And Sion…
Sion caught her before her voice had even faded.
He grabbed her.
Pulled her against him.
Kissed her with a tender violence that knocked the breath out of her.
His mouth crashed against hers,
his hands slid along her waist,
his chest pressed to hers,
his warmth wrapped around her,
his scent of alcohol, black coffee, sadness, a man ready to die for her…
She moaned into his mouth.
He growled into hers.
The kiss was brutal, urgent, desperate.
It wasn't a lover's kiss.
Nor a kiss of forgiveness.
It was a kiss of survival.
They fell onto the couch, but not in a clumsy way —
no, with the kind of movement that said "I want you"
"I'm taking you"
"I'm getting you back"
"you're mine"
"you came back."
His hands slid under her clothes.
Her skin turned blazing hot.
Her breath hitched.
She moaned again.
He bit her lightly.
She clung to his shoulders.
Their breathing tangled together, quick, shaky, starving.
And the world vanished around them.
The couch creaked under their tangled bodies, their ragged breaths filling the room like a fever, a panting rhythm beating against the walls, against their skin, against the night outside.
Their lips kept searching for each other without really parting, their hands trembling as they found each other again, as if a month of absence had carved invisible scars into their palms.
Sion kissed her like a man who had thought he'd lost her, like a man who had cried too much in silence, like a man who had suffocated under the ache until he went mad.
His mouth slid along her jaw, down to her neck, to that exact spot that always made her shiver — and she moaned, a soft, broken sound, one she had never dared let escape in front of any other man.
His fingers moved slowly beneath her top, his broad palms gliding over her skin as if relearning her, as if making sure she was real, here, alive, warm, his.
When his hands reached her ribs, she arched her back slightly, a violent shiver shooting up to her neck.
— You… are… here… he murmured against her throat, each word torn from his chest like a prayer.
She placed her hands on his face, forcing him to look at her.
Their eyes collided, and something in both of them broke.
Not from fear.
Not from pain.
From surrender.
Nari struggled to breathe, her heart pounding against her ribs.
— I'm here, she repeated, her voice rough, her lips shaking.
— I'm here, Sion…
— I'm yours.
He closed his eyes.
Just for a second.
A second where he seemed to hurt, truly hurt, with a pain that came from far away.
An old pain.
Then he dived back to her lips, kissing her more slowly this time, a deeper, more intimate kiss, heavy with everything he had never known how to say out loud.
She slipped her hands into his hair, pulling him closer still, their bodies fitting together without hesitation, without space.
Her fingers gripped the back of his neck to bring him down to her, and he let out an uncontrolled, rough, animal sound, almost painful.
He broke the kiss suddenly, breathing hard against her mouth, their noses brushing, their breaths mingling.
— Nari… he murmured, his voice trembling, pupils blown wide.
— You don't realize what you just did…
— You have no idea what you're walking into…
She stroked his cheek, her fingers sliding along the hard line of his jaw.
— Yes…
Her voice cracked.
— I do.
She took a long breath, her eyes shining with a truth she had never spoken before.
— I'm not afraid anymore, Sion.
He swallowed, his chest heaving violently as if she'd just reached into his ribcage.
— You're going to destroy me…, he whispered, almost under his breath.
— And I'm going to destroy you with me.
She smiled faintly, a sad but real smile.
— Then destroy me.
He froze.
His hands tightened on her waist, his fingers pressing into her skin as if they were afraid to let go, a fear he didn't want to show but that she felt in every micro-movement, every breath, every tension in his arms.
He rested his forehead against hers, their lips a millimeter apart without touching, their breaths crashing into each other.
— Nari…, he breathed.
— I tried to live without you…
— I tried, fuck…
She grabbed him by the back of the neck, dragging him back to her.
— Stop trying.
— I'm here.
Silence fell.
A heavy silence.
Heavy like a secret.
Heavy like a promise.
Heavy like a fate you can no longer escape.
Sion closed his eyes, clinging to her like someone grabs a life buoy in the middle of a black ocean.
— You're mine…, he murmured, his voice hoarse, almost broken.
— Since the first day.
— And until the last.
She trembled.
Her breathing caught.
Her stomach clenched.
A tear slid down her cheek before she could stop it.
— Yes…, she breathed.
— Yours.
Then he kissed her again.
Harder.
Slower.
Deeper.
A kiss that didn't promise anything beautiful.
A kiss that promised everything real.
Everything dangerous.
Everything fatal.
The kind of kiss that changes a life.
The kind you should never give.
And that you give anyway.
His hands slowly slid down to her hips, climbed back up along her spine, tracing burning paths that made her skin shiver.
Their bodies pressed even closer, their breaths tangling, their hearts beating in unison until the entire world disappeared behind them.
Sion held her against him as if he were afraid she might evaporate, his fingers sliding down her back, over her ribs, to her neck.
She buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent — that mix of alcohol, cigarettes, sleepless nights and pain — that scent she couldn't forget even when she tried.
And then,
in that blazing silence,
in that kiss that wouldn't end,
in that suspended moment where two souls clung to each other as if they were about to sink…
Sion whispered, his voice so low she almost didn't hear it:
— We're gonna show up and burn everything down.
She lifted her head, lips red, cheeks wet with tears, her gaze shaking with love and fear all at once.
— Yes.
She smiled.
A sad smile.
A beautiful smile.
A fatal smile.
He looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time.
As if he loved her for the last.
He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing the wet trace of a tear.
— Nari…, he whispered softly.
She caught his hand and pressed it to her skin.
— Don't ever leave me again.
They stayed there, wrapped around each other, breathless, shaking, two hearts caught in the same storm.
And in Seoul's quiet air, something shifted.
That day —
without them understanding it yet —
their love sealed their downfall.
The cinders of desire
had just been set alight.