Hello everyone, a new work has been released! If you find it appealing, kindly take a moment to check it out and consider adding it to your library.. [Ashes of God And Devil]
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{Chapter: 165 - Figuring Out With Pop Girl}
She shifted on the bed, sitting cross-legged now, wearing nothing but the soft tank top and a pair of shorts—her skin glowing in the lamplight. She made no effort to hide her body. With Aiden, she never had.
"You know…" Kira said slowly, twirling the vial between her fingers, "...if this stuff actually works, maybe I'll take a dose myself."
He raised an eyebrow. "You already have one of the strongest pusher abilities I've ever seen."
"Sure," she said, leaning closer, voice dropping to a whisper, "but imagine being able to move … or maybe control your body..."
"You planning on becoming a ghost?" Aiden smirked.
Kira's lips curved up. "Maybe. That way I can sneak into your room whenever I want."
"You already can," he said.
There was a pause. Their eyes locked. The air between them thickened.
"You missed me too, didn't you?" she whispered.
Aiden didn't answer right away. His silence said enough.
Kira's fingers lightly touched his thigh, her voice teasing but her touch sincere. "You keep coming back to me, Aiden. You could go anywhere, see anyone… but when you step through here, you always end up in my room."
"Because you never lock your door," he deadpanned.
She laughed, a real one this time, eyes glittering with heat and humor. "You're such an ass."
The room settled into a quiet, warm stillness—charged, unspoken things hanging in the air between them. But neither pushed it further tonight. Not yet.
"Right," she said, exhaling, "you wanted to see someone?"
Aiden's expression turned serious again, though his hand was still resting beside hers.
"The one we've been looking for. You said she's here?"
Kira nodded, the playful energy dimming slightly. "We brought her in earlier today. She's stable now, kept under low surveillance. I didn't want her to feel caged, especially after what she's been through."
"Good," Aiden said, standing up slowly, the mission-side of him returning. But even then, he looked back down at her one last time, his gaze lingering on her curves, on her expression.
Kira leaned back on her elbows, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "Go on. We'll finish this conversation later."
"I'll hold you to that."
"You better."
"Tell me where she is, I will go on my own, you can continue sleeping"
Kira told Aiden where she was staying at.
Aiden smiled faintly and turned to leave.
As the door hissed softly closed behind him, Kira sighed and flopped back on her bed, the vial still clutched in her hand, and a not-so-subtle smile tugging at her lips.
And down the hall, Aiden made his way to a secure room—where inside, resting under soft lights, sat a young woman who once shattered buildings with her voice.
Her name was…
Pop Girl
The room was quiet, lit by a low amber glow from a bulb suspended overhead. Its shape distorted slightly by the tinted glass, the light cast long shadows across the bare floor and walls, turning everything in the room into silhouettes of themselves.
She sat on the bed, her posture upright but not tense, almost as though waiting for an appointment that had long been delayed. Her hands rested in her lap, and between her fingers was a familiar sight: a sugar cube slowly dissolving against her skin, staining her fingers faintly with stickiness. The white cube contrasted against the black mesh of her gloves and the dull metal cuffs that dangled loose from one wrist.
Pop Girl—stared straight ahead at the door, her expression unreadable. She'd always had that eerie calm about her, like someone seeing the world seconds before it happened, and now it was like she was watching the future play out even before it stepped into the room.
When the door opened with a soft hiss of pressure, she didn't flinch. She didn't even blink. Instead, her gaze just tilted—fractionally—to the figure entering.
Aiden.
He stood in the doorway for a moment, unmoving. His frame blocked most of the light behind him, casting him in a silhouette of shadows, like a monster half-formed from guilt. He looked older than she remembered. Not physically, but in the eyes, in the way he carried the weight of what he had done. He stepped forward slowly and said nothing. The door hissed shut behind him.
For ten long minutes, they said nothing.
Not a word passed between them.
She didn't rise, and he didn't speak. He stood against the wall at first, then slowly slid down until he was seated on the floor, knees up, arms resting loosely on them. His eyes never left hers.
Pop Girl didn't look away either. It wasn't a stare of defiance or anger. Just… quiet endurance. A woman waiting to see which path of the future would unfold. Her breath was even, but her eyes glistened in the light. Silent tears didn't fall, but they shimmered, threatening.
Aiden finally broke the silence. His voice was low, rough from disuse or emotion. "Did you know I'd come tonight?"
She tilted her head and answered without pause. "Not exactly."
She reached into the folds of her coat, withdrawing a small notebook—leather-bound, scuffed, familiar—and flipped to a marked page. There was a sketch. A rough image of this very room. Her. A man-shaped shadow. She showed it to him briefly.
"I knew someone would come. A man. A shadow. Talking to me about the past. When I woke up today, it was clearer. It made sense. It would be you."
He looked at the drawing for a long time before nodding slowly. "Then you also know why I'm here."
She let the silence stretch, then offered a simple, bitter reply. "Probably."
Aiden's jaw clenched. "What's your answer, then?"
"Do I have one?" she asked. "Do I get to give one? You broke the moment of choice the day you held me down. You ruined it when you decided for both of us."
He winced. Visibly. Not like a man defending himself, but like one bracing against truth.
"I didn't come to excuse it," he said, voice softer now. "I won't pretend I wasn't out of control, that I wasn't wrong. I was in a state—I was poisoned, twisted, but that doesn't change the fact that it was me. I did that to you. I forced you. And then I left."
Pop Girl looked down at the sugar cube in her palm. It was almost gone now. She whispered, "I waited. You disappeared. Not a word. Not a voice. Just that letter. You said you wanted to fix it, but you were gone."
Aiden leaned back against the wall. His eyes were heavy, not with tears, but with a quiet gravity. "Because I didn't know if I had the right to speak to you again. Didn't know if hearing my voice would make it worse. And maybe it did. But I couldn't stay away. Not forever. Not when…"
He stopped himself. Exhaled sharply.
"What?" she asked.
He looked directly at her. "Not when I realized I couldn't stop thinking about you. About what I did. About how you looked at me that night. About the way it started—how real it felt to me—and how wrong it turned. It was beautiful, but it became a scar."
Pop Girl's expression twisted. She turned her head slightly away.
"It was beautiful after the first hour," she said quietly. "Before it was just survival and pain. And that's what haunts me. That I thought I was strong, that I could walk through fire and not be burned. But it burned me. It broke something in me."
Her voice cracked, and one tear slipped down her cheek.
Aiden closed his eyes and said nothing.
She continued. "You don't understand what it means to see the future. To see all the ways people hurt you before they even know they will. And still… still, I didn't see that night. I told myself you weren't like the others. That I'd be safe. That I could choose. And then you took that away."
Her fingers trembled as she wiped the tear away. "Do you know how hard it is for someone like me to believe in anyone? And you—you were the first person in years I didn't predict. You surprised me. That night, you destroyed that surprise."
Aiden looked down at the floor. "I'll never forgive myself for that. But I'll say this: I don't regret… knowing you. Loving you. But I regret the way I proved it. I regret that my desire overwhelmed your voice. And if I could turn it back, I would give you that choice again. I would wait. I would love, with you more loving back."
Silence again. Thick and long.
Then, she looked at him again. This time, more directly.
"So what now, Aiden? Are you here to beg again? Or to demand?"
He shook his head. "No demands. I'm here to ask. Just once. If you can ever forgive me… if you can ever find it in yourself to stay, I'll never make you regret it. I'll never touch you without your voice giving me permission. I'll protect you, cherish you… and if you still want to be alone, I'll let you walk away. No man will touch you—not because you're mine, but because I'll make sure the world doesn't hurt you again."
She stared at him. Then asked, softly, "Even if I never return your love?"
He nodded. "Even then. I'll accept your hatred if it means you're free. But if there's even a sliver of you that still remembers what we could've had—before the breaking—I'll build a new foundation with you. One where every step forward is yours to take."
Pop Girl looked down again. Another tear slipped down her cheek.
"Do you want the truth, Aiden?" she asked. "You were the first person I ever saw myself with. The real me—not the prophet, not the freak. Just a woman. But that night… it changed the story. It tore the page."
She stood slowly and stepped toward him. Not aggressively. Not affectionately. Simply moved.
She sat beside him, shoulder to shoulder, not touching. They both stared forward now.
"If I stay," she said, "I'm not staying as your woman. I'm staying as me. As someone still healing. As someone who might never forget."
"That's enough," Aiden said. "That's more than I deserve."
Pop Girl closed her eyes. "I saw us once. In a future where none of this happened. We were happy."
"Do you still see it?" he asked.
She opened her eyes. Looked at him.
"No," she whispered. "But maybe… maybe we can draw a new picture."
And for the first time, Aiden let his heart rest. Not in forgiveness. But in the fragile, painful beginning of something that might one day resemble love again.
******
Hello everyone, a new work has been released! If you find it appealing, kindly take a moment to check it out and consider adding it to your library.. [Ashes of God And Devil]