Kai skipped class the next day.
And the next.
By the third morning, Leo was banging on his door like the building was on fire.
"KAI. OPEN. NOW."
Kai groaned, dragging himself out of bed.
He hadn't slept.
Every sound felt louder. Every shadow looked wrong. His dreams were crowded with red eyes and hands that never quite touched him.
He unlocked the door.
Leo stared at him. "You look like you got cursed by a hot demon."
"That's… disturbingly accurate."
Leo pushed inside. "You're officially worrying me."
Kai collapsed onto the couch. "He came to my window."
Leo froze. "Excuse me?"
"The CEO. Vale. Fire escape. Midnight. Casual stalking."
Leo's face went pale. "Okay. That's not normal-rich-people behavior."
Kai laughed weakly. "You think?"
Leo paced. "We go to the police."
"And say what? A billionaire stared at me intensely and broke physics?"
Leo opened his mouth. Closed it. "Fair."
Kai rubbed his temples. "He knows my name."
Leo stopped pacing. "You never told him."
"I know."
Silence stretched.
Then Leo said quietly, "What aren't you telling me?"
Kai hesitated.
"…I didn't feel like he wanted to hurt me."
Leo stared.
"That's worse," he said.
Lucien Vale had not been this distracted in centuries.
Board members spoke.
He heard nothing.
Graphs displayed projected profits.
Meaningless.
His attention was fixed on a private screen only he could see—arcane threads mapping Kai's movements across the city.
The boy lived small.
School. Work. Home.
Friends who cared.
A mother who worried.
No ambition for power.
No hunger.
Which made him dangerous.
Lucien pinched the bridge of his nose.
"This is getting out of hand," Rowan said carefully.
Lucien glanced at him. "You're shaking."
Rowan swallowed. "You haven't skipped blood stabilizers in decades."
Lucien's jaw tightened.
"They dull it."
Rowan exhaled slowly. "Sir… obsession is not the same as destiny."
Lucien stood abruptly.
The room darkened.
"You're wrong," he said.
"The curse reacted to him."
"That makes him a variable, not a solution."
Lucien's eyes flashed.
"Then I will make him both."
Rowan said nothing.
Again.
That evening, Kai went to work.
He needed normal.
The café smelled like burnt coffee and pastries. Familiar. Safe.
He tied his apron, forcing himself to breathe.
"You good?" his coworker Mina asked.
"Define good."
She snorted. "Mood."
The bell above the door chimed.
Kai looked up.
His stomach dropped.
Lucien walked in like he owned the air.
The café fell silent.
People turned.
Some whispered.
Lucien's presence bent the room.
He approached the counter.
Kai stiffened.
Mina leaned over. "Is that a model?"
"Worse," Kai muttered.
Lucien smiled politely.
"Good evening," he said. "I'll have whatever he recommends."
He nodded toward Kai.
Kai clenched his jaw.
"Black coffee," Kai said flatly.
Lucien's smile deepened.
"Of course."
Mina's eyes bounced between them. "Uh… anything else?"
Lucien's gaze never left Kai.
"Yes," he said softly. "His name."
Kai slammed the cup down harder than necessary.
"You don't get to play normal."
Lucien leaned closer, voice low enough only Kai could hear.
"I'm trying," he murmured. "For you."
Heat flared under Kai's skin.
"Take your coffee and leave."
Lucien straightened, unfazed.
"As you wish."
He paid. Didn't take the change.
Before turning, he said quietly, "Dinner. Tomorrow night. I'll send the address."
Kai hissed, "That wasn't a question!"
Lucien paused at the door.
Then, gently—
"No," he agreed. "It wasn't."
The bell chimed.
The room breathed again.
Mina grabbed Kai's arm.
"WHO was that?"
Kai stared at the door.
"Trouble."
And somewhere beneath the fear…
Anticipation.