TOP SECRET:THE THING BETWEEN US.
Julian Ardent has spent his entire life living under a microscope. Born into a powerful and well-known family, every step he takes must be perfect. His grades, his reputation, his leadership as the university’s student union president—everything must reflect the high standards his family expects. Especially his father, a strict and openly homophobic man who believes the Ardent name must never be stained by scandal.
For Julian, the path has always been clear: succeed, protect the family reputation, and never question the life chosen for him.
Then Kai appears.
A scholarship student who seems to drift through life like a free bird, Kai is everything Julian is not—carefree, bold, and quietly seductive. Yet beneath his relaxed attitude lies a sharp mind that earned him his place at the university. Unlike everyone else, Kai doesn’t treat Julian like an untouchable figure or the perfect son of a powerful family.
He treats him like a person.
What begins as simple curiosity slowly grows into something far more dangerous. The more time Julian spends with Kai, the harder it becomes to ignore the feelings he has spent years trying to bury. Feelings that could destroy the image he has built his whole life.
Because in Julian’s world, love like this is forbidden.
With family expectations tightening around him and a father who would never accept the truth, Julian must decide whether to protect the perfect life created for him… or risk everything for the one person who makes him feel truly alive.
But some feelings can’t stay hidden forever.
And the thing between them was supposed to remain top secret.