The bar was still vibrating with the rustling of rich conversations, the clinking of glasses, the bass lightly shaking the floor…
But for Nari, all of that became a blur.
White noise.
A muffled, distant background, as if she had been locked under water.
She stayed there.
Behind the counter.
Her fingers clenched on the varnished wood.
Her hands were shaking.
No…
Not shaking.
Vibrating.
As if her nerves started screaming each on their own.
Her breathing stopped.
The world tightened.
A rib cage closing like a vise.
— No… no… this isn't possible… not him… not now… she murmured.
The words got lost in her throat.
She didn't even recognize her own voice anymore.
The noise of the bar became blurry.
The silhouettes turned into shadows.
The music turned into a dull, irregular thumping.
Her field of vision narrowed.
Little white spots were dancing in front of her eyes.
Her fingers were tingling, a worrying numbness slowly crawling up along her arms.
She tried to breathe in.
But her breath got stuck.
As if someone was pressing her ribs against her lungs.
Aera rushed over when she saw her state.
— Nari, hey… hey! Nari look at me!
But Nari didn't hear her.
Nothing was getting through anymore.
Only…
The memories.
Minjun, sitting on the low wall in front of her high school.
He was waiting for her.
Always.
With a shy smile and a hot chocolate in his hands.
" You're going to catch a cold again, babo. Take it."
⸻
Another FLASH — sharper.
Minjun, his fingers trembling, slipping a ring into her hand.
The first ring.
A naïve, tender, fragile promise.
Him, eyes shining.
" I want us to stay together. Always."
And now…
that look.
The same man.
The same face.
But a gaze… emptied.
Hollow.
Twisted by a cold arrogance she had never seen in him.
A gaze that said: I know you. I had you. I can have you again.
Nari felt her legs give way.
The present came rushing back all at once.
Violently.
As if someone had pulled her head out of the water too fast.
She swayed.
The counter tipped into her field of vision.
But she did not crash to the ground.
Two arms caught her.
Firm.
Fast.
Uncompromising.
Kai.
She felt his chest against hers.
His dark, dry scent.
The warmth of a solid body pulling her back into existence.
— Breathe, he said in a low, deep voice, his mouth a few centimeters from her ear.
The sound of his voice cut through her fog like a light.
She breathed in.
One breath.
Rough.
Broken.
That sounded more like a restrained sob than a real breath.
— Again, murmured Kai, without moving.
She breathed in a second time.
Less painfully.
Less choppy.
As if her body was remembering again how to function.
She felt her fingers come back.
The feeling in her legs.
Her heart beating normally.
And only then, as reality slowly settled in her mind…
She understood.
Minjun had not simply "come back".
He wasn't the boy she had loved anymore.
Nor the fiancé she had left.
Nor the tender memory she had buried.
He had become something else.
Something dangerous.
Something calculated.
Something that was coming back for her.
And with a shiver, Nari realized:
This time, Minjun did not intend to leave again.
They stayed like that…
A few minutes suspended out of time.
Kai did not move.
Nari either.
His arms were still holding her, but differently.
Tighter.
Closer.
More… human than usual.
And Kai was looking at her.
Not like a boss.
Not like a shadow.
Not like a cold protector.
But like a man.
His gaze had lost its usual hardness.
It shone with a heavy softness, almost foreign on his face.
And under the dim light of the bar, Kai's cheekbones…
flushed.
A discreet red.
A restrained red.
But a red impossible to ignore.
As if he was resisting his own desires.
As if something was pulling him toward her —
and he was holding himself back with monstrous strength.
Then, suddenly, he stepped aside.
Put his mask back on.
As if nothing had happened.
End of service.
Aera jumped on Nari as soon as the last client walked out the door.
She grabbed her by the shoulders, almost shaking her as if to wake up a soul that had left her body.
— HEY! You didn't do all this for nothing! Pull yourself together, Nari, come on!
Nari lowered her head, her heart crushed.
— Aera… I don't feel good about this… I have a bad feeling…
Aera exhaled loudly, then patted her cheeks.
— When we get home, you're going to tell me EVERYTHING.
But for now? No collapsing allowed!
And also… look at that huge piece of muscle behind you, ready to kill anyone.
— Honestly, I just want to say… you're lucky.
Nari gave a tiny smile.
Barely visible.
But enough to make Aera's eyes shine.
Kai, silent, gently grabbed Nari's arm.
Without a word.
Without a glance for Aera.
Without asking permission.
Just a sure gesture.
Determined.
Protective.
He led her to the stockroom.
The door closed behind them.
The silence became dense.
Thick.
Intimate.
And then, with no buildup at all…
Kai pulled her into his arms.
Not like earlier.
Not like a support reflex.
No.
He held her.
With immense strength.
With a warmth that was almost brutal.
As if his own body was trying to keep her from disappearing.
Nari let out a muffled breath against his chest.
Her breathing slowly aligned with Kai's.
Then he slid a hand into her hair, gently grabbed a black strand and tucked it behind her ear.
His face was right there.
Very close.
Too close.
His voice then fell…
A warm breath against Nari's skin.
— I'll protect you from the world, Nari.
Then he rested his head against her shoulder.
An unexpected gesture.
Almost intimate.
Almost forbidden.
And for the first time in a long time…
Nari felt a strength run through her.
A spine.
A courage she thought she had lost.
She slowly raised her arms.
And hugged him back.
— … Thank you, Kai.
Kai froze.
It was the first time Nari willingly offered him a gesture of affection.
He did not move.
As if a single one of his movements might make her disappear.