There’s a huge difference between feeling like you’re being watched and knowing that someone really is watching you. The first makes you paranoid. The second makes you afraid.
I zoomed in on the photo on the screen. Me. Naya. Keanu. Raka.
None of us was looking at the camera. Which meant whoever took the photo had done it without us noticing. And they were still somewhere nearby.
“Luna, get inside the school.”
Raka’s voice made me look up.
“What?”
“Now.”
He took a step toward the street, scanning the area around us.
“Rak—”
“Keanu, take them inside.”
“Don’t order me around,” Keanu shot back, though his eyes swept across the area around the gate too.
A few motorcycles passed by. A drink vendor was serving students. Two people sat at the stall across the street. A security guard stood a few yards from us.
Anyone could have taken that photo.
“I’m not going in until you explain,” I said.
Raka stared sharply at me.
“This isn’t the time to be stubborn.”
“You disappeared for two months without an explanation, then showed up and told me to block your number. You really think I’m just going to listen?”
“Luna.”
“No.”
I held up my phone.
“Who is this?”
Raka fell silent.
That was enough.
“You know?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“I don’t know.”
I froze.
Raka had just switched from calling me gue to aku. He always did that when he was completely serious.
Naya tugged on my arm.
“Lun, maybe we should go inside first.”
My phone buzzed.
Everyone immediately looked at the screen.
A new message.
Don’t ask Raka. He’ll lie.
The back of my neck went cold.
Keanu stepped closer.
“Reply.”
Raka said at once, “Don’t.”
I looked at both of them.
Keanu held out his hand. “Ask what they want.”
“Don’t reply to anything,” Raka repeated.
“Why?” I asked.
Raka didn’t answer.
Again.
I was starting to get sick of his silence.
My fingers moved.
Me: Who are you?
The message was read almost immediately.
The typing indicator appeared.
Anonymous: Someone who knows what happened on May 17.
Raka’s breathing changed.
I heard it.
Quiet, but clear enough.
I stared at him.
“What happened on May 17?”
“Luna, delete that chat.”
“Why?”
“Delete it.”
“Answer me first!”
A few students began looking in our direction.
Raka roughly rubbed his face.
“I can’t explain here.”
“Why can’t you ever explain anything?”
My voice rose.
“Two months ago, you said we’d talk later too. And what did I get? A breakup text.”
Raka looked at me.
For a moment, his expression crumbled.
“That message—”
He stopped.
I waited.
“What?”
Raka turned toward the street.
“It was nothing.”
I gave a short laugh.
“Of course.”
I turned away.
“Luna.”
I kept walking.
“Luna, wait.”
This time, I stopped.
Not because of Raka. Because my phone had made a sound again.
A file had come in.
VN_1705_2216.m4a
Voice message. Duration: 00:18.
The date in the file name made my stomach drop.
May 17.
10:16 p.m.
Three minutes before Raka sent the message saying our relationship was over.
“Don’t open it.”
Raka’s voice came from behind me.
I turned around.
His face was deathly pale.
And that was when I knew.
Whatever was in this recording— Raka had heard it before.
I pressed play.
“Luna!” Raka moved forward.
Keanu stepped between us.
“Let her listen.”
Static came from the speaker.
Then someone’s voice.
Raka’s voice.
“I can’t do this.”
My heart stopped for a moment.
Another voice answered. Not very clear.
“You promised.”
I turned up the volume.
Raka, standing in front of me, closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“She has nothing to do with this.”
The second voice spoke again. This time, lower.
“Then make her leave.”
Then—
“Break up with Aluna tonight.”
The recording stopped.
No one spoke.
The sound of traffic on the street suddenly seemed too loud.
I looked at Raka.
“What was that?”
He didn’t answer.
“Raka.”
“Luna…”
“Who told you to break up with me?”
Raka looked at Keanu and Naya before turning back to me.
“I told you, delete it.”
I almost laughed.
“Are you serious?”
“Delete the recording.”
“I just heard someone tell you to break up with me, and all you can think about is deleting it?”
“There are some things you’re better off not knowing.”
That line.
I hated it.
I really hated it.
“Don’t decide for me what I’m allowed to know.”
Raka fell silent.
Keanu took my phone.
“Send it to me.”
Raka turned to him at once.
“Don’t.”
“Why?” Keanu challenged him. “Scared?”
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“If it involves Luna, it’s my business.”
Something changed in Raka’s face.
“Since when?”
Keanu gave him a faint smile.
“Since you decided to leave her.”
“That’s enough!” I shouted.
They both fell silent.
I snatched my phone back.
At that moment, the bell rang from the main building.
Naya touched my shoulder.
“We have to go inside.”
I didn’t move.
My eyes were still on Raka.
“I’ll give you one chance.”
Raka furrowed his brow.
“This afternoon. Ruang Sela. Four o’clock.”
“Luna—”
“Show up and explain everything.”
I slipped my phone into my pocket.
“Or I’ll find out myself.”
Raka stared at me for a long moment.
Then he shook his head.
“Don’t look into this yourself.”
“Then show up.”
I turned away before he could answer.
The recording kept playing in my head throughout every class.
Break up with Aluna tonight.
Who? Why? What did I have to do with any of this?
At lunch, Naya, Keanu, and I sat in the corner of the cafeteria.
Keanu had already listened to the recording maybe twenty times.
“The second voice was edited,” he said.
I stopped stirring my iced tea.
“What?”
“Listen.”
He played the middle section.
You promised.
“There’s some distortion,” he continued. “They deliberately lowered the voice.”
Naya frowned.
“So whoever sent it doesn’t want us to know who’s speaking?”
“Or,” I said slowly, “they want me to hear the conversation without knowing who the person is.”
Keanu nodded.
“Could be.”
My phone buzzed on the table.
The three of us instinctively looked at it.
It wasn’t the anonymous account.
A message from a number I didn’t have saved.
Unknown Number: Don’t go to Ruang Sela at four.
I swallowed.
Me: Who is this?
There was no answer.
I called the number.
The call connected.
One second.
Two.
Then a ringtone sounded.
Not from my phone.
From somewhere in the cafeteria.
I looked up.
Naya heard it too.
Keanu stood.
The ringing stopped.
My call was declined.
We looked around.
Dozens of students were eating and chatting.
“The number’s here,” Naya whispered.
I tried calling again.
The ringtone sounded.
Clearer this time.
From the tables in the back.
I stood up.
Keanu went ahead.
One by one, students turned to look at us as we passed them.
The ringing grew louder.
Until finally, we stopped in front of an empty table.
A schoolbag sat on top of it.
A phone was vibrating inside the bag.
Naya looked at me.
“Whose bag is that?”
I recognized the strawberry-shaped keychain on its zipper.
I recognized it because I was the one who’d bought it as a birthday present last year.
My hands suddenly went cold.
Keanu looked at me.
“Luna?”
I didn’t answer.
I didn’t need to.
Because the owner of that bag was already standing a few yards behind us, carrying two bottles of mineral water.
Her face went pale when she saw us.
I turned all the way around.
“Nay…”
Naya didn’t move.
Her eyes were fixed on her own bag.
Then on me.
“I can explain.”
For several seconds, I even forgot how to breathe.
Because the number that had just sent the message—
had come from my best friend’s own phone.