You weren’t supposed to fall for Jay.

Not when he was with Nya.

Not when you were with Kai.

But things don’t always fall where they’re supposed to.

It started slow—so slow it was almost unnoticeable. A shared joke at breakfast. A glance across the training yard that lingered longer than it should have. Nights when everyone else had gone to bed and Jay would find you on the roof, legs dangling off the edge, head tilted back to watch the stars.

He never said much when he sat beside you. Just hummed under his breath or made dumb comments about constellations. But his arm would press against yours. His leg would brush your thigh. Not on purpose.

At least… not at first.

You’d talk about small things. Silly things. But after a while, it turned into late-night confessions. Things you didn’t even tell Kai. Things Jay shouldn’t have been telling you about Nya.

Like how he felt like she was slipping away.

Like how he wasn’t sure if they even talked anymore.

Like how quiet had started to feel loud.

You should’ve stopped him. Should’ve set a boundary. But instead, you leaned in too.

You weren’t sure when it changed—when it went from accidental to deliberate. But you knew you looked for him when he wasn’t there. That your pulse sped up when he laughed too hard at your jokes. That he saw you in a way Kai hadn’t in weeks.

And maybe… you liked the danger. The forbidden edges of it. The feeling that something was blooming in the dark, soft and electric, wrapped in guilt and moonlight.

Like last night.

When he met you behind the monastery again.

No plans. No reason. Just—there.

He brought snacks and a blanket, made a stupid joke about this being your “midnight picnic affair,” and you hit his shoulder, but you didn’t walk away.

You sat there under the stars, shoulder to shoulder.

“I think about you a lot,” he said quietly, fingers knotting in the edge of the blanket. “More than I should.”

Your throat tightened. You didn’t say anything. Couldn’t.

But Jay looked at you like you were the only person in the world who ever really got him.

And that feeling? That pulse between you?