เข้าสู่ระบบAs Kai stepped inside, his eyes immediately landed on Noah, who was standing a little further down the path near the house. Kai gave a polite smile and raised a hand in greeting.“Hey,” he called, voice friendly and easygoing like always.But Noah didn’t respond. He didn’t even glance in Kai’s direction, his expression remained poker as he turned and walked back toward the garden without a word, leaving a heavy silence in his wake.Kai’s smile faltered for a second, but he quickly recovered, shrugging it off like it was nothing. “Friendly guy,” he muttered under his breath, though I could tell he was a little thrown.I forced a small laugh, trying to ease the awkwardness, but my stomach was twisting into knots. Everything felt like it was balancing on a knife’s edge.“Come on,” I urged, leading him inside before things could get any weirder. “Let’s go inside.”Kai followed me, glancing around the mansion with quiet curiosity. “This place is huge,” he said, his voice echoing slightly
I watched him unzip the bag and my stomach dropped the second he opened it.Guns.The bag was filled with them. Handguns, mostly — sleek, black, and clearly well-maintained. They were packed neatly inside, wrapped in cloth to keep them from shifting. There had to be at least a dozen, maybe more. It wasn’t my first time to see one but it was certainly a first seeing that amount.I took a small step back, heart hammering but maybe the sound of my foot scraping against the stone was too loud, because Noah suddenly turned his head.Our eyes met.For a split second, I froze, bracing myself for the worst. I thought he’d stand up, confront me, and demand to know why I was spying on him. My mind raced with possible excuses I could give, lies I could tell. But he didn’t say a word.Instead, he simply turned back around, like my presence didn’t matter at all. His gloved hands moved calmly as he zipped the bag closed again, the sound of the zipper cutting through the quiet air. He brushed mor
He chucked a pair of worn-out gloves and a rusty little hand trowel straight at my chest and I barely caught it before it hit the ground. “I haven’t gardened a day in my life,” I said, staring at the tools in my hands. “Then it’s about fucking time you learn, isn’t it?” he shot back, already turning away. I let out a long, frustrated sigh, muttering under my breath as I yanked the stiff gloves over my fingers and trudged after him toward the edge of the garden, where the soil was dark, clumpy, and crawling with little bugs under the afternoon sun. “So what am I supposed to do?” I asked, catching up. “Just do whatever the fuck I do,” he grunted, dropping to his knees by the bed. “That’s a really vague instruction, you know that?” He shrugged, not even bothering to look up. “Well, I’m not exactly a very good teacher, so that’s as clear as I can get.” I stared at the back of his head, gloves already feeling sweaty and awkward on my hands. The sun was already warm on my back. The
I blinked, still tasting the burn on my tongue when Noah snatched the glass right out of my hand.“Hey, that was mine,” I said, frowning up at him.He shook his head, still chuckling as he finished the rest in one go. “It’s okay,” he let out, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You already proved your goddamn point. No need to torture yourself up over a stupid drink.”I crossed my arms, refusing to let it go. “As I said, I wasn’t trying to prove a point.”He scoffed, setting the empty glass down on the counter. “Sure you weren’t.”I smiled despite myself, watching the way the corners of his mouth still twitched like he was fighting another laugh. There was something almost soft in his eyes right now, buried under all that usual sharpness.I tilted my head, feeling bold. “Worried about me?”For a second, he just looked at me. Then, to my surprise, he answered without hesitation.“Yeah.”I stared at him, completely speechless. The word hung between us, heavier than I expected.
He didn’t answer. I stood up, pushing the chair back a little harder than necessary. My notes and laptop were still spread across the table, but I suddenly couldn’t stand to be in the same room as him anymore. “You can have the Study to yourself,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. “I’m not sitting here while you act like you’re doing some kind of psychological experiment on me.” I nudged his shoulder as I walked past and headed for the door without looking back. “Saraphina, he called but I ignored him. His hand shot out and caught my wrist before I could reach the door. His grip wasn’t rough, but it was firm enough to stop me in my tracks. “Hey,” he let out, his voice lower now. “I’m talking to you.” I tried to keep moving anyway, but he didn’t let go. Then he sighed, the sound tired and a little frustrated, like he was annoyed at himself more than at me. “It seems like you took my words completely the wrong goddamn way,” he muttered, voice low. “I wasn’t trying to ta
Noah’s eyebrow lifted slightly, like he hadn’t expected that answer. He stayed where he was, leaning against the edge of the desk now instead of the doorway, arms still crossed over his chest.“Offended?” he asked, almost amused.“Shouldn’t I be?” I shot back. “You make it sound like I only got in because of my last name.”He didn’t argue and just watched me with that annoying poker expression of his. The silence stretched as he hovered near the desk, picking up one of my notebooks and flipping through it absently.I tried to refocus on my laptop, but it was impossible with him standing there. His presence filled the room in a way that made it hard to think straight. Every time I tried to read a line, I could feel his eyes on me or hear the faint rustle of pages as he kept flipping through my notes.After a few more minutes of it, I finally dropped my pen and looked up at him, exasperated.“I can’t concentrate with you here,” I said bluntly.Noah glanced up from the notebook, tilting







