The air in the room grew suffocating, pressing down on everyone's chest.
The man's cold eyes pierced through Noona as he stepped closer, his fingertip brushing the necklace she always wore. A faint, chilling laugh escaped his lips.
"You've kept wearing it. Not because you forgot… but because it still binds you to me."
Noona shivered, her back hitting the wall, eyes trembling.
"No… it's no longer yours."
Akin moved in front of her, clutching her hand tightly as if staking his claim.
"I won't let anyone touch her again…!"
His voice rang firm, but the man only narrowed his eyes, speaking in a low tone.
"Akin… you don't understand the weight of a vow carved from a past life."
The room fell into silence. Echoes of a forgotten past roared in Noona's chest.
Visions blurred before her eyes—a warrior handing her the very necklace amidst flames of war.
Her heart pounded, tears pricking at the corners.
"I…" her trembling voice broke, "…I will choose for myself. No one can force me again."
Her words cut through the tension like a blade. The silence deepened, turning into a crushing pressure.
Akin clenched his fists, fear and fury warring inside him.
The old fiancé smirked faintly—knowing well this battle had only just begun.
The room was so silent that even the sound of a heartbeat echoed.
Nunaa stood between the two men—
Akin, whose eyes burned with pain laced with fury,
and the other, who stared at her with an icy coldness, yet deep inside gleamed the spark of possession.
Her small hand clutched the necklace so tightly it nearly drew blood.
Her lips trembled, trying to form words, but her voice was trapped in her throat.
"I… will…"
The words broke off.
The heavy silence pressed down as if time itself had stopped.
Then—
the man who came to reclaim his right stepped closer, his hand pressing firmly yet possessively on her shoulder.
"You have always been mine, Nunaa. Don't forget that…"
The sentence made Akin explode.
He yanked the other's wrist away from her violently, the clash echoing in the suffocating stillness.
"Don't you dare touch her again!"
Their gazes collided with raw intensity.
The silence shattered into flames of confrontation—
and this… was the moment when neither would back down.
> Ends on: "neither would back down."