Nari stayed frozen against the door for a moment, her breath suspended, her heart pounding so hard against her ribs she thought it might shatter them from the inside.
Her trembling fingers rested on the cold wood, feeling every vibration, every muffled sound, every breath of the man standing on the other side.
One single second was enough to remind her that nothing, absolutely nothing, was over.
— Nari… open the door, please.
His voice was hoarse, strangled, fractured, as if each word cost him something he had never given anyone before.
She closed her eyes.
Her forehead slid against the wood.
The world shrank down to that fragile line between them — that door she had closed, but that her heart wanted to open.
— No. Go away, she spat, her tone shaking with a rage that was only a mask over a dangerous kind of pain.
How dare you show up here… after everything you've done?
— Nari…
A fist hit the door.
Not violently.
Just hard enough to say: I'm here, I can break it down if I want, I'm holding everything back, but don't push me.
— If you don't open… I'll kick this door in. I swear I will.
Her heart flipped in her chest.
She unlocked the door in a sudden, almost animal gesture, as if her body had decided before her.
The door flew open.
And Sion stepped into her field of vision.
What she saw destroyed her.
His face was hollowed out, exhausted, ravaged.
His eyes — those golden eyes so used to coldness, arrogance, raw strength — were red-rimmed, swollen from lack of sleep, threaded with fine veins.
His suit was wrinkled, like he'd slept in it for several nights in a row.
His scent — a mix of alcohol, sweat, and that woody perfume that burned her skin like a memory — rushed straight to her head.
He looked… broken.
— Sion, for fuck's sake… she breathed despite herself, her heart tightening so hard it cut her breath.
He didn't wait.
He didn't hesitate.
He took one step, then another, and pulled her into his arms, dragging her against him in an embrace so fierce she felt like her skeleton was dissolving into his.
— Nari… don't marry him.
It was barely more than a murmur.
Just a breath.
But a breath that tore her apart from the inside like a slow blade.
She fought him off, violently, furiously, her hands slapping at his chest, his arms, his heart.
— Let go of me! You're insane! Why do you even care?! LEAVE ME ALONE!
He released her — but stayed right in front of her, shaking, unable to hide the fracture in his gaze.
— Don't marry him, he repeated, but this time his voice was broken, almost pleading.
She let out a nervous laugh, hysterical, a laugh that wasn't really a laugh at all, a sound hiding tears that were about to burst.
— Give me one good reason. ONE. JUST ONE.
Her tone snapped like a whip.
He looked away.
His jaw clenched.
His throat swallowed down a sob he refused to let out.
— Because… you can't do it.
She started laughing again, but this time there was despair in it, emptiness, rage.
— That's not enough.
Get out, Sion.
I'm not changing my mind.
I love him.
And that's when the ground vanished beneath their feet.
Sion pinned her against the wall — not violently, but with the desperate urgency of someone who has nothing left to lose, his hands flat on either side of her face, their breaths mingling, their gazes crashing into each other like two storms about to explode.
— Say it again.
Say again that you love him.
And look me in the eyes when you say it.
His voice was shaking.
Not with anger.
With terror.
The terror of losing her.
Nari's eyes were blazing with tears.
Her breath kept snagging in her throat.
Her heart was beating so fast it hurt.
— Let me go, Sion! Let me go, I said!
I don't want to see you anymore!
I hate you!
YOU TOLD ME I WAS JUST A TOY!
THAT I WAS TOO EASY AND BORING!
YOU DISAPPEARED LIKE A BASTARD AND NOW YOU COME BACK HERE?!
YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!
NONE!
He took it.
Every word was a hammer blow.
Every scream a shard of glass lodging deeper into his chest.
Then everything came out.
Everything.
Like a confession he'd been holding back for far too long.
— I love you, Nari.
Fuck, I love you.
Don't you get it?
You drive me insane.
You live in my head.
I don't sleep.
I don't eat.
I don't breathe.
Each word was a scream.
A scream that had been building for months.
A scream he had no control over anymore.
And then — in a breath so low, so fragile, so full of pain he could have fallen to his knees — she answered:
— You're the one who abandoned me first, Sion…
Nari's words hung in the air like a blade still vibrating.
"You're the one who abandoned me first, Sion…"
He froze.
As if his heart had just missed a beat.
As if that simple murmur had been enough to derail everything he'd been trying to hold together.
His golden eyes, already red from exhaustion and hurt, widened just a little.
A tic jerked across his jaw, his throat swallowing down a sob he still refused to let out.
His hands, still braced against the wall on either side of Nari's face, began to tremble.
— Nari…
His voice broke.
For the first time.
Truly.
Nari lifted her eyes, tears swelling under her lashes, her breath short, her heart pounding against her ribs like it was trying to escape.
— You left me, Sion…
You didn't explain anything.
You left me like I was… nothing.
Nothing at all.
Her breath wavered, a strangled little sob slipping past her lips.
Sion closed his eyes for a second.
Just one second.
But that second was heavy, loaded with memories he'd buried, with pain he'd muzzled for far too long.
When he opened them again, his gaze wasn't the same.
A deep crack had opened there.
He drew in a shaky breath.
— I didn't understand anything anymore.
I was scared…
Scared of myself.
Of you.
Of what you were waking up in me.
I didn't want to hurt you, you understand?
I wanted to spare you…
That last sentence fell between them like a stone, a truth he'd never dared to say out loud.
Nari shook her head, tears spilling faster now.
— You could've talked to me…
You could've explained…
I would've understood.
I needed you to stay, Sion.
Just… stay.