Location: Villa Courtyard – 7:12AM
The morning air was thick with unsaid words.
Facial Expression + ActionSelina stood beneath the archway, arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her face was calm—too calm. As if any shift in expression would cause her carefully buried rage to burst out and burn them both alive.
Behind her, Eclipse stepped out of the villa barefoot, the gravel crunching under him like crushed bones.
"You left the letter unopened."
She didn't turn.
"Maybe I don't need more of your rewritten history."
He had expected anger.
Tears, even.
But this—this quiet refusal to care—stabbed deeper than any scream.
Selina wasn't fighting anymore.
She was done.
And that was what terrified him.
Because she was never truly dangerous when she was furious.
She was dangerous when she stopped hoping.
He moved toward her slowly, holding something in his palm.
A steaming cup of black tea.No sugar. No milk.
Her exact way.
"I remember," he said, softly. "How you'd drink this before every mission. Said it kept your hands from shaking."
Selina turned halfway. Her eyes flicked down at the cup.
"They still shake," she said. "You just weren't around to see it."
His heart didn't break.
It collapsed, like a cathedral rotted from within, falling not with drama—but with silence, dust, and the weight of regret no one could pray away.
He placed the cup down on the table beside her, then slowly dropped to one knee.
Not romantic.
Not planned.
Just broken.
"I'm not asking for forgiveness.""Then what are you asking for?"
His voice cracked.
"Time. Enough to fix what I shattered."
Selina should've walked away.
She had every reason.
But as she looked down at him—this man who had once made her crown shine and later turned it into a cage—she felt that dangerous, traitorous twist in her chest.
Not pity.
Not forgiveness.
But memory.
And memory… was a drug.
She opened her mouth—to say no, to destroy him again.
But just then—
A ringtone echoed through the courtyard.Ethan's tone.
Selina's hand darted to her pocket.
She answered.
A child's voice.
Trembling.Panicked.
"Mom... someone's here... They said you're not my real mother…"
And in the background—
a second voice.Chilling.Familiar.
"Hello again, Selina."
Eclipse's face went pale.
Selina's fingers tightened around the phone.
She didn't look at him.
"You wanted time?" she whispered.
"You just ran out."