Chapter 77 - Chapter 77: The Unspoken Bond

Leo video-called me from his dorm in Manila, his side of the screen a chaotic mess of wires and empty soda cans. "The city is insane, JM! You wouldn't believe it!" He told me about his programming classes, the huge computer labs, the all-night coding sessions. Our lives were diverging, the shared trauma of the past year receding into a foundation of a different kind of friendship. We didn't talk about Vega or the Alcantaras. We talked about his terrible cafeteria food and my terrible first attempts at life drawing. The bond was still there, but it had changed shape, no longer defined by a secret, but fortified by it.