I was still unsettled remembering that moment.
Yu-Seok.
Face to face.
I didn't recognize him at first. Not like the boy with the cap—the one who dazzled everyone with his charisma and prodigy talent.
But I felt him.
The shiver.
The bad omen.
He was the other one.
He looked at me too. But there was something different on his face now. Darker. Heavy. As if something was devouring him from within.
I, on the other hand… felt a little more whole. Happy.
After kissing her.
After touching her.
After she chose me.
I saw the change in his gaze. Hatred flashed for a millisecond. His eyes twisted. But he smiled.
Cynical.
I walked past him. Felt his energy—so contained it seemed ready to explode.
And I knew.
That guy wasn't going to stop.
That guy was going to go after her.
That guy wants what I already have.
---
Eliz's Room / Night
The room was dim. Only the soft light from the hallway spilled through the slightly open door, tinting the space with a gentle amber.
Eliz closed the door slowly, as if she needed time to decide whether she really wanted it closed.
Jong-Suk stood by her bed, motionless, hands in pockets, eyes fixed on her.
Neither said a word.
The silence was magnetic.
An electric field.
Everything felt suspended in the air, like something would happen if someone breathed too hard.
"I didn't think you'd come this late," she said finally, her voice low.
"I couldn't sleep," he replied, equally soft. "I wanted to see you. Even for a moment."
He stepped closer. She didn't move away.
"Can I stay here… for a moment?"
"You're already here," she whispered.
He stepped another inch, then another, until he stood right in front of her.
The room was small. Too intimate.
Every movement seemed amplified.
Their breathing synchronized without realizing it.
Jong-Suk raised his hand carefully, as if silently asking permission, and brushed a strand of hair from her face. He touched her lightly with his fingertips.
She closed her eyes.
"You're trembling," he murmured.
"It's not cold," she replied, keeping them shut.
He lowered his hand slowly, grazing her neck and collarbones, touching no more… but leaving her skin ignited.
"Eliz…"
She looked at him. And there it was.
The point of no return.
They both felt it.
Like a current rising along the spine.
Like a warm void in the stomach.
Like vertigo just before the fall.
He cupped her face with both hands.
Their foreheads touched.
Their lips were centimeters apart.
Their breath mingled, and the silence turned into pressure.
"If you kiss me like that now…" she said, breathless, "I won't be able to stop myself."
"Neither will I."
But neither moved.
Their hands clenched, their legs shook.
Every part of their bodies screamed: do it.
But the heart…
The heart said something else.
"Why do I feel like this… isn't just desire?" she asked, still looking at him.
"Because it isn't," he whispered.
Then he lowered his forehead and rested his nose against hers.
Their lips barely touched.
A brush.
A wordless confession.
He kissed her.
Slowly.
Deeply.
A moist, restrained kiss that spoke more of comfort than of fire.
Their mouths parted, not out of urgency, but to breathe together.
Their hands sought each other.
Fingers intertwined.
And when they separated, their eyes were full.
Not of desire.
Of certainty.
He rested his forehead on her shoulder and hugged her.
She held him, eyes closed, as if she had finally found a place to stay.
"You have no idea how much I like you," she whispered.
"And you don't know everything I'm willing to do… to deserve you."
---
Dawn
I didn't know when I fell asleep.
I just remember the warmth of her back against my chest, the scent of her hair, and how her fingers stayed still between mine right after that kiss that almost broke us.
I woke before her. A soft light filtered through the curtain—the kind of light that doesn't rush you, that lets you exist quietly.
The room smelled like her. Clean sheets. Warm skin. That almost invisible perfume she always wears at her neck.
I didn't move.
I didn't want to break the moment.
I just watched her.
Sleeping with her brow relaxed, lips slightly parted as if still whispering something. Maybe my name. I hoped so.
Her cheek pressed into the pillow, one leg bent over the blankets.
She was beautiful.
But not in a superficial way.
She was beautiful because she trusted me enough to fall asleep so close.
Because the night before, when the fire almost consumed us, we didn't get lost in it.
I wanted her, of course. The urgency had been real.
Her lips.
Her neck.
Her hands exploring my back clumsily, as if reading with her fingertips what she hadn't dared to ask.
But when she looked at me…
When she said, "I don't want this to become just that"…
I understood everything.
I understood that she was different.
And I had to be different too.
With her, I wouldn't rush.
I wouldn't push.
I would stay.
Stay, even if it burned me inside.
Stay, even if I had to bite my tongue when her lips parted.
Even if I had to close my eyes when her body offered itself unknowingly.
I would stay.
Because what we have isn't just skin.
It's a promise.
I shifted slightly to avoid crushing her.
Tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
And then… she opened her eyes.
"Are you awake?" she asked, voice hoarse from sleep.
I nodded, barely.
She looked at me for a second.
Smiled. Small. Intimate. Just for me.
"Last night was… strange," she whispered. "In the best way."
"I know."
"Are you okay?"
"Better than okay."
She turned and hid her face against my chest.
I closed my eyes.
And I knew that, even if we hadn't said it out loud yet…
We chose each other.
And just when I thought that was the place I wanted to stay, the faint vibration of her phone on the nightstand reminded me that the world was still turning outside.
But in that moment…
I didn't want to move.