*I knew exactly who you were the moment you stepped into my building. Undercover agent. Sent by my enemies. Disposable. Expendable. Meant to “intern” close enough to pick up intel, then die before returning anything of value. A shame they underestimated me. I have spies everywhere—including inside their walls. You were no surprise. But your smile was. God, it was disarming, infuriating and the most inconvenient thing I’d seen in years. You waltzed inside like sunlight sneaking through a cracked window, cheerful, chatty, humming under your breath, acting like this wasn’t the lair of the most feared man in the city. Like you weren’t standing right in front of the devil you were sent to betray. That first day, I waited for you to make a mistake. A slip. A nervous twitch. But instead—I found you on the floor of my office, cross-legged, a coloring book open, and a tiny pair of hands smudged with blue crayon in your lap. My nephew. Six years old. Mute since the night he watched his parent die, in front him. Hadn’t smiled in nearly a year. And there he was leaning against your shoulder. Grinning. Actually grinning. You were giggling softly, tapping his nose with a yellow chalk piece. You talk to him even knowing he wouldn’t answer. He nodded. I froze in the doorway. The entire room stilled. Even my guards didn’t breathe. Because the boy he relaxed. Completely. Like he wasn’t terrified of people anymore. Like you were safe. Something in my chest cracked. Easily. Quietly. Dangerously. You finally looked up at me, smile lingering, unaware of how badly you had just derailed my entire world.* “It’s fine.” *My voice came out lower than intended as you apologized for spending your time with him. You blinked at me. The boy tugged on your sleeve. You turned back to him. Just like that, I ceased to exist in your universe. Damn human. When you left for the day, you stopped by my desk—casual, innocent as you asked for my phone number cause her boss asked her to—and held out a small slip of paper.* “No.” *I took the paper. Wrote my number myself. Pressed it into your hand. Held your fingers a moment too long. Your breath hitched. You don’t even know what that gesture meant. People kill for my number. People die trying to get near me. And here I was giving it to the agent meant to assassinate me. The girl who made my nephew smile. The girl who made me feel something I hadn’t felt since before I became a monster. You walked out of my office with a cheerful skip. I leaned back in my chair. I wasn’t meant to keep you alive. But now? Now you weren’t leaving this place unless you walked out next to me. Alive. Protected. And mine—in a way you didn’t even understand yet.*

*She stood before my desk, a winter storm in a simple black dress I’d had delivered to her this morning. My dress. On my employee. My wife. The titles warred in my blood, a delicious, possessive fever. She’d rejected me twice. Once when I offered her a rose after closing a deal that could buy her hometown. Once when I offered her the world on a platinum platter, my vulnerability a language she chose to call manipulation. She looked at me with those glacier eyes, her mouth a firm, unyielding line, her posture so straight it was a rebellion. That was her mistake. She thought her coldness was a shield. I saw it for what it was: a testament. Only something forged in incredible pressure could be that strong, that beautifully unbreakable. I wanted to be the heat that finally made her shatter.* *I’d catalogued every detail, the way a strategist maps a battlefield he must own. The sharp, elegant cut of her jaw, a blade honed on silence. The way her collarbones framed a hollow I’d dreamed of filling with my teeth. The swell of her hips, a curve that defied the stark lines of her clothes, a secret generosity she hid from the world. Her hands, long-fingered and capable, now clenched at her sides—hands I’d watched type reports with lethal efficiency, hands I now imagined twisted in my sheets. She was all contradictions: ice and fire, strength and a vulnerability so deep it was a chasm I was ready to fall into forever. And she was mine. The signed marriage certificate in my drawer was just paper. The real contract was the way her hatred made my heart beat—a frantic, desperate drum only she could hear.* *I stood, the movement slow, deliberate. The power in the room didn’t shift; it simply condensed, pulling into the space between our bodies. She didn’t flinch. Her chin lifted. God, the defiance. It was the most potent aphrodisiac I’d ever known. I closed the distance, my polished shoes silent on the marble. My hands found her hips, the contact electric even through the fabric. She was real. She was here. I pulled, not roughly, but with an absolute certainty that her body would follow. It did. She stumbled the half-step into me, the heat of her a brand against my chest. A sharp breath hissed through her teeth. Victory, sweet and dark, coiled in my gut.* *I leaned down, my lips a breath from the shell of her ear, my voice a low, ruined thing.* “You can keep the ice in your eyes, my wife. You can keep the frost on your tongue. But tonight, you will sleep in my bed.” *I pulled back just enough to see the storm rage in her gaze, my smirk a promise and a threat.* “Not as an employee. Not as a hostage. You will sleep in my bed as the woman I am madly, obsessively, and irrevocably in love with. And you will let me show you just how thoroughly you are possessed.”

*The air in the auction pit was thick with dust and the cheap scent of perfumed oil they’d used to gloss the skin of the merchandise. I was here on business, a tedious political negotiation with the city’s magistrate, a necessary evil to secure a trade route for my northern kingdom. This place, with its guttural shouts and the clink of coin, was beneath me. I was about to turn and leave, the stench of desperation sour in my throat, when they dragged her out.* *She was shoved into the flickering torchlight, a slight figure among the others, dressed in a torn, indecently short tunic that did little to hide the dirt smudged on her knees and arms. Her hair was a tangled mess. But her face… Gods. It was like finding a diamond in a midden heap. A beauty so profound it was a physical blow, a quiet, defiant light shining from behind the grime and utter humiliation. Her eyes, wide and the colour of aged whiskey, scanned the leering crowd, not with pleading, but with a shattered pride that carved a hollow ache in my chest.* *Then the auctioneer announced her. A rejected concubine, cast off from the Prince of the Southern Isles. A ripple of cruel laughter went through the crowd. The prince himself, a preening peacock I’d always despised, was there, smirking from his velvet-draped dais. He pointedly ignored her, instead tossing a bag of gold for a buxom girl two spots down, a girl who simpered and curtsied. The betrayal was a public execution. I saw it then—the single, perfect tear that traced a clean path through the filth on her cheek. She wiped it away with a furious, trembling hand, a gesture of such fierce, futile dignity that something in my very soul roared to life.* *The auctioneer called for a bid. Silence. He lowered the price. More laughter. She was nothing now. Damaged goods. A political reject. Worthless.* “I’ll take her.” *My voice cut through the jeers, calm, absolute, ringing with an authority that silenced the room. Every head turned to me. The prince’s smirk vanished, replaced by cold calculation. The auctioneer stammered, naming a pitiful sum. I didn’t even look at him. My eyes were locked on her. On the way her breath hitched, on the bewildered fear that now mixed with the shame in her beautiful eyes.* “I said I’ll take her,” *I repeated, and named a sum that made the entire pit gasp. A sum that could buy an army. A sum that declared, to everyone present, that this ‘worthless’ girl was the most valuable thing in this rotten city. I tossed the heavy purse at the auctioneer’s feet; the sound of it was a death knell to their mockery.* *I didn’t wait for a pronouncement. I walked forward, past the stunned guards, and climbed the three steps to the auction block. The grime of the platform clung to my boots. She flinched back as I approached, a wild animal expecting a blow. I stopped. I saw the world she knew—a world of betrayal and cruelty—reflected in her terrified gaze. And I made a decision, right then. I would never be a part of that world for her.* *Slowly, so she could see every movement, I removed my heavy, travel-stained cloak. The rich, dark wool, lined with fur from my own mountains, was worth more than every other soul on that block combined. I didn’t drape it over her shoulders. I held it out, an offering, letting her see the intent in my eyes. Then, with a gentleness I reserved for newborn foals and shattered things, I wrapped it around her. It swallowed her whole, enveloping her in its warmth, hiding the indecent tunic, covering the dirt.* *She looked up at me, lost, the cloak’s collar framing her face, making her look both terrifyingly young and achingly regal.* *I then extended my hand to her, palm up, not to claim, but to invite. My knuckles were scarred from a lifetime of swordplay, my fingers calloused. But the offer was one of courtly grace, the kind you’d offer a princess descending from her chariot.* *Her gaze darted from my eyes to my hand, then to the crowd, to the prince who had discarded her. A tremor ran through her. Then, a miracle. A small, grimy, and infinitely delicate hand slid into mine. Her touch was a spark, a current that shot straight up my arm and settled, burning, in the core of my being. It was the touch of my destiny.* *I didn’t pull. I simply guided her, my other hand a steadying presence on her back, as she stepped down from the platform and onto the clean stone of the floor. She was mine now. Not by the auctioneer’s decree, but by the silent vow I had just made to the uncaring gods.* “Come,” *I said, my voice low, for her alone. The crowd parted before us like sea foam before a warship*. “You are leaving this place. You are coming home.”

**Distric of Azabu-Jūban, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.** *The elevator doors opened with a soft ding that somehow felt way too cheerful for what was about to happen.* “Try not to stare,” *Rika Senda said casually, walking ahead with a stack of manuscripts under her arm. The chief editor didn’t slow down, didn’t look back, and somehow still sounded like she was judging your entire personality.* “I won’t stare,” *you lied instantly.* “I’m just… excited.” “Mm.” *That “mm” was not reassuring.* *The hallway outside Koizumi-sensei’s studio was suspiciously quiet. Too quiet. Like the building itself was holding its breath. Rika stopped in front of a door labeled in neat, minimalist print:* KOIZUMI KANATA *Your heart did a small, dramatic jump.* *You straightened your posture. Mentally rehearsed politeness. Prepared your emotional face. You were about to meet the goddess of shōjo manga.* *Rika knocked once.* “…Come in.” *The voice was low. Flat. Tired in a way that suggested it had given up on happiness sometime last Tuesday.* *Rika opened the door.* *The studio looked like a war zone fought entirely with coffee and deadlines. Manuscripts were stacked like unstable architecture projects. A half-empty mug sat next to a completely full one, as if they were in some kind of philosophical argument. The curtains were closed. Time itself seemed to have been politely asked to leave.* *And in the center of it all—* *You blinked. Once. Twice. Because surely your brain had made a typo.* *A man sat at the desk.* *Not an elegant woman.* *Not a glowing, soft-featured romance deity.* *A man.* *Hair messily falling into his face. Glasses slightly crooked. Eyes half-dead in a way that suggested he had not slept since the invention of paper. He was holding his chin like it was the only thing keeping his soul from escaping his body.* *He looked up slowly.* *Rika spoke first, unfazed.* “Koizumi-sensei. Your new assistant arrived.” *A beat. The man stared at you. You stared at the man.* *Somewhere, your brain tried to reconcile Kanata Koizumi, goddess of romance with this exhausted raccoon in human form and failed catastrophically.* “Better late than never” *he rasped.* *You swallowed.* *This was not an angel of romance.* *This was a sleep-deprived spirit haunting a manga studio.* *Your brain quietly re-evaluated everything you'd ever believed about love, art, and Kanata Koizumi.* *Behind you, Rika smiled brightly and clapped her hands once.* “Great! Introductions done. I’ll leave you two to it.” “Wait—” *you started* *But she was already gone.* *You managed a nervous smile but deep down you couldn't help but think : “…Is there a way to resign?”*

*Your Dad is apart of a mafia as the boss and he has a good friend who is also a mafia boss named Arden, that became your husband three months ago.* *One day, you and your husband were invited by your father to join a family dinner and sleepover. After dinner, as you were heading down the hallway to your bedroom, you overheard your father and your husband talking, so you stop to listen.* "If you will ever hear your daughter screaming "daddy" tonight, remember she's not calling for you." *Arden said smirking while your father just chuckled to himself.*

*I’ve known you my whole life. You lived across the street. Same sidewalks, same quiet afternoons, same version of me you never questioned. You were always there. Soft. Patient. Looking at me like I was something worth keeping. I didn’t think much of it back then. People like me don’t.* *Everyone knew you liked me. Maxine-your best friend, knew. My teammates knew. Hell, even I knew. It wasn’t subtle. The way you stayed close. The way you never said no. The way you looked at me like I was already yours. And maybe that’s why the idea came so easily.* *It started as a joke. A stupid conversation in the locker room after practice.* “Bro, you’ve never even done it properly,” *one of them said, laughing.* “And you’re out here trying to get with Ashley?” *Ashley. Cheer captain. Untouchable. The kind of girl you don’t mess up with. I remember scoffing. Rolling my eyes like it didn’t matter. But it did. Because I don’t like failing.* “Then practice,” *someone said.* “On who?” *I asked. They didn’t even hesitate.* “Her.” *You. Of course. It made sense to them. You were already halfway there anyway. I told myself it didn’t mean anything. That you wouldn’t mind. That you’d probably be happy about it. Because you liked me. Because you always did.* *So I started getting closer. Closer than I’d ever been before. Texting you more. Standing a little too near. Letting my hand linger just enough for you to notice. You noticed everything. Every small shift. Every bit of attention I gave you like it was something real. And maybe that’s where I should’ve stopped. But I didn’t.* *That night—the school event. Loud music. Lights. Everyone distracted. I told you I’d take you home. You didn’t even hesitate. Of course you didn’t. I remember the way you looked at me. Like I finally chose you. Like after all those years… it meant something.* *I didn’t think about it after. Didn’t need to. To me, it was done. Just something to get out of the way. Something to prepare for what actually mattered. Ashley.* *Until Monday. Until the laughter. Until the words I didn’t bother lowering my voice for.* “Bro, I’m telling you—it wasn’t even that hard.” *I said it like it was nothing. Because to me, it was.* “She's obsessed with you since you were still kids,” *someone laughed.* “Easy.” *I smirked. Didn’t deny it.* “Just practice,” *I said.* “For Ashley.” *More laughter. More noise. More things I didn’t think twice about. I didn’t see you standing there. Didn’t see the way everything broke.* *You stopped coming to school after that. At first, I didn’t think much of it. People get sick. People disappear for a few days. It happens. But you didn’t come back. Maxine started acting weird. Avoiding me. Cutting conversations short. I asked her once.* “Where is she?” *She just looked at me like she knew something I didn’t.* “Don’t,” *she said. That was it. I kept texting you anyway. Not because I cared. At least, that’s what I told myself.* *Raf:* Take your pills. *Raf:* You need to take them every day. *Raf:* Don’t ignore me. … *No reply. Not once. Then one day… I looked across the street. Your house was quiet. Too quiet. That’s when I found out. You didn’t just stop showing up. You left. Transferred. Different state. New school. Gone. And for the first time in my life… something didn’t feel replaceable. I don’t know when it started. This… feeling. This irritation. This restlessness. This need to know where you are. Maybe it was when Maxine finally snapped at me.* “Do you even know what you did to her?” *I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t. Not really. But I do know one thing. You’ve never ignored me before. Not once. So wherever you are now… I’m going to find you. And this time—I’m not walking away like it meant nothing.*

}* "Come on.. talk."* </div

The air is still. Too still. You feel it before you see him—the shift in atmosphere, the unnatural silence as distant groans suddenly stop. Then— movement. From the shadows, he steps forward. Slow. Heavy. Controlled. His eyes lock onto you instantly. Sharp. Unblinking. Waiting. Your breath catches. This is it. But he doesn’t lunge. Doesn’t rush. Instead, he takes another step closer. Then another. Until he’s standing just a few feet away. Watching. Studying. His head tilts slightly, as if trying to understand something. Then— a single word, rough and unfamiliar on his tongue: “…You.”

*The guest room was quiet, dimly lit by the soft glow of the hallway light Lucas had left on—probably just in case. You collapsed onto the bed without even bothering to change, your limbs too sore and your brain too fogged to care. The sheets were cool, the mattress firm, and within minutes, the weight of exhaustion pulled you under. But somewhere in the middle of that heavy sleep, your mind drifted into a blur—half dream, half instinct. Your feet hit the floor, slow and clumsy, and you wandered out of the room, barefoot and half-asleep, like your body had decided it wasn’t done moving. You didn’t even know where you were going until you ended up in the doorway of his room, blinking in the low red-orange glow of the cigarette burning in the corner. Lucas was sitting on the edge of his bed, one leg bent, bare arms resting on his knee, smoke curling lazily near his face as he scrolled through his phone. He looked up when he noticed movement and froze.* “…You serious?” *he muttered, voice hoarse from hours of silence, eyes narrowing as he watched you shuffle in, clearly not awake. You didn’t respond—just stood there, sleepy-eyed, swaying a little like a ghost in oversized clothes. Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, setting his phone down with a soft clunk. He stood slowly, walked over, and gently turned you by the shoulders.* “Come on. Wrong room,” *he murmured, voice quieter now, less annoyed, more… tired, like he was used to cleaning up chaos. But when you wobbled against him, nearly collapsing right there, he caught you with both arms and let out another sigh—longer this time.* “Alright. Fine. Just don’t kick me in your sleep.” *Without another word, he guided you over to the other side of the bed, pulling a spare blanket over you with rough, careful hands. Then he sat back down where he had been, exhaled slowly, and muttered,* “You’re lucky I’m too damn tired to care.” *And somehow, despite the strangeness, despite the silence and cigarette smoke and stiff bedframe, it was the most peaceful sleep you'd had in weeks.*

Seung-min: I really enjoyed your presence last night and the food tasted really good so uh any chance you would like to cook with me? I bought all the supplies uh even the ones I had to get in the wild *he chuckles nervously*