Rejected Master

"Oh my god?! You really did that?!" Nezumi yelped from behind Selena, gripping Ericka’s arm like she was bracing for a natural disaster.

Ericka’s eyes were wide, mouth slightly agape. She looked halfway between bolting out the door and calling security.

Selena didn’t even need to look at them. She could already see their ghost-pale expressions in her mind. That wide-eyed, silent horror that screamed “you’re so fired” louder than any hospital intercom ever could.

Of course they were pale. Because who in their right mind punches a CEO? A CEO who—judging by the freshly acquired bruise on the floor—might also be a warlock or demigod or whatever he called himself these days.

But did Selena care?

Yes. Yes, she did. Because heaven knows if she could get another job fast.

Her last gig expired with her dignity, and her foster parents? They’d probably change the locks now. Especially since her oh-so-perfect foster sister had just moved back in with five screaming children and a full drama series worth of baby daddies.

Selena would rather sleep under a bridge and argue with raccoons than spend another night as a live-in nanny to that unholy brood.

So, with eyes beginning to shimmer—not from guilt but from the tragic poetry of her own life—Selena crouched beside the bedside table, cradling the container Nezumi had brought earlier.

She sniffed, one hand melodramatically wiping away imaginary tears while the other began packing up the suspiciously expensive fruits.

She still didn’t know where they came from. Magic? CEO guilt? Divine reparation? She wasn’t sure.

She turned to her two friends slowly, the container hugged close to her chest like a farewell gift from Olympus itself.

Her lip quivered. Her eyes twitched. “S-So long, my friends,” she whispered, as if she were heading to war.

"She really did clock him," Ericka muttered under her breath.

"She's gonna die broke but honorable," Nezumi sniffed.

Selena took one step toward the door like a tragic heroine, then paused, glancing over her shoulder.

“Does anyone know if hospital food can be stolen?”

Ericka flailed her hands like she was trying to swat the question away from existence. “Shush! Just be positive! His Highness CEO Theo might not actually fire you. I—I’m pretty sure… uhm… he deserved the punch. Right?”

Selena nodded—fast and forcefully. She wanted to blurt out the real reason, but she was convinced the heavens would crack open and smite her on the spot if she so much as whispered the word “kiss.”

“Well… let’s see,” Nezumi added with a nervous shrug. “I’m sure he still likes you enough not to kick your ass out of the company—”

That was when the door slammed open with such force it bounced off the wall.

A gust of inexplicable wind whooshed through the room like it had been waiting outside for its cue. Selena could have sworn the lights flickered twice.

And there he was.

Theo.

He stood in the doorway like an ominous omen wrapped in a corporate paycheck. His dark coat flared slightly as if possessed by vengeful spirits of fired employees. His expression was thunderclouds and tax audits.

And across his chiseled, aristocratic face was a large, angry bandage, smacked diagonally over his left cheek like a war trophy.

Theo could have avoided it.

He could have dodged. Sidestepped. Deflected.

But the contract binding kept him locked in place, like fate itself wanted him to take the hit.

He didn’t even expect Selena’s punch would knock him out cold—so much so that two male nurses had to haul his unconscious body to the ER like a fallen gladiator.

Now, he stood there, looming like a storm cloud in human form, while Selena, Ericka, and Nezumi swallowed in perfect, synchronized terror.

Theo snapped his fingers.

A single, sharp crack of sound that echoed with authority and exasperation.

“Get out, you two,” he groaned.

Ericka and Nezumi didn’t wait for a second command. They vanished like their lives depended on it, leaving a vacuum of silence—and Selena—behind.

Left alone, Selena could only grin sheepishly, one arm awkwardly half-raised like a malfunctioning robot.

“G-Good to see you’re okay…” she managed, forcing a smile.

She even gave a trembling thumbs-up, like that would cancel the felony.

Theo’s eyes narrowed.

“You still have no idea what’s going on?” he asked, voice low, serious—too serious for Selena’s liking.

She blinked. “What are we even talking about here?”

Her brows pinched in confusion, though her gut had already started screaming at her to run.

“Fine. You asked for this,” Theo muttered and Selena gasped when the door lock snapped shut behind Theo.

“What the—?!”

Before she could even back away, Theo marched straight toward her, gripped her face gently—but with purpose—and kissed her.

Selena dropped the container she was holding, sending the fruits scattering on the floor.

The kiss... it wasn't passionate. It wasn't romantic. It was ritualistic.

Selena’s eyes blew wide open and was about to push him when the world around her shattered into familiar patterns.

A blinding void then swallowed the hospital walls, the scent of antiseptic replaced by desert air and burning incense.

And then a scene unraveled in front of her.

Her mother. The road. That car. Her body lurched as it sped through her like smoke, and once again, she heard the car crash behind her. She didn't even dare to look as it might break her deeper this time.

That's when the next memory bleeds in. Her younger self, sitting beside that man again.

Only this time, his face—once blurred, obscured—began to focus.

And what a face it was!

He looked like he’d stepped out of another world. Truly a beautiful man. Not in the polished, calculated way of runway models or film idols—but in the timeless, mythic way that gods must look before they break the world.

His features were elegant, carved with quiet grace. Skin kissed by sunlight, topaz eyes that glowed like sunlit amber set deep under feathered lashes. His dark hair shimmered like obsidian threads, loosely tied with golden string.

When he smiled—Selena felt it in her ribs. It wasn’t just warm. It was ancient. The kind of smile you see in dreams.

She suddenly realized that it was now her— in her younger self—sitting beside him, outside what looked like a shrine carved into stone, surrounded by desert winds and prayer flags.

“You are the chosen one, Selene,” he murmured gently, turning to her.

Selena’s breath caught. That warm voice.

“W-Why me?” she asked, stunned. “I’m just a human, Nexus…”

Her eyes widened the moment the name left her lips.

That name!

The same name Theo mentioned.

Nexus smiled again—slow, serene. “Because the prophecy chose you… to tame a very powerful being.”

“M-Me?!”

He nodded solemnly. “I’ve waited so long for you to be reborn. And now, here you are. You’ve grown well, Selene.”

There was pride in his voice. Not the distant kind—the warm kind, like a teacher who watched over lifetimes. Like someone who cared.

Then, Nexus giggled. It was light, melodic. Almost mischievous. He scooted closer and leaned in, placing a slender finger across his perfectly sculpted lips.

“But this conversation should stay between the two of us, okay?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Once you remember, you must never speak of this little secret.”

Selena blinked. She didn’t even ask why. Some part of her already understood not to.

Instead, she asked— “Who is this being anyway?” she folded her arms.

Nexus’s lips curved. “Oh, you’ll meet him soon.”

“How soon?” she narrowed her eyes.

“Hmm... probably seventeen years from now,” he replied far too casually.

Selena choked. “Seventeen?! Are you serious? That’s forever! I could’ve finished college twice!”

Nexus only chuckled, completely unbothered by her dramatics. “Just so you know,” he said, eyes twinkling, “he’s a feral being, Selene. But please… be gentle with him. After all, you will be the perfect master for him and I just know… he’ll become your shield and your weapon.. willingly.”

Selena groaned, flopping back against the stone steps of the shrine. “Ahhh, fine! Fine! Whatever. If you don’t want to tell me who he is, just say so~”

Nexus laughed, softer now, like wind chimes in the desert dusk. But then, he leaned in again, as though sharing the punchline of the universe.

“He’s a powerful wolf spirit who will call himself Theo a few years from now.”

All of a sudden, the world around her trembled—like an old filmstrip glitching between frames.

Nexus’s warm, serene smile began to fade, like sunlight sinking into water. The shrine, the sky, the sand beneath her—all of it peeled away, pixel by pixel, memory by memory.

“W-Wait!” Selena reached out toward him, heart clenching. “Don’t go yet! I still don’t understand—what am I supposed to do?!”

But Nexus only smiled wistfully, brushing a hand through her hair one last time.

“You’ll know when the time comes,” he whispered, his golden eyes glowing like dawn.

Then everything shattered.

White light exploded in every direction like glass under pressure and through it all: Theo’s voice—somewhere distant, calling her name like a tether pulling her through dimensions.

"SELENA!!"

Just like that, her eyes snapped open only to be greeted by the hospital's white ceiling once again.

She was gasping. The breath tore from her lungs like a soul crashing back into flesh. She jerked upright in the hospital bed, drenched in sweat and panting like she had outrun time itself... AGAIN!

Her eyes immediately found Theo sitting near beside her.

"Judging by how the way you look, I believe you finally understand what's going on?"

Selena's eyes did so much as wobble. "I-I'm not so sure. B-But y-you're..."

"A Spirit," Theo cut her off in intention of seeing her genuine reaction and he was right, she already knew. "Well then..." he suddenly stood up and bowed 90 degrees, coldly defiant. "I do not acknowledge you as my master. So if you die in the process of completing your missions, it would bring me joy."

Selena blinked. “Missions? What missions?”

Theo grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck as if debating how much trouble his mouth might get him into. “If you want me to kiss you again, just say so—oops.”

He caught the movement just in time—her arm cocked, eyes blazing.

In one swift move, Theo sidestepped her punch, grabbed her wrist midair, and spun her momentum against her. With a fluid flick, he gently—but decisively—flung her back onto the bed.

Selena landed with an ungraceful bounce, her hair falling across her face as she groaned.

Theo leaned over her with a smug, self-satisfied smirk. “Reflexes,” he said, tapping the bandage on his cheek. “I develop them after getting punched into a hospital floor.”

“You cocky, smug—!”

“You’re welcome,” he cut her off coolly, turning to walk away—but not before she noticed it. That faint tremor in his hands. That flicker of something pained behind the smirk.

“And since I already paid your cheap hospital bills—and as I can see you’re annoyingly fine,” he added with a half-hearted scoff, “stand up. We’re leaving.”

Selena blinked. “To where?”

Theo turned his head slightly, forcing a crooked smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “To your shrine, silly.”

Before she could ask what shrine he was even talking about, the room's fluorescent lights flickered—then dimmed to a hush.

And then—it appeared.

To the left of Theo, the sterile white hospital wall folded open like the cover of an ancient book. In its place, a grand door emerged—tall, arched, and carved from twilight-dark wood veined with silver. Ethereal light bled from its seams. The surface pulsed faintly, etched with patterns that seemed to shift if you looked too long: celestial runes, lunar glyphs, spirals like coiled time.

A halo of feathers—actual feathers, soft and glowing—circled the frame like a wreath, and strange wind whispered from the crack beneath it.

Selena stared, mouth parted in awe. “What in the Studio Ghibli—?”