ログインAs if the name unleashed something in me, I was immediately overpowered by a flood of emotions I couldn’t even separate properly. First, fear. Cold. Sharp. Immediate. Then Something else. Courage. It was Strange, unfamiliar. But there. I turned to him slowly, my brows pulling together. “What did you just say?” “Claire,” he repeated, his gaze already fixed somewhere beyond me. “She’s here.” My heart skipped. Then dropped. “Why would she come here?” I asked, my voice lower now, cautious. “I hope she’s not about to make a scene.” “I wouldn’t put that past her at this point,” he replied, his tone calm but his eyes were alert, focused, calculating. Watching. Waiting. “Come closer,” he added suddenly, pulling me gently but firmly against him. My body responded before my mind could catch up. “Why?” I asked softly, my hand instinctively gripping his shirt. “She can’t touch you if there’s contact between us,” he said. Simple. But not light. Not casual.
Familiar. Too familiar. For a second, I didn’t know whether to feel relieved… or regretful. Then I saw him sitting there. Comfortable like he belonged, like this was his space, like I didn’t exist in it. “Who is he?” I asked, my voice surprisingly calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that only shows up when something inside you is already breaking. She didn’t even hesitate. “Not that I owe you any explanation,” she said, her tone already defensive, “but he’s a friend.” A friend. I let the word sit in my mouth for a second. Bitter. Unfitting. I looked at him again. Really looked this time. Relaxed posture. Careless confidence. The kind of man who had no idea he had just stepped into a battlefield. Then I looked back at her. “A friend?” I repeated slowly. “Sitting comfortably in your house… half-dressed?” She sighed. Like I was the inconvenience. Like I had walked into her peace and disturbed it. Of course. “Where are Jose and Kara?” I asked, my voice sharpening no
When I walked into the café the next morning, I didn’t even know what to expect. Sleep hadn’t really come. Not properly. My body had rested, but my mind had stayed wide awake, replaying everything over and over again. Claire. Velmora. The council. Damian’s voice. That place. It all sat heavy in my chest like something waiting to explode. Damian had told me to stay back. He suggested it, actually, but I knew better. If she were who I now knew her to be, then there was no running. No hiding. No pretending I could stay away from this. So I came. Because if this was a war, I wasn’t going to be the one hiding behind walls. The bell above the café door chimed softly as I pushed it open. And immediately, everything felt… normal. Too normal. The smell of coffee, the hum of machines. the quiet chatter of early customers. And then... Her. Claire stood behind the counter like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t stood glowing in another realm, commanding shadows and beings I cou
Just then, there was a shift in the atmosphere. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t violent. But it was immediate. The kind of change your body notices before your mind understands. The force that had been dragging me forward suddenly stopped, like something stronger had cut it off mid-motion. My body jerked slightly as the pull vanished, and for the first time since I had been dragged into this place, my chest loosened. Air. I could breathe again. Deep. Sharp. Real. I sucked it in like I had been drowning. Then I felt it. A presence. Stronger than the one that had been tormenting me. Heavier. Colder. Yet… familiar. Slowly, I turned. And there he stood beside me. Damian. But… not exactly. This version of him, he was clearer. Brighter. Like the shadows that usually clung to him had been stripped away, revealing something far more terrifying. Far more beautiful. His presence didn’t just fill the space, it commanded it. Everything around him felt like it bowed. “Damian?” I
“Go ahead and pick the call,” he said. “I don’t want to,” I replied, my voice tight as I switched off my phone. The silence that followed felt heavy, like the past was standing right in front of me, waiting to be acknowledged. Damian didn’t argue. He simply reached for the phone, his movements calm, controlled. He switched it back on, and almost instantly, the call came through again. Of course it did. Like it had been waiting. “Take it,” he said, his voice firm this time. Not harsh… but not something I could ignore either. I hesitated for a second. Then I swiped. I raised the phone slowly to my ear. “Hi,” I muttered, my voice cold, distant—like I was speaking to a stranger. A pause. Then. “I raised you better, Nanya.” The calmness in his voice snapped something inside me. A bitter laugh almost escaped, but I swallowed it. “I guess you forgot,” I shot back, my tone sharp, “you didn’t raise me at all.” From the corner of my eye, I caught Damian’s gaze
When I walked into my apartment, for the first time, everything felt… small. Not just small but insignificant as well. The walls that once held me together now felt like they were closing in, like they no longer matched the life I was stepping into. I dropped my bag absentmindedly and fell onto my bed, staring at the ceiling as my thoughts drifted far away from the room, far away from everything I used to know. I rolled to the side, and something crinkled beneath me. The file. I picked it up slowly, flipping it open without thinking. Page after page, numbers that didn’t look real stared back at me. Properties. Accounts. Assets. My name attached to all of it like some kind of mistake the universe forgot to correct. No matter how many times I looked at it, It still didn’t feel real. “I’m actually… wealthy,” I whispered to myself, my voice barely audible. “Like… wealthy wealthy…” The words felt foreign in my mouth. Like I was saying someone else’s life out loud. My fingers tight
The fluorescent lights above the café hummed faintly, too bright for how heavy my head felt. I blinked at the espresso machine as if it were a puzzle I’d never seen before, trying to shake the haze left over from last night. Damian’s words still clung to me, heavy as chains, intoxicating as poison:
The words slipped past my lips before I could stop them, reckless and raw. They hung in the air like a spark poised to ignite.Damian’s eyes darkened instantly, the storm in them roaring to life. His grip on me tightened, his jaw flexing as though he was fighting every instinct to consume me whole.
He’d just dropped the line, the cruelest tease in existence, and was already moving toward the door. The next time I touch you, there will be no stopping. I should’ve let him leave. Let him vanish into the night again and spare myself the ache. But something reckless
I hadn’t even wiped the tears off my face from the call with my dad when I felt it—that electric pull in the air. Heavy. Sharp. Familiar.I didn’t have to turn. My body already knew.“Enjoying yourself?”The voice slid through the night like smoke. I spun anyway, my pulse leaping into my throat.D







