Chapter 2: "So, what’s your name?"

The nightclub buzzed with flashing lights and deep bass as she sat across from him, swirling her drink absentmindedly. He leaned in slightly, his voice cutting through the noise with an unexpected softness.

"You don't seem like the type to be here often," he said, watching her carefully.

She smirked, tilting her head. "And what type do I seem like?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Not sure yet. Mysterious, maybe. But there’s something about you... like you're carrying the weight of something heavy."

For a second, she froze. His words hit somewhere deep, somewhere she had buried beneath layers of pretense and survival. The weight of her past, her present, and the uncertain future she was forced into pressed against her chest.

"So, what’s your name?" he asked, pulling her back into the moment.

Her mind was still caught in the spiral of thoughts he had unknowingly triggered. Before she could stop herself, the truth slipped past her lips.

"MAYA" which her realname which shouldn't be exposed really this was the thingwhich she was strictly restricted to do so

The moment it escaped, her heart skipped a beat. A split-second later, she realized her mistake. But it was too late.

"MAYA?" he repeated, as if testing the way it sounded. "I like it. It suits you."

She forced a smile, masking the panic creeping up her spine. Somewhere in her ear, through the tiny hidden earpiece, she heard the silence from the group. A silence more terrifying than any scolding. They had heard. And she knew she had just made a huge mistake.

The Next Morning…

He sat in the campus café with his friends, animatedly recounting his night at the club. "She was different. I don’t know how to explain it," he said, leaning forward. "She had this sharp wit but also this... moment. Like, when I said something, she just went quiet, like I touched a nerve. And then she told me her name—"MAYA."

One of his friends smirked. "You’re already obsessed."

"I’m just saying, she wasn’t like the usual people you meet at clubs."

"And where is this mysterious girl now?" another friend teased.

As if the universe was playing a joke on him, the café doors opened, and she walked in. He froze mid-sentence, shock flickering in his eyes before something else settled in—excitement.

She saw him, hesitated just a fraction, then straightened her shoulders and strolled forward like she had planned this all along. But he wasn’t the only one watching. Somewhere, someone else was, and she knew—her punishment was only beginning.