiece. “Rivas group is armed. Approximately twelve.”

Johan stood a few meters away from the main entrance, hands steady, gaze fixed.

Twelve? Too easy.

“Backup routes?” he asked.

“Blocked. They’re cornered.”A faint pause , then Johan spoke.

“Good.”

His grip tightened slightly around his gun.

“Then they have nowhere to run.”

There was no anger in his voice no excitement just certainty.

“Move.”

The first gunshot shattered the silence then another

and another chaos erupted instantly glass shattered , bullets echoed against metal walls. Someone shouted ,someone fell.

Johan walked forward not rushed not reckless.

just… inevitable.

A man ran out from the side entrance, firing blindly.

Johan didn’t even blink.

One shot clean.

The man dropped before he could take another step.

Inside the warehouse, the fight intensified.

“Left side!” someone yelled.

“Clear it,” Johan responded immediately.

He moved through the chaos like he had done this a thousand times—because he had.

Every movement precise ,Every decision immediate no hesitation.A shadow lunged from behind a crate—

Johan reacted instantly, grabbing the man’s wrist, twisting hard until the gun clattered to the ground. The man gasped, trying to fight back, but Johan was faster.A sharp strike , A dull thud ,Silence and for a brief moment, their eyes met.

Fea, Pure, desperate fear.

Johan felt nothing.

“Finish it,” he ordered, stepping past him.

Because mercy had no place here.

And Johan had long since learned—

feeling anything was a weakness he couldn’t afford.

—

Miles away—

Kael shifted in his bed hindi siya mapakali.

The room was quiet, but his mind wasn’t.

He turned to his side, staring at his phone on the nightstand.No notifications , no messages ,Nothing.

“…Ang arte mo,” he muttered under his breath, trying to dismiss it.

But something felt off hindi niya maipaliwanag sanay naman siya.Johan disappearing wasn’t new , Johan being unreachable wasn’t new pero ngayon—

iba It felt heavier.

Parang may mali na hindi niya makita.

He grabbed his phone, unlocking it.

Still nothing.

Kael sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Busy lang ‘yun,” he whispered, more to convince himself than anything.

But even as he said it—

his chest felt tight.

—

Back at the warehouse—

The gunfire slowed.

Then stopped.

Smoke lingered in the air, mixing with the metallic scent of blood.

Bodies lay scattered across the floor.

“Area secured,” one of Johan’s men reported.

Johan stepped forward, scanning the room.

Unmoved.

Unshaken.

Unchanged.

“Check for survivors,” he said.

“Yes, sir.”

He turned to leave—

Then suddenly a sharp pain tore through his side.

Johan’s steps faltered.

Just for a second.

He looked down.

Blood.

Fresh.

Warm.

Spreading through his shirt.

“…Tch.”

One of his men rushed forward. “Sir, you’re hit—”

“I’m fine,” Johan cut him off, voice firm.

But his grip tightened slightly against his side.

“Sir, we need to—”

“I said I’m fine.”

The man stopped.

Because Johan didn’t repeat himself.

Ever.

Still—

the pain didn’t go away ,It pulsed

Johan exhaled quietly, leaning back slightly against the wall for a brief moment and for the first time that night his mind drifted ,Not to the fight ,Not to the blood,Not to the war but to something else ,someone else a laugh , Bright and Careless.

“Pre!”

Johan closed his eyes for a second.

“…Kael.”The name slipped out before he could stop it.

Soft , Almost fragile something he never allowed himself to be. Then he opened his eyes again .

“Let’s go,” he said.

—

The sun began to rise.

Soft light crept across the city, slowly pushing away the darkness.

People started waking up ,cars began to fill the streets ,life continued as if nothing had happened ,As if no blood had been spilled ,As if no one had almost died.

——

Kael stood by his window coffee in hand eyes distant.

“Ang tahimik,” he murmured. But it wasn’t.

The city was alive again it just didn’t feel like it.

His phone remained silent.

Still waiting.

“…Johan,” he whispered.

Something in his voice shifted.

Softer.

He frowned slightly, confused by his own tone.

“…Bakit parang—”

He stopped himself and shook his head.

“Wala,” he muttered.

But his grip on the phone tightened“…Magparamdam ka na kasi.”

—

Inside a moving car , Johan sat quietly in the backseat , Blood still seeping through the bandage hastily wrapped around his side.

His breathing was steady but slower now.

He leaned his head slightly against the window, watching the city pass by . Alive ,Normal ,Untouched.

so different from his world.

For a moment he imagined something impossible a life without this ,A life where he could just stay where Kael’s laughter wasn’t something he watched from a distance ,but something he belonged to.

His fingers curled slightly then relaxed ,Because even imagining it felt dangerous.

“…Not my place,” he murmured.

The car kept moving and Johan let the thought go

just like he always did.

—

Between sunrise and silence,between blood and laughter two lives continued moving forward unaware

that they were already heading toward something irreversible.