Ella Pov~
There we were, sitting on the beach, watching the sun dip lower, bleeding orange into the restless water. It was quiet, but not the kind of calm that pressed on your chest. This one felt… different. A strange comfort I didn't know I needed. My fingers toyed with the hem of my cardigan as the breeze swept past, carrying the scent of salt and seaweed. For a moment, I let myself just breathe. Just breathe. I called in to take a half day at work in exchange for doing overtime the next day, a little exhausted and silent.
"You're quiet," Sylus finally said, his voice cutting through the wind, low and smooth. I glanced at him. He was leaning back on his palms, coat draped over his shoulders like he didn't care if it fell, his hair ruffled from the wind. He didn't look at me when he spoke, just kept his eyes on the horizon of the ocean, peaceful like it had answers he was trying to pull out of it, like he was trying to figure out depth.
"I could say the same about you," I said softly, my lips quirking into the smallest smile. That earned me the faintest tug at his mouth. "I was giving you space," he replied, still not looking at me. "Space?" I laughed under my breath. "That's new. Usually, people are eager to fill the silence around me. To fix it." "And you don't want it fixed?" he asked, finally turning his head, those dark eyes finding me with a stillness that made my chest tighten.
I dropped my gaze back to the sand, digging the tip of my shoe into it. "I… don't know. Being alone became my default. A habit I can't shake off.....When you grow up with no one to shield you, the world isn't exactly kind, you know?" The words slipped out before I could stop them. Honest. Raw. The kind of thing I never shared with anyone. Only Asher has seen a few parts of those, not even all of them.
When I finally dared to glance at him, he wasn't pitying me. His gaze was steady, unreadable, but I felt it anyway, that strange weight of his attention. Like he was listening and somehow, that wrecked me more than if he'd said anything at all. Why was he willing to listen to someone, a nobody whom he met days ago.... Why? My mind clouded with questions...
Sylus Pov~
She said it so casually, "Being alone kind of became my default." Like she was just telling me about some usual day stuff, but I heard it. That thread of pain in her voice. That quiet acceptance of suffering, and it cut deeper than I wanted to admit, because I knew it.God, I knew it too well. People think being born into a mafia family means luxury, power, and untouchable freedom. It doesn't.
It means your life isn't yours. It means your first lessons aren't in books, they're in survival. I could never forget Locked in a black room, barely taller than the rifle they shoved into my hands. My father's voice echoed through the darkness. "Aim.&Hit it. If you missed it then. You know the cost."
Every miss cost me. The sting of a belt, the humiliation of his boot pressing me down into the cold floor. I remember begging to see my mother. Just once. Just to feel like I was more than a weapon being trained. But mercy doesn't exist in men like my father and softness… softness gets beaten out of you until nothing's left but stone, until they make sure you are ruthless. So that emotions aren't getting in your way.
That's what I am now, A well-trained, but heir made at what cost? A man sculpted out of scars and silence. And yet… There she was. she was like a little flower in a cardigan, saying she's used to being alone like it was nothing. She had no idea how that made my blood boil. Not at her at the world that did that to her. She had no idea how much I wanted to take that pain from her. Rip it out. Replace it with something… anything. She had no idea that the part of me I've spent years burying, that little boy in the black room who just wanted to be loved, sat up at her words, wide-eyed, aching, awakened.
You're not meant to be alone, Ella. I almost said it. Almost, but I couldn't, words were stuck in my throat... I wanted to hold her. cause I never knew how to comfort... So I just stared at the waves. Pretending like the sun setting in front of us was enough to keep my demons from clawing their way up.
How could she still say that and smile? How could she still be so soft in a world that chewed her up and spat her out? "How are you still kind, Ella? How?" My jaw tightened. Didn't she ever want to burn it all down? Didn't she ever want to look at those people the ones who left her, abandoned her, deemed her unworthy in their eyes, and watch them beg?
I tilted my head, studying her profile against the orange haze of sunset. "Don't you want to hurt them?" My voice was quiet, low enough that the wind almost stole it. She blinked, turning to me, confused. "Those who left you," I continued, my tone calm but heavy. "Those who made you feel like you didn't deserve anything good. Don't you want to hurt them back?" Her lips parted slightly. She didn't answer. "Because we're not that different," I said, eyes on the horizon."We were both pushed out of the world like we didn't belong. Left to rot in whatever hell they thought we deserved."
I glanced at her then. Looked at her. "You," I said calmly, "you're a bird they left caged and alone. And maybe they wanted you to think you were unwanted. Unloved. Undeserving." My hand curled into a fist on my knee."They were wrong." I let the silence hang between us, heavy. "You're the kind of soul," I muttered, "that could make a man a monster fall to his knees." Her breath hitched.
Ella Pov~
Before he could finish his sentence, my hand moved on its own, resting gently over his. "They are not worthy of my value," I said softly. My voice trembled, but I didn't look away. "My time. My life. Wouldn't I be just like them if I killed them? If I became what they made me?" His jaw flexed. His silence was heavy, unreadable.
"And don't…" I hesitated, my throat tightening, "Don't say things like that. Why do you think you're a monster?". I hated the way my voice cracked. "You're just… someone the world has misunderstood," I whispered. "Someone broke it before it even had a chance to heal."
My hand lifted instinctively, trembling, almost reaching for him. To touch his face, to let him know he wasn't alone. But halfway there, I stopped. What was I doing? Why was it so foreign but still a stranger comfort a peace? I wanted to give him happiness, comfort him .... but isn't that something that I longed for as a kid. It was just… me. We were Nothing more than mutual acquaintances. A worker in a flower shop. And he-
Before I could pull back my hovering hand, his hand moved. Cold. Large. Commanding. He caught mine mid-air and brought it to his cheek, holding it there. My breath faltered. The sunset framed him in soft orange light, gilding the sharp planes of his face, highlighting the smallest details the faint shadow under his eyes, on mole, the tension etched into his brow, the weight of unshed words that lived in his gaze.
His eyes… God, his eyes. They weren't just dark. They were deep. Like there were entire oceans of pain and rage beneath them, storms I'd never be able to calm.
How badly did they break you? The thought stabbed through me like a blade. I wanted to hug him. Tell him it was alright. That he wasn't what the world made him believe.
But could I? Could I cross that line? And yet, in that moment, with his hand keeping mine against his skin, it felt like I was holding his entire world together.
The wind grazed against my skin, tangling stray strands of my hair. Who even was he?
I didn't know.
But I wanted to.
Something about Sylus felt… familiar in the strangest way. As if, without words, we shared the same ache. The same sleepless nights. The same hollow spaces where family, comfort, and safety should've been.
Forgotten. Left behind, my chest tightened, and then my phone rang. The screen flashed Asher. That made my heartbeat fast as I let out a shaky exhale...from how this moment was.
Asher. I scrambled, swiping to answer, masking the thickness in my voice with false cheer. "H-hey!" He didn't respond. "Asher?" "You're crying." His voice cut through the line sharp, cold, leaving no room to hide. "No-why would I-" "Shut up." The harshness in his tone made me flinch. My lips parted, but nothing came out. "Do you think I'm stupid?" His voice lowered, dangerous in its quiet fury. "I've known you for eighteen years, Ella. Eighteen. You think I wouldn't know when you're lying? You were crying."
My breath hitched. He was scolding me. Asher rarely scolded me. And yet, he was right. Asher always saw through me every wall, every mask. Before I could form a reply, Sylus moved. Without asking, he reached over and took my phone from my trembling hand, turning the camera to face him. The video call is facing him
"She's with me." His voice was calm. Cold. Each word clipped with unshakable authority. "And?" Asher's voice sharpened on the other end. "And," Sylus continued, unbothered by the territorial venom dripping through the line, "the only reason her eyes are red is because the wind brought sand into them. Nothing more."
The tension could've cut steel. Neither of them spoke for a second. I could feel it the silent war between them. Asher's heavy breathing came through the speaker. "Put her back on the phone." Sylus didn't move, didn't break his gaze on the screen. "We're done here." And then he ended the call. Just like that.
I stared at him, stunned. "Why— why would you do that?" His dark eyes met mine. "Because I don't like being interrupted." My pulse stuttered. His tone was even. But that wasn't why my heart skipped. It was because… he wasn't talking about the call.
He was talking about this. "About us." He stood, brushing the sand from his trousers, then extended his hand toward me. "Let's go," he said softly, no trace of his usual coolness. "It's getting late. You'll catch a cold." I hesitated only a moment before placing my hand in his. His grip was steady, warm, almost grounding. We walked side by side in silence. Not awkward but heavy. Every step felt like something unspoken was lodged between us, a strange comfort tangled with the weight of too much we weren't saying.
The drive back was quiet, too. His car smelled like me, my perfume, faint rose and vanilla lingered.... as if my essence was in the car and I wondered if he noticed. I rested my head against the window, letting my eyes trace the soft gradient of the evening sky. It should've been peaceful. But my heart wouldn't calm.
Sylus pov~
She didn't say a word. Neither did I. But I could feel her everywhere. Her perfume seeped into the leather of my car, into my clothes, into my fucking skin. I gripped the wheel tighter. Every second I spent beside her made my control falter, that fragile leash I kept on myself, snapping thread by thread.
"I wanted her essence with me. Everytime. Everyday. My car smelled like her. My room smelled like hers. I wanted her. This scent left a void of her absence, but Memory I never want to forget and a constant reminder to have her by my side, so it won't be just her mere essence. ButHer."
She sat there, head leaned against the glass, hair falling over her cheek like a curtain. Unbothered. Unaware. Like she didn't even realize the chaos she stirred in me. She smelled like home.She looked like peace. And yet, every piece of me was fire. I wanted to tell her everything about the monster, the hopeless guy she awakened again, with a hope she touched earlier when she held my face, about the blood I was raised to kill, about the man her world would never want.
Instead, I stayed quiet. Watching her reflection in the glass. Wondering how much longer I could keep her at a distance before I gave in completely. Oh Ella. You are my muse.