She lowered her head and followed him.
The hallway leading to his office was dark, cut off from the rest of the club.
The dark wood walls reflected the red lights from the bar, creating shifting shadows that slid across Nari's legs.
Her heels clicked too loudly.
Her breathing was too fast.
Her hands trembled.
Kai never turned around.
He walked ahead of her, straight, elegant — the perfect silhouette of a civilized predator.
He opened the office door, stepped inside, then let her go in first.
When she entered, he closed the door behind them.
A sharp click.
Like a sentence being passed.
⸻
The air in the office was cold, saturated with woody cologne and leather.
On the shelves: neatly arranged files, bottles worth a fortune, a slightly open drawer revealing a black handgun.
Kai didn't move forward.
He glided — literally — a few steps closer.
Always too close.
His presence filled the entire room.
His scent — dry, dark, masculine — reached her first, like an invisible hand resting on her neck.
He towered over her by a head.
His shadow swallowed hers.
His eyes… black, deep, like endless abysses.
— So… did you have fun last night?
His voice was low, velvety — a whisper brushing against her skin.
Nari's throat tightened.
— I…
She inhaled, dipping her head in apology.
— I once again apologize, Mr. Ryou.
— That wasn't my question.
He tilted his head slightly, eyes glowing with a dangerous curiosity.
— I asked if you had fun.
She lifted her eyes — for half a second — then immediately lowered them again.
That look had struck her like lightning.
— I… I have to admit yes.
She swallowed.
— It did me good.
A rough laugh escaped Kai's chest.
— Perfect.
He stepped forward.
She stepped back.
Until the cold wall pressed against her spine.
He slowly placed one hand beside her head.
Not on her — but close enough to capture her breath.
She felt her throat close.
— You're interesting, Han Nari.
The words stroked her skin like an invisible caress.
A violent shiver shot through her, rising from her belly to her neck.
A forbidden warmth bloomed between her thighs.
A reaction she couldn't control.
She hated him for that.
Kai leaned in.
His mouth hovered near her ear, not touching.
His breath — warm, slow — slid down her skin.
— Do you want to know your punishment?
Nari wanted to answer.
She couldn't form a single sound.
Her fingers clenched around the fabric of her dress.
Her heart pounded, shaking her entire body.
Suddenly, Kai straightened up.
All warmth vanished from his expression.
His gaze turned cold as a steel blade.
— I'll tell you when the time comes.
— You may go work now, Nari.
He stepped back with that inhuman, effortless elegance that belonged only to him.
She left the office trembling, breath shallow, legs on the verge of giving out.
She brought a hand to her neck.
His breath had left a trace there —
an invisible burn.
— He's terrifying… she whispered to herself.
Terrifying, yes.
But more than anything:
dangerously fascinating.
⸻
4 a.m.
The Black Orchid was dying in a near-religious silence.
The last customers had left, the music was gone, only the violet neon lights still quivering on the walls… and Nari, alone behind the counter.
She dried the last glass, the cold light sliding over her skin, then slowly removed her apron.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
She didn't know if it was fatigue… or the rising anxiety coiling inside her like black tide.
She grabbed her phone.
Still nothing.
Sion.
No message.
No call.
Silence.
A knot formed in her stomach — hard, cold, tight.
Why are you ignoring me?
Are you okay?
Are you mad?
What did I do?
She typed a message, deleted it, rewrote it, erased it again.
Her vision blurred faintly.
She was finally about to send one when—
A voice behind her.
Low.
Soft.
But carrying a strange weight.
— Can I drive you home?
She froze.
Kai.
Leaning against the wall as if he had always been part of it, hands in his pockets, his silhouette carved out by the purple neon.
His suit immaculate — not a crease, not a mark, as if the night hadn't touched him at all.
Nari inhaled.
Reached for her voice.
Barely found it.
— I'll be fine… thank you. I'll take a taxi.
Kai lifted one eyebrow.
A tiny smile curled at his lips.
Not a kind smile.
A smile that wrapped fingers around your throat.
— Don't be shy.
Get in.
It wasn't a suggestion.
It was a sentence that left no room for no.
She gave in.
From exhaustion.
From fear.
From something she didn't dare name.
⸻
The car was a glossy black beast.
A luxury SUV with tinted windows, the interior drenched in the scent of new leather, dark wood, and masculine spices.
Nari took the passenger seat.
The seatbelt clicked.
The engine growled like a waking predator.
She grabbed her phone, its screen illuminating her worried face.
She typed:
— Sion?
Are you okay?
You're not answering…
Are you mad?
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
She sent it.
The message left like a bottle thrown into a dark ocean.
Kai drove without a sound, his long fingers gliding over the wheel.
Then suddenly, without looking at her:
— Is someone waiting for you?
His voice vibrated through the car, warm, deep, almost dangerously calm.
— …No.
Not really.
Kai tilted his head slightly, still without turning his eyes toward her.
— Your boyfriend?
A cold shiver slid down her spine.
— You… could say that, yes…
Silence fell.
A heavy silence.
Thick.
Like black smoke.
No words.
No extra breath.
Nothing but her frantic heartbeat and the low purr of the engine.
She could feel Kai's gaze on her from time to time.
Not the gaze a boss gives an employee.
Not the gaze a normal man gives a woman.
The gaze of a predator studying a creature he was never supposed to want.
The road flew by quickly, streetlights reflecting on the hood like golden blades.
⸻
When they arrived in front of her building, Nari unbuckled her seatbelt quickly, ready to escape.
— Thank you… for the ride.
She opened the door — but a hand rested on her head.
Not harshly.
Not to hold her back.
Gently.
Almost tenderly.
As if Kai were brushing off an invisible speck of dust.
He slid a strand of hair behind her ear.
His thumb grazed her skin.
A touch so fleeting… yet her heart exploded in her chest.
He murmured, his voice gliding along her neck like a burning caress:
— Enjoy your day off, Nari.
Then he added, with a slow, flirtatious, devastating smile:
— It's dangerous to be that beautiful at four in the morning.
She turned scarlet.
She mumbled a thank you, shut the door too fast, and nearly stumbled as she rushed toward the entrance of her building.
She could feel his gaze on her until she disappeared behind the door.
And in the elevator — alone, chest burning, hands trembling — she understood something:
Kai Ryou wasn't looking at her like a boss.
Nor like a stranger.
Nor even like a man interested in her.
He looked at her like a riddle.
Like a crack.
Like a secret he wanted to open slowly.
And that…
was far more dangerous.
⸻
In the entryway, Sion's shoes were the first thing Nari saw: placed perfectly straight, as if he had aligned and realigned them all evening.
A wave of relief crashed into her chest.
A breath escaped her before she could stop it.
She closed the door softly.
He was here.
He had come.
He had waited.
But as soon as she pushed open the living room door, the world collapsed.
Total darkness.
A heavy, suffocating darkness where the air felt suspended…
the room like a closed womb.
And at the center—
Sion.
Sitting on the floor.
Curled up.
His head buried in his knees like a child who had lost all grounding.
His shoulders trembling — barely, just enough for terror to rise in Nari's stomach.
She turned on the light.
The bulb flickered, then cast a pale glow over his compact, broken silhouette.
He didn't react.
— Sion… I'm home, she whispered, stepping cautiously forward.
He lifted his head slightly, without really looking at her.
— You abandoned me, he said.
His voice… broken. Strangled.
A voice you don't forget.
A voice that bleeds.