His eyes burned into mine.
> "No. This is mine."
My knees finally gave out. Thud. The sound of my body hitting the marble floor was distant, like it belonged in someone else's story. Blood soaked into the lace of my gown, into my skin, into me.
I stared at my hands. They trembled in my lap… smeared red like I had pulled the trigger myself.
Maybe I had.
In another life.
He knelt beside me, the scent of gunpowder and cold metal clinging to him like another second skin.
> "Look at me," he said, soft but firm. His fingers brushed against my cheek.
I flinched. My breath hitched, chest collapsing under the weight of everything I'd lost in a single minute.
> "My parents…"
His jaw tightened, veins pulsing at his temple.
> "They were never yours. Not really."
I shook my head, tears blurring the carnage around us.
> "They raised me."
The first tear fell, shattering me.
> "You killed them," I whispered, voice splintering.
His eyes didn't waver.
> "I did."
My voice broke into shards.
> "Why?"
He didn't answer at first. Instead, he lifted his hand, brushing a strand of hair from my blood-smeared face, smearing it darker. His thumb lingered against my trembling jaw.
> "I don't need reasons to protect what's mine."
My heart cracked down the center. Because a part of me wasn't sure if I was being rescued—or claimed.
I swallowed a sob, staring up at him.
> "You're a monster," I whispered. "You're my professor. You were supposed to teach me, not destroy me."
His lips twitched, almost into a smile—but it died into something hungrier, more dangerous. He leaned closer, his shadow swallowing mine.
> "You don't understand," he murmured, breath warm against my ear. "I couldn't stand the thought of someone else having what should have been mine."
I pulled back just enough to meet his gaze, trembling.
> "Yours? I was never yours."
His eyes darkened into pure possession, a madness disguised as devotion.
> "Yes, mine."
The word cracked through me like a whip, branding me from the inside out.
"Did you really think I would let some pathetic CEO own you? Touch you? Put a ring on your finger? When every second you've walked into my class, you've belonged to me. You were mine the moment your eyes met mine. You were mine when you smiled. Mine when you cried. Mine when you breathed."
I shook my head violently, tears streaming.
> "That's not love—it's obsession."
His grip on my chin tightened, forcing me to look only at him.
> "Then let me be obsessed. Because I'd rather burn the world down than let it take you away from me."
The hall reeked of smoke, iron, and death, but all I could hear was the pounding of my heart.
> "I hate you," I whispered through tears.
His lips brushed against my ear, a shiver running through my blood.
> "Hate me all you want, precious. Hate ties tighter than love ever could. Either way… you're bound to me."
He leaned back, eyes gleaming with something terrifying and eternal.
> "This isn't obsession. This… is the red thread of fate."
And as he said it, he lifted his bloodstained hand, tying a torn strip of my wedding veil around my wrist like a shackle—like a vow.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. Couldn't run.
His eyes darkened with an intensity that made my chest tighten.
> "Yes, mine."
The word wasn't spoken. It was carved. Etched into me like it had always been waiting.
I shook my head violently, tears streaking down my face.
> "No… I don't belong to anyone. Least of all you."
His lips curved—not a smile, but something far more dangerous.
> "You can lie to yourself. But I've seen the truth in your eyes every time you looked at me. Fear. Curiosity. That fire you try to hide… You wanted me to touch you. To claim you. Didn't you?"
My voice broke.
> "You're insane. You killed everyone. You ruined everything."
He leaned closer, his forehead brushing mine, the scent of smoke and iron surrounding me.
> "I ruined nothing. I gave you freedom. I cut the chains your parents wrapped around you, the contract Jihoon tried to force onto you. Don't you see? You were suffocating—and I ripped open the cage."
I pushed weakly at his chest, though my arms felt like lead.
> "That cage was still my life…"
He caught my wrist midair, pressing it to his heart, where I felt the furious rhythm beneath his skin.
> "Then make me your life. Hate me, curse me, scream at me—but stay mine."
I gasped, chest tightening, as he dragged me against him. His grip was unyielding, his eyes feverish.
> "What are you going to do with me?" I whispered, trembling.
His answer came sharp, absolute, terrifying:
> "Everything."
And then, lowering his voice to a deadly promise,
> "If I can't have you, no one will. Remember that, precious."
I was his.
Or maybe I always had been.