LOGINGloss POV Adrian’s voice slid into the air like a blade dipped in oil. “I didn’t expect to catch you snooping.” My breath locked in my chest. My pulse hit my ears in fast, sharp beats. The archive room felt smaller, tighter, darker. All that cold metal and dim light wrapped around us like walls pressing in. I straightened slowly, trying not to show the shake crawling into my hands. I wasn’t afraid of Adrian, not truly. I was afraid of what he represented. Manipulation. Schemes. The kind of chaos Dream had spent months trying to carve out of the company. The kind of chaos I had walked straight into like an idiot on a trapdoor. “Move,” I managed, though my voice didn’t sound like mine. “You’re blocking the exit.” Adrian smiled lazily. The kind of smile that pretended to be charming while hiding teeth. “That depends. Should I move because you asked, or because you’re panicking and want to run?” I clenched my fists. “I’m not panicking.” “You’re shaking.” I cursed myself silently
Gloss POV I should have known peace never lasted long around Dream. Not with my system. Not with his temper. And definitely not with Adrian slithering around in the shadows like a snake who refused to stay stepped on. The morning had started too normally, dangerously normally. I came into the office early, coffee in hand, system humming like a lazy cat in the sun. The hallway lights weren’t flickering. Nobody was crying. No intern was running for their life. Even the air conditioner worked. My keyboard didn’t jam. My chair didn’t squeak like it was possessed. Everything was suspiciously perfect. I sat down, took a sip of coffee, and sighed. For once, I wasn’t jittery. I wasn’t panicking. I wasn’t plotting an escape route through the vents. Yesterday’s chaos had actually ended well, miraculously well. Dream had apologized. Not a half-hearted “fine, whatever” apology. A real one. Soft voice. Genuine eyes. Fingers that brushed my wrist like he needed to feel me breathe. A
Gloss POV The moment Dream slammed his hand on the desk yesterday, something in me shifted. My pulse was still jogging from the memory, my brain replaying the possessive words like some insidious loop. Because you’re mine. I didn’t respond. I hadn’t responded. And today, my system decided to escalate things further. System Quest: “Make Dream apologize properly.” I froze mid-coffee stir. The mug trembled in my hand. Make him apologize properly? After everything he’d done? After slamming a desk, after acting like a jealous lunatic while I was just trying to exist in a normal office environment? Yeah, right. I scowled at the floating interface. “Nope. Absolutely not. This is ridiculous. I’m not doing it.” SYSTEM: Mission active. Affection potential high. Failure penalized. I muttered something unflattering under my breath, nearly choking on my drink. Affection potential? High? Was the system serious? Dream had already admitted he was mine, whatever that was supposed to mean, and n
Dream's POV I didn’t like the way Gloss walked into the office that morning. Not because he looked different, but because he looked… happy. Suspiciously happy. Suspiciously relaxed. Suspiciously at peace for someone who almost set the entire summit on fire the day before by diving into the mess Adrian created. He hummed. Gloss never hummed. He took his seat on the couch across from my desk, scrolling through his tablet, lips curled into this stupid soft smile that punched me directly in the chest. I tried to focus on my emails, but his smile kept dragging my attention away. I’d answer one message, glance at him, answer another, glance again. Before long, I wasn’t reading anything. I was watching him. Watching the way he pushed his hair back. Watching the way he bit his lip while typing. Watching the way he giggled at something the system probably whispered in his ear. And then my chest tightened, slowly, firmly, like an invisible hand was twisting something inside it. I w
Gloss POV The moment Adrian was dragged out of the conference hall, the entire atmosphere shifted. Investors loosened their ties, staff members whispered with relieved expressions, and the tension that had been hovering over the summit finally cracked. Dream stood beside me, posture straight, face composed, but I could tell from the way his shoulders dropped that he’d been holding the weight of that confrontation in silence. People gave him cautious nods, hesitant praise, relieved smiles. A few tried to approach him, thanking him for “clarifying the situation,” pretending like they hadn’t almost believed Adrian’s staged disaster. Dream ignored most of them. His only focus was stabilizing the last few minutes of the summit and escorting me out of the mess. I lingered close, not only because the room was filled with people who had probably printed lies about me last week, but also because my system, traitor that it was, kept blinking warnings and notifications like a billionaire’s ve
Dream's POV Gloss would never admit it, but waking up with him tangled against me had done something to my mind. I could still feel the warmth of him on my chest long after he scrambled away and tried to pretend it meant nothing. He stuttered through excuses and blamed gravity, the mattress, the weather, the alignment of planets, anything but himself. I let him talk. It was easier than pointing out the obvious, which was that I had been the one holding him. We had no time to process any of it. The summit resumed early, and I slipped into work mode, pushing aside the way his hair had brushed my chin and the soft shock in his eyes when he realized how close we had been. Gloss followed me into the meeting hall, trying to act unaffected but failing miserably every time our shoulders brushed. The resort had turned its largest ballroom into a corporate battlefield. CEOs, board members and partners filled the room with their polished suits and strained smiles. The air smelled faintly of c







