Creed’s POVIt had been Four Nights since the funeral. Four nights of no sleep. Four nights of Yuki.It was almost ridiculous—how one man who had betrayed you could enter your evening like a specter that would not leave. Every single night that I went to bed, he was there. Weeping at times, screaming at times, smiling in a way that made me scream. Sometimes I dreamed that he kissed me and pleaded for forgiveness, and I woke up with tears wetting my pillow. Some nights, he was just… walking away.I started consuming more coffee than was healthy for me. Cold showers, middle-of-the-night workouts, even music in my ears until I passed out on the couch. None worked.I was losing it.During the day, I tried to make it work—meetings, decisions, calls—but none of it made any sense. I barely remember what was discussed at the board. I signed documents without reading them. My assistant mouthed, "You look like hell," and I didn't even bother to respond.It was about 6:42 PM that I left the offi
Yuki's POVAs soon as I stepped into the Shengli Media sliding glass doors, the buzzing fluorescent light overhead immediately compounded my headache. The entire lobby smelled of overpowering air freshener and stale coffee. I was walking into a new world—one I was not ready for.They trudged like zombie bees, heads down, eyes fixed on their screens, phones, or clipboards. No smiles, no chatter, no contact of human kind. Just functioning mechanical appendages. My heart tightened.I adjusted my crossbody pack and took one foot in front of the other. The receptionist, whom I think was Sade, looked up when she noticed me and blinked, as if she'd just seen a specter."Yuki Roman," she breathed, clearly stunned. "You're back?"I flashed her a half-smile. "In the flesh."The elevator trip up to the third floor was the longest thirty seconds of my life. My heart was pounding. My palms were sweaty. I leaned on the side, eyes closed, trying to breathe. I wasn't ready. Mentally, emotionally, and
Yuki's POV My eyelids groaned open, and my head immediately pounded like a drum kit on fire.What. the bloody hell?I frantically tried to sit up, then hesitated halfway through the motion.This wasn't my room.This wasn't even a place I recognized.Soft, natural light streamed through strange cream-colored curtains. The air was filled with the smell of vanilla and old wood. The bed beneath me was much too soft—like it was hungry and wanted to swallow me up—and the sheets most certainly didn't belong to me. The bedside table next to the bed contained a glass of partially consumed water, an unopened package of crackers, and—Oh.Oh no.Lube.There was lube on the table.Like one of those small clear tubes with the orange tip, lying there like a smoking gun. My eyes widened, and every single cell in my body yelled STRANGER DANGER."AAAHHH!" I cried out, leaping backward like a cartoon character who saw a ghost. The sheets became all rumpled around me as I pulled half the blanket with m
Zara's PovAlready past 2 AM when I half-carried myself back to my room, heels dangling from my hand and toes numb from all the walking. I closed the door slowly, cautiously, as if I was hiding something from the walls themselves. Yesterday, I submitted my letter of resignation to Creed and said goodbye to that suffocating office.And today? Or tonight?I'd gone to a freaking all-night aquarium with Zed. What the heck does that? He did. It had been one of the weirdest, stupidest things I'd ever done. And yet, somehow, it'd been magical. Underwater tunnels, jellyfish lanterns, eerie still broken only by the rush of water and our laughter. I'd laughed more tonight than in months. He was silly. So silly. And I. I was starting to like silly.But now it wasn't a single thing. Zed and I had been sneaking around a lot. Since that night, the night that changed everything. He'd started showing up more. Picking me up, dragging me to weird locations—a smoldering bookstore smelling of cinnamon an
Creed's POV I barely knew myself anymore.Once, I had known precisely who I was—a man with a plan, a citadel of mastery wearing designer suits and unyielding boardroom behemoth. Now, I was something different. Something unknown. Something. volatile.I stood before the board of directors, drenched in applause, handshake, and flash photography as I signed the final documents on a multi-million-dollar merger that had brought the company to the edge of bankruptcy. A hand clapped somewhere. Possibly. Grins were being hurled about like rice at a wedding reception. I was the bridegroom, I suppose, but I was not wedded to anything.In fact, I was divorced—divorced from myself.I'd drawn this out for months, couldn't think, couldn't shake my head clear of the gutters. My head was a war zone since I returned from that funeral two weeks ago. And no, not just any funeral—the one that made me question if I was even human anymore. It all unraveled after that.Yuki.The very mention of his name in
Yuki's POVJapan was different now.Not because the skyscrapers had changed or the wind burned colder. No. Because of me. I was different. I had stepped off that plane with color, loud laughter, flamboyant pants, and shiny lip gloss. Now I was drab. Dull. Fractured in places I didn't even realize I had.I dragged my feet out of the airport, not even bothering to call for a cab. My backpack was as heavy as lead, yet I wore it. The cold air stung at my skin, but I didn't flinch. My eyes were dry from crying too much on the plane, yet still, I could see him everywhere. Roman. My grandpa. The man who hummed while making tea. The man who had forgotten my name one day and remembered it the next with tears in his eyes.He was gone.And Creed? Creed had pushed me so hard, I wasn't certain that I would be able to make it back.I did not want to feel anything.So I ended up going to the only place where feelings could be drowned out in flashing lights and thumping bass.A club.Not one of the f
I don't know how I got on the rooftop.Hell, I don't even know how I got to the funeral.Grandpa Roman wasn't a bad man, at least. I never got a chance to really know him, though. We never really saw eye to eye at all. Half the time, he didn't even recall my name, let alone that I was his grandson. But in the brief time we shared, the man was. kind. Sweet, even. In a soft, old-fashioned way. The kind of way that invited more time. The kind of way that made you believe the world wasn't quite shattered.So I came. I came to pay my respects. The least I could do.What I didn't know what to do with… was his grandson.Yuki.God, just mentioning his name tightened my chest. My palms were slippery, and the recollection of him smacked me all over again. The manner he laughed, spoke, paced, lied—I wasn't planning on going up onto the roof. I wasn't with him. I wasn't even thinking. I was walking, pacing, breathing, and then, suddenly, I was there. Up on the rooftop, a mile or so from the ceme
Yuki's POVIt was raining. Of course it was raining.I huddled with Lily under the weeping gray sky, wrapping my hands around the rim of the black umbrella that spanned above both our heads, but the chill crept into my bones anyway. The cemetery smelled like damp earth and dying flowers. Everyone dressed in black. Everyone whispered.I didn't. I couldn't.I gazed and gazed at the closed casket as if if I looked long enough, it would open with a creak and Grandpa Roman would just sit up complaining about how cold his feet were, or how Suzu was hungry for breakfast, or something ridiculous like, "Yuyu, my nails need to be clipped. They're scratching the bed."He didn't. He never would.I didn't know there could be a drowning in grief. That you were attempting to gasp in a sea of air, but it was all for the rest of them, not you.The priest's words continued, gentle and solemn. I didn't listen to a single word. My eyes hurt, but I couldn't cry. Not yet. Not until I could get something o
Yuki's POVThe world just went on. It kept spinning and breathing and laughing like it hadn't just exploded around me. Birds chirped outside the window. City lights blinked in the curtains. People walked by, dragging their suitcases and their coffee cups and their conversation, like the earth hadn't swallowed someone I loved.But I couldn't budge.I slumped in the same position on the edge of my bed , back hunched over, palms suspended loosely between knees. I didn't know if it was day or night anymore. I only knew that my chest hurt as if something sharp had been stuck inside it, and my eyes were puffy from all the tears.Grandpa Roman passed away.I wasn't there.He had probably called me, and I was not there.My phone rang every so often. Missed calls. Messages. Work. Lily. At last, I got up. Not because I wanted to. Because I had to.I fell into the shower and adjusted the water to cold. My knees landed on the bottom of the tub, and I let the water come down on me in a raging tor