บททั้งหมดของ The Guy Who Lives Next Door : บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Ruby became invisible on purpose. After what happened.She took different hallways. Left class early or stayed late. Sat with her back to the room. If Kai Kingston entered a space, she exited it—quietly, decisively, without a glance. She didn’t flinch when his name was said. She didn’t react when his shadow crossed her desk. She treated him the way she’d learned to treat pain: by refusing to give it oxygen.It worked.At least on the outside.Inside, everything felt tender. Raw. Like the skin beneath a scab.The morning after the rooftop, Ruby moved through St. Celeste on muscle memory alone. Her eyes stayed forward. Her jaw stayed set. When Lila asked if she was okay, Ruby smiled and said, “Fine,” with a steadiness that fooled no one but ended the conversation anyway.Zara slid into the seat beside her in homeroom and whispered, “You’re being scary calm.”Ruby shrugged, opening her notebook. “I’m being done.”That was the truth she could live with.Kai noticed immediately.He noticed

Ruby noticed the first change on Monday morning.She paused just inside the classroom doorway, eyes scanning the rows out of habit now — calculating exits, allies, threats. Her name was back where it had been before everything went wrong.Third row. Window seat.Her stomach tightened.That was impossible.Mr. Hale had moved her two weeks ago, citing “class balance.” Everyone knew it was code for sit where Kai can see you. She’d argued — calmly, firmly — and lost.Now her name was back in neat black marker, like nothing had ever happened.Ruby slid into the seat slowly, waiting for the catch.There was none.Mr. Hale began the lesson without a word, like the change had always been there. No apology. No explanation.Ruby stared out the window, jaw tight.Across the room, Kai sat two rows behind her.He didn’t look at her.That was the strangest part.By lunch, it happened again.The gossip app had been buzzing all morning — she’d felt the phantom vibration in her pocket even when her ph

“Do you even hear yourself?” Ruby muttered under her breath, mostly to herself.Kai didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. His presence pressed on her from across the hall. A shadow, a warning, a storm waiting to break.The cafeteria was crowded. The lunch rush had everyone in a hurry, trays clattering, gossip buzzing like electricity. Ruby tried to keep her head down, eat quickly, and avoid the inevitable.But she didn’t get that luxury today.Kai sat at his usual table, surrounded by his friends, that careless grin plastered on his face—but it was off. Edges sharp, eyes flicking constantly toward her.And Theo. Of course Theo. He was sitting across the hall, quietly eating, notebook open, eyes scanning the room like a hawk.Ruby’s stomach twisted.It started small.Kai’s friends nudged him. “Look at her with Alvarez.”He didn’t answer at first. He just stared. His jaw tightened. His hand slammed on the table.“Alvarez,” Kai said, voice low but deadly, “what are you doing with her?”Theo’

Kai’s words followed Ruby out of the classroom, down the hallway, all the way to the front steps of the school.She didn’t answer him.Or slow down.But she felt it.That sentence lodged itself somewhere deep, uncomfortable, and warm in a way she didn’t trust.Ruby told herself she was done noticing Kai Kingston.Done analyzing his moods, his words and she also done wondering what he meant when he looked at her like he almost understood her.And for most of the next few days, she succeeded.She focused on school. On Lila’s dramatic recaps of every hallway interaction. On Zara’s sarcastic commentary during lunch. On not looking toward Kai’s table.But life had a way of pushing her back toward him.Especially when they lived next door.It happened on a Thursday evening.Ruby came home late from the library, arms full of books, brain fried from studying. The street was quiet, lights glowing softly along the sidewalk.The Kingston house loomed beside hers—huge, modern, intimidating.And d

It happened faster than rumors ever did.Ruby was halfway down the east hallway, books hugged to her chest, when the laughter started behind her. Sharp. Mocking. Familiar.“Careful,” a boy’s voice said loudly. “Don’t trip. Wouldn’t want Kingston’s charity case bruising her knees.”Her shoulders tensed.She didn’t turn.She didn’t slow down.She’d learned that lesson already.But footsteps rushed closer. Too close.Someone brushed her arm on purpose.Her books slipped.They hit the floor with a crack that echoed down the hallway.Laughter burst out—three boys this time, seniors she recognized vaguely from Kai’s wider social orbit. Not his friends exactly. Worse. The ones who borrowed his name without his permission.Ruby crouched, cheeks burning, fingers scrambling to gather her things.“Relax,” one of them said. “We’re just joking.”“Yeah,” another added. “Theo’s girl can take a joke, right?”That made her freeze.“I’m not—” she started.“Hey.”The word cut through the hallway like a