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Chapter 8 — Cafeteria Humiliation

Auteur: Pauline Maxwell
last update Date de publication: 2025-12-06 02:13:25

Ruby tried to forget the moment.

Kai didn’t.

By the time lunch rolled around, Ruby was exhausted from dodging him in every hallway. She felt like a mouse living in a school filled with very large, very smug cats.

She stepped into the cafeteria clutching her tray, eyes scanning the room for one single safe place to sit.

Zara spotted her first.

“Ruby! Over here!”

She waved with a bright smile.

Ruby exhaled with relief and started walking toward her. Zara was kind, sweet, and actually warned her
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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 69 — Losing the Game

    Kai had always known the house was too big. It swallowed the sound. Even his footsteps felt temporary, like the floor didn’t bother remembering him once he passed. Tonight, the halls were lit brighter than usual—staff moving quietly, a dinner table set for people who weren’t hungry, for people who weren’t coming.He stood in the doorway of the study, jacket still on, tie loosened and forgotten. His father sat behind the desk, glasses perched low, absorbed in something that mattered more than a son. His mother lounged on the couch, scrolling through an event recap she hadn’t attended. They didn’t look up.“Sit,” his father said, eyes never leaving the papers.Kai didn’t.“I don’t want to talk about optics,” Kai said. His voice surprised him—steady, low, resolute. “I want to talk about us.”That earned a glance. Brief. Calculating.“We don’t have time for melodrama,” his mother said, eyes still on her phone. “If this is about the school—”“It’s not,” Kai cut in sharply. “It’s about you

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 68 Brielle Overplays

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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 67 The Cost of Control

    The next morning Kai didn’t plan to lose control.That was the thing everyone always got wrong about him.He didn’t wake up wanting to explode. He didn’t stalk the halls looking for a target. Control had been stitched into him since childhood—tailored suits, measured words, the kind of silence that bent rooms to his will.But fear had a way of loosening seams.It started in chemistry.He hadn’t slept. Again. The house had been too quiet the night before—no parents, no voices, just the low hum of security systems and the echo of Ruby’s words looping in his head.You don’t lose people. You outgrow the version of them that lets you hurt them.He sat at his lab station, leg bouncing, jaw tight. The teacher droned on about reaction rates, but all Kai could hear was the whispering behind him.Not subtle. Not even careful.“…told you his name wouldn’t save him forever.”“…saw the security footage, right?”“…Kingston finally slipping.”His fingers curled around the edge of the desk.Then some

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 66 Ruby Draws a Line

    Kai caught up to her between the third and fourth period.Not dramatically.Not loudly.That alone made her stop.“Ruby,” he said, voice low. Careful. Like he was handling glass instead of a girl he’d once shattered without thinking.She turned slowly. The hallway buzzed around them—lockers slamming, laughter ricocheting, footsteps passing—but it all faded into a dull hum. People noticed when Kai Kingston slowed down. They always did. Some stared openly. Others pretended not to.Ruby didn’t move closer. She didn’t move away.“What?” she asked.No bite. No edge.That unsettled him more than anger ever had.“I just want to talk,” he said. “Not argue. Not—” He exhaled, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Not whatever we always do.”She studied his face. Really studied it.He looked… stripped down. No smirk. No sarcasm. No armor. His shoulders weren’t squared like usual; they sloped, like he was tired of holding himself up. His eyes kept flicking to her mouth, then away, like he was afrai

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 65 — Cracks in the Crown

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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 64 — Theo Steps Forward

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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 42 — Midnight Visitor

    The knock came just after midnight.Ruby was half-asleep, tangled in her blanket, her phone face-down on the nightstand. For a moment, she thought she’d imagined it—some leftover echo from a dream.Then it came again.Three slow knocks.Not urgent.Not polite.Heavy.Ruby sat up, heart thudding. Th

    last updateDernière mise à jour : 2026-03-28

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 43 — The Truth About Kingston

    The question lingered between them, fragile and exposed.Ruby didn’t answer right away. She watched Kai stand awkwardly in her entryway, hands shoved into his jacket pockets like he didn’t know what to do with them when he wasn’t performing. The silence stretched, thick but not hostile.Finally, sh

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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 40 — The Price of Power

    Kai’s words lingered on the rooftop long after he left.Ruby stood there alone, the wind biting through her jacket, staring at the city lights below. She didn’t answer him—not because she didn’t have words, but because every answer felt dangerous.She went home with a knot in her chest that wouldn’

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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Chapter 41 — Boundaries

    Ruby didn’t mean to say it like that.But once the words left her mouth, there was no pulling them back.“Stop.”Kai halted mid-step in the hallway, his shoulder brushing a locker. Students streamed around them, laughter and chatter filling the space between what they weren’t saying.He turned slow

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