The candlelight flickered across Lila's untouched wine as she sat rigidly at her table, still feeling the phantom pressure of his hand on her mouth. She tried to steady her breathing, but every nerve in her body remained on edge. That man—the one who had appeared out of nowhere, like a shadow materializing from the night—had not left her thoughts even a moment.
Her gaze drifted back to his corner. He was still there, leaning slightly in his chair, observing her with that same unsettling intensity. The restaurant's warm chatter seemed to fade around him, leaving only the silent magnetism that drew her eyes back to him again and again.
"Focus, Lila," she muttered under her breath, taking a deep sip of water to calm the fluttering in her chest. You're overthinking this. He's just a stranger… probably dangerous, yes, but not… magical, not… cursed. She shook her head, trying to banish the thought, yet her stomach tightened at the memory of his cold, commanding hands.
Before she could finish the internal lecture, he stood. Smooth, deliberate, and unnervingly silent. His eyes found hers once more, holding them for a heartbeat too long before he began to move toward her table. Lila's pulse quickened, her instincts telling her to stand, to flee, but her legs betrayed her. They remained rooted to the spot.
"Good evening," he said, voice low and resonant, carrying a weight that made it impossible to look away. "May I join you?"
Lila swallowed hard. "I… I'm waiting for a friend," she stammered, though her friend was not coming. Not tonight. And somehow, she knew he could see right through the lie.
"I see," he said, his smirk slight, almost playful. "Then consider me… an intruder." He slid into the seat opposite her without waiting for permission, his presence consuming the small table as if the world beyond them had ceased to exist.
Lila forced a polite, shaky smile. "I don't usually… talk to strangers at dinner."
"Good," he replied, leaning back slightly, "because I am not exactly ordinary." The corner of his mouth lifted, teasing, though his eyes remained unreadable. "Some might even call me dangerous."
Her chest tightened. "I don't… do danger," she said, trying to mask the tremor in her voice with a flutter of sarcasm. "I prefer predictable and safe."
He chuckled softly, a sound that was more velvet than humor, dark and intimate. "Predictable is boring. And safe is overrated." His gaze locked on hers, and Lila felt heat creep up her neck, a thrill she could neither deny nor understand.
She studied him surreptitiously. His black suit was tailored perfectly, the kind of sharp, clean lines that suggested control and authority. But it was his eyes that unsettled her most—the way they seemed to hold secrets too large to name, yet small enough to tease her curiosity. Something about him whispered of danger… and of something darker, perhaps supernatural, lurking beneath that polished exterior.
"What are you doing here?" she asked cautiously. "Are you… watching me?"
He smiled, though it did not reach his eyes. "Watching is such a crude word. Let's call it… noticing."
"Noticing?" she echoed, skepticism threading her voice. "And why would I matter to someone like you?"
The smirk returned, this time just barely. "Because," he said, leaning forward, hands folded neatly on the table, "some people have a… gravitational pull. You, for example, have drawn me here tonight whether you realize it or not."
Lila's stomach fluttered again. "That's… absurd."
"Perhaps," he admitted, "or perhaps some truths are stranger than absurdity. Tell me, Lila… do you believe in curses?"
The question made her freeze. Curses? She glanced at him, half expecting him to be joking. "I… no. Not really," she said, though the words tasted uncertain on her tongue.
"Not really," he echoed, like a warning. "Yet here you are, sitting across from someone who carries one."
Her heartbeat accelerated, the strange pull she had felt since he entered the restaurant now twisting with fear. "You… you're cursed?" she asked, though part of her wondered if speaking it aloud would make it real.
He inclined his head slowly. "Some call it a curse. Others call it a burden. Either way… it is not safe to get close to me."
She blinked, struggling to process his words. "Not safe? How… what do you mean?"
A shadow passed over his features, a flash of something dark and unspoken. "I mean exactly what I said. Those who grow near me… suffer consequences they cannot control. I have tried to protect everyone I care for, but the closer they get, the more danger I bring."
Lila's pulse pounded in her ears. Fear mingled with a thrilling, inexplicable pull. "And you're telling me this… why?"
"Because," he said softly, leaning closer, "you asked. And because… I sense that you are different. Strong enough, perhaps, to endure the truth."
She felt her stomach knot with unease—and curiosity. "Strong enough? To endure… what?"
He paused, eyes dark and serious now. "The kind of truth most people run from. The kind that changes everything."
The restaurant seemed to fade into background noise. The candlelight flickered between them, casting shadows across his features, highlighting the sharp line of his jaw, the slight curl of his lips, the intensity in his eyes. Lila could not look away. Something about him demanded her attention, even as her mind screamed at her to flee.
"Why me?" she whispered, almost afraid of her own words.
"Because," he said, voice lowering, "you do not run. And because the curse does not choose who it affects—it only… tests those who can face it."
Lila's chest tightened with a mixture of fear, fascination, and an unexplainable longing. Her mind raced with questions: Why him? Why me? What is this curse? Yet even as fear tugged at her instincts, a part of her wanted to lean in, to understand, to reach him.
For a long moment, neither spoke. Only the soft clink of cutlery and the low hum of conversation surrounded them. Then, almost casually, he leaned slightly closer and whispered, "Be careful, Lila. Curiosity has a way of… becoming dangerous."
She felt the weight of his words, the unspoken promise of both danger and desire. And somewhere deep in her chest, she knew, without knowing why, that this was only the beginning. The pull between them was already undeniable. And whether she wanted it or not, her life was now entwined with a man who carried secrets dark enough to shatter everything.
As Adrian rose and slipped back into the shadows of the restaurant, Lila sat frozen, her pulse still racing, her mind spinning. The candlelight flickered across her red dress, and for the first time in years, she felt alive—and terrified—at the same time.
Tonight, she realized, was the night the ordinary world had ended. And in its place, a dangerous, irresistible darkness had arrived.