Akira placed her trembling hand over Macau's, a silent gesture assuring her junior that she was ready. But the moment their skin made contact, Macau's eyes widened in concern. Akira's palm felt like hot iron.
Instantly, Macau pressed the back of her hand against Akira's forehead and neck, gasping at the burning heat radiating from her skin.
"Akira, you are burning up!" Macau whispered urgently, her tone laced with alarm. "Your whole body is on fire! You shouldn't even be standing right now!"
Akira didn't turn to look at her. Her gaze remained locked on the grand elevators down the hall, her voice raspy, faint, but resolute.
"Just take me to Naea's room, Macau..."
Seeing the immovable determination in Akira's hollow eyes, Macau swallowed her protest. She knew this was truly the absolute last chance Akira had before the world shattered completely tomorrow morning.
Macau guided Akira up to the executive suite floor, stopping her right outside the door of Naea's room.
"Stay here for a second," Macau instructed softly.
Slipping into the room . Macau scanned the interior. The suite was quiet and dimly lit. Tiny Naria was sound asleep right in the middle of the plush king-sized bed, while the faint, rhythmic sound of running water echoed from behind the closed bathroom door.
Naea was taking a shower.
Realizing the universe had handed them a golden window, Macau tiptoed to the bed, gently scooping the sleeping baby into her arms. She carried Naria out into the hallway, giving Akira a meaningful look as she passed her.
"Looks like even fate wants you to have this moment, Akira ," Macau murmured softly. "I'll keep Naria tonight in my room. Now go inside."
Akira stood alone in the quiet corridor for a long, heavy second. She pulled a deep, shuddering breath into her inflamed lungs, pushed the heavy door open, and stepped inside.
The suite smelled faintly of fresh rain and Naea's familiar lavender perfume. From behind the frosted glass door of the bathroom, the soothing hum of the shower continued to splash against the tiles.
Knowing Naea would emerge in just a few minutes, Akira dragged her weak, feverish legs across the floor and sat down on an velvet armchair positioned directly facing the bathroom door.
Every breath felt heavy; the burning fever made her vision swim, but her mind was hyper-focused. Her heart thundered erratically against her ribs a chaotic mixture of sheer terror, yearning, and desperate hope.
Akira leaned her head back against the chair, closing her eyes briefly as she waited in the quiet room for the shower to turn off.
About two minutes later, the gentle hum of the running shower abruptly stopped.
Akira's heart hammered against her ribs, her pulse racing wildly in her ears. Her heavy, fever-laced eyelids fluttered open. Just as she managed to push herself up from the velvet armchair, the frosted glass door clicked open, and Naea stepped into the room.
She was dressed in a soft, simple nightgown that cascaded just below her knees. Her damp hair was pulled back into a loose, messy bun, a few strands framing her delicate face. She looked painfully beautiful in the soft, warm light of the suite.
Naea took two steps forward before her eyes immediately locked onto Akira standing in the center of the room. Her gaze instantly darted toward the empty bed where Naria had been sleeping just moments ago.
Panic flashed across Naea's face as she quickly closed the distance between them, opening her mouth to demand answers.
"She's in Macau's room..." Akira spoke first, her voice raspy and faint, yet deeply comforting. "She's fast asleep and completely safe."
Hearing that her child was safe, Naea's panicked expression smoothed out into an impassive, icy mask. Without uttering a single word, she turned on her heel, preparing to walk right past Akira toward the door.
Before she could take another step, Akira's hand shot out, gently wrapping her fingers around Naea's wrist to stop her.
"Don't worry," Akira murmured, her voice laced with a calm, desperate tenderness. "She is alright."
Naea didn't look back at her. Her tone was cut from pure ice. "Let go of my hand."
Instead of releasing her, Akira gently pulled Naea closer, narrowing the space between them until they were standing inches apart. The faint scent of rain and sweet lavender enveloped Akira's senses.
Looking directly into Naea's eyes, Akira swallowed the lump in her dry throat, her voice barely a whisper.
"Are you pregnant...?"
Naea's face remained completely unreadable, her eyes devoid of emotion. "That is none of your concern."
"Just give me a 'yes' or a 'no', Naea," Akira pleaded, her burning eyes searching every millimeter of Naea's face. "Because I know you... I know you don't lie to me. Just say it."
Frustration finally broke through Naea's stoic composure. She yanked her wrist back with full force, wrenching herself out of Akira's grip.
"If you already believed what you read, then why on earth are you here?!" Naea snapped, her voice trembling with hidden anger.
Akira took a deliberate step forward, closing the distance once again despite the intense dizziness threatening to knock her off her feet.
"Because my heart refuses to accept it..."
Naea gave her a cold, lingering glare. Refusing to offer an answer, she turned around and made a swift move toward the suite's main exit.
In a burst of frantic speed, Akira lunged forward, moving past Naea to place herself directly between her and the exit. Reaching behind her back, Akira pushed the heavy mahogany door shut—and turned the deadbolt with a loud, final click.
The sharp click of the heavy deadbolt locking echoed like a gunshot through the silent suite, sealing them together in the suffocating space.
Naea stopped dead in her tracks, her chest heaving as she stared at the locked door. The cold, impenetrable mask she had worn for months shattered into raw, explosive fury.
"Have you completely lost your mind, Akira?!" Naea screamed, her voice trembling with a mixture of rage and deep-seated anguish. "Open this door right now!"
Akira didn't move. She stood slumped against the wooden frame, her body trembling under the assault of the burning fever. Her skin felt like fire, her pulse hammering violently against her temples, but her hollow eyes remained locked onto Naea.
"I'm not leaving, Naea," Akira rasped, every breath dragging like broken glass through her throat. "Not until you tell me to my face... without looking away... that you carry his blood or not ."
"I don't owe you a single explanation!" Naea lashed out, taking a swift step forward. "You ruined my life! You destroyed everything I ever cared about! And now you dare stand in front of me and demand answers?!"
Before Akira could utter another word, Naea snapped.
Driven by days of suppressed agony, betrayal, and unbearable grief, Naea raised her hand and delivered a hard, resounding SLAP across Akira's cheek.
SLAP!
The force of the blow cracked through the quiet room, snapping Akira's head to the side. Yet, Akira didn't raise her hands to defend herself. She didn't flinch. She simply stood there, absorbing the impact, surrendering her frail, fever-ridden body entirely to Naea's wrath.
"Open the door!" Naea shoved Akira's chest hard with both hands.
Akira stumbled backward, her weak, shivering legs barely holding her upright. She took unsteadily steps back, her eyes remaining fixed on Naea with a silent, devastating devotion.
"Hit me..." Akira whispered, her voice cracking. "Release it all, Naea... if it eases even a fraction of your pain... do it."
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Naea shrieked, completely consumed by the emotional tempest inside her.
She lunged forward again, shoving Akira repeatedly, striking her shoulders and chest with raw, desperate fury. Push. Strike. Push. Akira offered zero resistance, stepping back passively with every blow, letting Naea use her broken body as a canvas for her torment.
The relentless shoves pushed Akira backward until the backs of her knees struck the heavy frame of the bed.
With her fever spiking past its limit and her strength completely depleted, Akira couldn't absorb the final heavy push. Her legs gave out entirely.
Her body slid downward, her back scraping against the edge of the mattress until she collapsed heavily onto the hard floor beside the bed.
Akira leaned her head back against the side of the bed, her face ghostly pale except for the bright red mark blooming across her cheek. Heavy drops of cold sweat poured down her temples, her chest rising and falling in shallow, painful gasps. The high fever had finally paralyzed her limbs, leaving her completely defenseless, immobile, and spent.
Naea stood over her, her fists clenching tightly, her own breathing ragged as tears finally spilled over her trembling lashes.
Down on the floor, Akira looked up at Naea through blurred, fading vision. Giving up every ounce of pride, strength, and life left inside her, Akira simply sat there against the bed, completely at Naea's mercy—waiting for the final judgment.
Slumped against the side of the bed, Akira didn't try to stand. Her burning body throbbed with pain, but the agony in her chest overshadowed everything else. Through a blur of continuous, heavy tears, she looked up into Naea's eyes, her voice breaking into a fragile, desperate plea.
"Naea... please," Akira whispered, choking on her own tears. "Just speak to me with a little warmth... please, Naea. Don't talk to me like this. Not like a stranger..."
Tears spilled over Akira's lashes, tracking hot paths through the dust and sweat on her pale cheeks.
Naea stood frozen, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she looked down at the woman who had once been her entire universe. A bitter, humorless smile touched Naea's lips.
"Go back to Mrs. Takahashi, then," Naea whispered, her voice laced with venom and exhaustion. "She can talk to you with all the warmth you want. She can give you all the love and comfort you're looking for."
Hearing those words sent a fresh wave of agony through Akira. She shook her head violently, her eyes locked onto Naea with absolute devotion.
"I don't want anyone else..." Akira choked out, her voice cracking entirely. "I don't want anyone's love, Naea. I only want yours... only yours."
Naea's eyes flashed with a sudden, devastating fire. The anger that had sustained her numbness finally gave way to a deeper, agonizing truth. She took a sharp breath, her voice trembling uncontrollably as she looked down at Akira.
"You hurt me, Akira..." Naea whispered, the fight completely draining out of her voice, leaving behind only hollow devastation. "You hurt me so intensely... so deeply... that there are days I look in the mirror and I don't even know why I'm still alive."
The agonizing confession hung suspended in the heavy room, suffocating every last drop of air between them.
I don't even know why I'm still alive.
Those words tore through Akira's remaining sanity, destroying whatever restraint she had left. Gathering the absolute last reserve of her fading strength, Akira reached up and wrapped her hand tightly around Naea's wrist.
Before Naea could pull away, Akira yanked her downward with a sudden, possessive surge of force. Naea let out a sharp gasp as she lost her balance, collapsing straight into Akira's lap on the floor, her body pinned against Akira's chest.
"Release me!" Naea snapped, her voice laced with panic as she shoved against Akira's broad shoulders.
"No," Akira rasped, her arms wrapping around Naea's waist like iron bands, locking her firmly in place. "Never again."
The space between them vanished completely. Their quick, ragged breaths mingled in the tight space, the atmosphere thick with dangerous tension and unspeakable longing. Naea writhed against the tight grip, trying desperately to break free, but as her hands pressed firmly against Akira's chest and neck, her movements suddenly froze.
Through the thin fabric of Akira's clothes, a wave of terrifying heat scorched Naea's palms.
It wasn't just sweat or exhaustion. Akira's body felt like a living furnace, her skin radiating a dangerously intense, feverish temperature that throbbed violently beneath her heavy, unstable pulse.
Naea's eyes widened, a flicker of genuine shock piercing through her anger. "Akira... you're on fire! Your fever"
Naea instantly shifted, trying to push herself up off Akira's lap to reach for medicine or a cold compress. "Let me go! You need treatment right now, you idiot, you're going into"
"Don't move!" Akira growled, her voice a low, raspy rumble against Naea's ear.
Refusing to let her slip away even an inch, Akira pulled Naea closer, burying her face deeply into the crook of Naea's neck. She leaned her , feverish head against Naea's soft shoulder, inhaling the intoxicating, familiar scent of rain and lavender that she had craved to the point of madness.
"Akira"
"Stay right here..." Akira murmured, her breath hot and searing against the sensitive skin of Naea's collarbone, sending a sudden, intense shiver straight down Naea's spine. "Don't leave me... please. Let me burn... if it means I get to hold you for just one second."
The heat from Akira's skin bled straight into Naea's body, igniting a fiery, suffocating tension that left both of them breathless. Naea felt the heavy, unsteady rhythm of Akira's heart pounding wildly against her back, her own pulse racing dangerously in response. Her hands, which had been raised to push Akira away, hung suspended in the air, trembling as the intense proximity consumed every bit of logic left between them.
Akira didn't lift her head. She kept her forehead against Naea's shoulder, her searing, feverish breath washing over Naea's collarbone in uneven, desperate waves. Every ragged exhale felt like liquid heat against Naea's skin, sending sharp, involuntary shivers through her frame.
"I've been punished for my sin, Naea..." Akira whispered, her voice barely a rough, rasping echo, laced with raw, suffocating pain. "I separated you from your family... and God took mine from me in return..."
Naea froze in Akira's lap, her fingers stiffening against Akira's chest.
"Now... you and Naria are the only family I have left," Akira continued, her grip around Naea's waist tightening just enough to press their bodies together with absolute, agonizing closeness. "Or maybe... I should say... our family is the exact same now."
The silence in the dimly lit suite stretched taut, thick with a intoxicating, electric tension.
Naea listened to the hollow, shattered cadence of Akira's voice, feeling the violent, erratic thrumming of Akira's pulse against her own chest. The searing warmth bleeding from Akira's feverish body invaded Naea's senses, melting away the icy wall she had spent days building.
The weight of reality crashed down upon Naea with crushing clarity. The ruins of the Sato estate... the burning fever... the blood-soaked bandages wrapping Akira's hands... Akira had truly been stripped of everything. Fate had exacted its ruthless toll, leaving the fearsome operative bleeding, broken, and shivering at her knees.
A soft, shuddering breath escaped Naea's lips. She felt the heavy heat of Akira's lips brushing lightly against the sensitive skin beneath her jaw with every desperate word.
Instead of pulling away, Naea let out a shaky sigh, her body finally melting into Akira's suffocating embrace. Shifting slightly on Akira's lap, Naea leaned in closer, bringing her face inches from Akira's flushed, sweat-glistening neck.
The closeness was overwhelming—a volatile mix of lingering resentment, raw passion, and undeniable longing.
"You really paid for it, didn't you...?" Naea whispered, her voice thick with emotion, her breath fluttering warmly against Akira's fever-heated skin.
Slowly, almost against her own will, Naea lifted her trembling hands and cupped the sides of Akira's hot, damp face. She forced Akira to raise her head, bringing their gazes into a locked, intensely suffocating stare.
Naea looked deep into Akira's glossy, fever-dazed eyes searching for the monster who had broken her heart, but finding only a woman completely undone by love and guilt.
"Look at what you've reduced yourself to, Akira..." Naea murmured, her thumbs gently tracing the sharp line of Akira's jaw, feeling the intense heat radiating from her skin. The proximity was intoxicating, the space between their lips vanishing until they were breathing the exact same air.
The unbearable tension in the room snapped as Naea leaned in, pressing her lips softly against Akira's.
It was a gentle, fleeting touch yet to Akira, it felt like a violent shockwave through her fever-dazed mind. Akira pulled back slightly, her charcoal eyes searching Naea's flushed face.
"Does a fever... transfer through contact?" Akira rasped out softly, her voice thick and raspy.
Naea didn't speak. She merely offered a faint, silent shake of her head.
That single answer was all the permission Akira's starving heart needed, but the sheer physical heat burning inside her threatened to make her pass out. Overwhelmed by the fever, Akira let her head fall backward against the plush edge of the bed, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling above as her chest heaving in shallow breaths.
"When I was with Mrs. Takahashi that night..." Akira confessed quietly, the words dragging raw out of her throat. "I had drunk so much that the world was a blur. Every time I looked at her... all I saw was you, Naea. She sat so close to me... and I honestly don't know why I couldn't pull away or push her off. I was lost. But tonight... tonight there is no alcohol in my veins. No blur. No mistake. You are really here."
Akira's knuckles turned white against the Naea gown . "I swear to you, Naea... I didn't initiate anything that night. I was just sitting there, completely numb, and she took the first step. She kissed me... and the alcohol turned my mind into a mess..."
Hearing the explicit truth picturing another woman's lips on Akira sent a sharp, agonizing wave of pure jealousy crashing through Naea's chest. Her breath hitched, her fingers tightening involuntarily around Akira's neck.
"Akira..." Naea whispered, her voice laced with trembling heat.
Akira shifted her head, fixing her deep, intense eyes directly onto Naea.
"I hate you..." Naea breathed, her gaze locked onto Akira's, her hands remaining resting on Akira's warm neck.
Hearing those three words, Akira didn't hesitate for another second.
Leaning her face forward, Akira wrapped one arm firmly around Naea's waist, pulling her impossibly close until there was no space left between their heaving chests. She cupped Naea's face with fierce, desperate tenderness and pulled her down into a deep, agonizingly intense kiss.
Akira captured Naea's lower lip sucking, licking, and softly biting down, claiming her lips as if tasting life itself after dying in a desert.
Naea didn't kiss back, but she didn't pull away either. She allowed herself to be consumed, her body surrendering to the overwhelming heat of Akira's devotion.
Without breaking the lingering contact, Akira carefully lifted Naea and placed her gently onto the bed, hovering over her like a protective shadow.
Finally, Naea broke the kiss, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Shifting into action, she reached for the remote on the nightstand and switched off the air conditioner entirely, letting the room's temperature rise naturally so Akira's body could sweat out the severe fever and break her high temperature.
Turning back to Akira, Naea intentionally began unbuttoning Akira's heavy coat and her shirt, sliding them off her burning shoulders until Akira was left in just her dark sando taking care of her with a heavy, unspoken intensity.