Elena could barely sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the message again.
Ares_Lee_Official: "Why did you delete the edit?"
The question kept echoing in her mind, bouncing around like it was alive. She hugged her pillow tight, her heart thumping as if it wanted to escape her chest.
"How did he even see it? Out of millions of videos on TikTok… how?" she whispered into the dark room.
She tossed. Turned. Tossed again.
Her phone screen kept lighting up from her nervous checking. No new message. Nothing. The silence made everything worse.
By 2:47 a.m., she finally gave up on sleep. She sat up, pushed her bonnet back, and stared at her reflection in the dim blue glow of her screen.
"Okay… calm down," she told herself. "He only asked a question. Just… answer."
But the moment she opened the chat box, her fingers froze above the keyboard.
What if it wasn't him?
What if it was an assistant?
What if replying would be weird?
What if she embarrassed herself?
She shut her eyes and breathed deeply.
Be normal, Elena.
He's just a human being.
A very handsome, very rich, very famous human being—but still a human.
Finally, she typed:
Elena: "Sorry… I didn't think it mattered. I didn't think you'd ever see it."
She didn't hit send.
Her thumb hovered over the button for a whole minute.
Then another.
Then another.
"Ahh! I can't do this," she groaned, dropping her phone onto the pillow.
She lay back down, wrapping herself in her blanket like a burrito of stress. She was about to give up and sleep when—
Ping!
Her heart flew out of her body and came back.
Slowly… very slowly… she reached for the phone.
Ares had replied.
Ares_Lee_Official: "It mattered to me."
Her soul left the planet.
Elena covered her face, kicking her legs like a teenager receiving her first crush's text. She didn't know what the message meant. She didn't know why he cared. She didn't know why he replied instantly.
All she knew was one thing:
Tonight… her life officially changed.