Chapter 1

Pearl Vortex was the kind of girl who talked to everyone. Teachers, classmates, the canteen uncle, the shy juniors who didn't know where the biology lab was—she smiled at them all, her words weaving warmth into the cold, early morning air. Her laughter slipped into the corridors like sunlight, refusing to let even a Monday feel heavy.

She was a studyholic, her highlighters color-coding notes with the same care she gave to picking her scrunchies, her confidence making even the toughest chapters feel conquerable. Yet beneath that bright, chatty energy lay a small, quiet hope: that her first love, whenever it arrived, would be the one that stayed.

Pearl was the type to speak her mind, to laugh loudly, to comfort others easily. But when she looked out of the window during lunch breaks, she wondered if somewhere, there was someone who would see her, not just the version of her that everyone loved. Someone who would stay, even when she fell silent.

That morning, she tied her hair in a messy ponytail, tucked a mechanical pencil behind her ear, and ran toward the library, late for study group. She almost collided with someone at the door, clutching her books before they could fall.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, looking up with a laugh, and that was the first time she saw him—the quiet boy holding a sketchbook against his chest like a shield, eyes wide, lips parted as if he had forgotten how to speak.

She didn't know then, but that was the first moment their unspoken story began.