Academically Yours (Jayfer)

Chapter 22
Jayjay’s POV

Keifer arrived at the study room ten minutes late.

Typical.

I’d already laid out my debate notes, sharpened every counterpoint like a blade. The moment he walked in, the tension hit like static.

“You’re late,” I said without looking up.

“You’re predictable,” he shot back.

We were off to a great start.

We spent the first hour arguing about the rules.

“I’m saying ‘Love is Power,’” he announced, dropping into the seat across from me.

“You’re defending love?” I raised an eyebrow. “That’s rich.”

He shrugged. “Guess I’m full of surprises.”

“Or delusions.”

“And you’re debating that love is weakness? You sound bitter, Mariano.”

“I sound accurate, Watson.”

He leaned forward, eyes glinting. “You sure this is still a debate, or are you just airing your trauma again?”

My jaw clenched.

He immediately blinked — the regret flickered across his face too fast to hide.

“I didn’t mean—”

“You did.”

We both sat there.

Breathing.

The words between us: too sharp, too soft, too close to true.

Later, after the fight cooled, we tried again.

Practiced our openings.

Threw rebuttals back and forth.

But somewhere in the rhythm of it — the push and pull — something shifted.

The tone changed.

I noticed the way his voice dropped when he said my name.

The way his eyes searched mine when I stumbled over my line.

The way he looked at me like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to win the debate…

Or surrender.

And for a second?

I wasn’t sure which one I wanted either.

That night, I wrote again.

“He wasn’t the villain.
He was the pause between my defenses.
The reason my armor started to rust.

And I hated him for it.

But I think… I was starting to hate myself more.
For wanting him to keep breaking through.”

I stared at the words.

Deleted the last line.

Rewrote it.

Day of the Debate

I walked onto the stage like I always did — poised, unreadable, stone-faced.

Until I looked up.

And saw him already watching me.

He didn’t smirk this time.

He smiled.

Soft. Real.

Like I was something he was proud of before the fight even began.

Miss Reyes nodded. “Begin.”

Keifer started.

“Love is power.
Not because it makes us perfect,
But because it makes us human.

In business, in life, in leadership — it’s not logic alone that builds empires.
It’s the why behind it.
And love... is often the why.”

Every line felt like it was carved from something real.

Every pause held something he couldn’t say directly.

And when his eyes flicked to mine at the end?

I felt it.

All of it.

The unsaid.

The unspoken.

The unwanted... and yet desperately wanted.

Your move, Jay.