Luna stood outside the mall, still catching her breath after yelling into the open sky.
Her shopping bags lay at her feet where they'd tumbled, but she didn't care. The sunlight caught in her hair, the breeze wrapped around her silk dress, and for a moment, she felt unstoppable.
But then…
The air changed.
It wasn't the kind of change you notice all at once. It was slow — so slow it almost tricked you into thinking it was nothing.
The breeze seemed to fade, like the city had stopped breathing.
Luna looked around.
The crowd was still there — people walking, talking, a street vendor shouting about grilled corn. But they all seemed… quieter. As if the sound had been muffled, just enough to make her ears feel strange.
Her smile faltered.
Okay… weird.
She bent to pick up her bags. That's when she noticed it.
One of the bags — the biggest one, the glossy white designer one — was no longer in the position she'd dropped it. It was about half a meter to the left, tilted slightly.
Like someone had nudged it.
Luna straightened slowly, eyes scanning the people nearest her. A man in a gray suit, a girl scrolling her phone, a mother tugging her kid along.
No one looking at her.
Still… the feeling prickled at the back of her neck — that she was being watched.
"Alright," she murmured, forcing a smirk. "If this is some kind of reality show prank, I hope you're at least getting my good angles."
No answer.
She crouched, grabbed the bag, and that's when she saw it.
Tucked under the shopping bag, as if someone had slipped it there in the split second she wasn't looking — a folded note. Thick paper. The expensive kind that made a satisfying snap when you bent it.
Luna opened it.
No name. No signature.
Just three words, written in sharp black ink:
"Luna, change nothing… or you're dead."
She stared at the note, then looked around again.
Nobody close enough to have done this without her noticing.
Her heart gave one hard, unpleasant thump.
Okay… creepy. But also…
She slid the note into her bag and started walking, heels clicking against the pavement.
The city seemed normal again, the air returning to its usual rhythm, but Luna didn't shake the feeling.
Someone had been close enough to touch her bags without her seeing.
Close enough to leave a warning.
And close enough to vanish in plain sight.
Luna walked away from the mall, swinging her bags like she owned the street.
"Note or no note," she said to herself, "I'm still rich, still hot, and still not wearing that red dress I should've."
She strolled past a row of boutiques and cafés until she reached the big marble fountain in the plaza. Water poured from the mouth of a stone angel. Luna sat on the edge, placing her bags beside her.
At first, the sound of the water was nice… but then she noticed something strange.
She couldn't hear the city anymore.
No cars. No people talking. Just the fountain.
She looked around.
There were people in the plaza, but they felt far away, like she was seeing them through glass. She blinked, and everything looked normal again.
Okay, maybe I need food, she thought.
She reached into her purse for her phone… and froze.
A man was sitting on the fountain, just a few feet away.
She was sure he hadn't been there a second ago.
He was tall and thin, wearing a black suit that looked expensive. His hands rested on his knees. His head was turned slightly toward her, like he was listening.
He had no shopping bags. No coffee. No phone.
He was just sitting there, completely still.
Luna gave a small smile. "Hey. I didn't see you there."
He didn't answer.
His eyes stayed on her for a moment before looking back at the fountain.
Luna tapped her fingers on her leg. "Okay… not creepy at all."
Finally, the man spoke. His voice was calm but deep, and there was something in it that made her skin crawl.
"Enjoying the city?"
The question didn't sound casual. It sounded like he already knew the answer.
Luna gave a playful smirk. "Obviously. I'm rich, the weather's perfect, and the city looks better with me in it."
The man gave the smallest smile, but it didn't feel warm. "Runways have endings."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Is that supposed to be deep? Or are you just bad at talking to people?"
He didn't answer. He glanced at her bags, then at her face.
"You should be careful."
"Why? Because my bags are heavy?" she joked.
"Because sometimes," he said quietly, "people smile at you so you don't see the knife."
Luna blinked. "…That's… creepy."
The man stood, moving in a smooth, unhurried way. For a second she thought he was leaving, but then he stepped closer. Close enough for her to catch a faint scent of cologne — clean and cold.
He looked down at her.
"Be careful, Miss Hart."
And then, without another word, he walked away.
The moment he disappeared into the crowd, the city sounds came back all at once — cars, voices, footsteps.
Luna sat there, gripping the edge of the fountain. She didn't know if that man was a weirdo… or someone who knew something.
She opened her purse and looked at the note again.
"Luna, change nothing… or you're dead."
Her lips curved into a smirk.
"Well… things just got interesting."
Luna stood there for a moment, watching the stranger's back disappear down the path.
She was about to shrug it off and keep walking when—
click.
Something in her brain suddenly lit up.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"...Wait a sec," she muttered under her breath.
Her hand slowly came up to her mouth.
"How the hell did he know my name?"
A chilly breeze swept past her, ruffling her hair. The street felt quieter now, almost too quiet, like the whole city was holding its breath.
She glanced around — the man was gone. No sign of footsteps, no shadow turning a corner, nothing.
Luna forced a laugh, trying to shake the uneasy feeling.
"Pfft, whatever. Maybe I'm just famous. Rich people problems, right?"
But her smile didn't reach her eyes.
She picked up her shopping bags and started walking again, but the thought clung to her mind like a spiderweb she couldn't brush off.
He said my name like he's known me for years.
And for the first time that day, Luna felt a tiny, unwelcome shiver crawl down her spine.
kept walking, her heels tapping against the empty pavement.
The weight of the shopping bags swayed with each step, but her mind wasn't on them anymore.
That man's face…
That strange calm voice…
The way he'd looked at her without blinking.
She shook her head, scoffing to herself.
"Whatever, Luna. You're overthinking. The guy probably read it somewhere. Maybe I'm trending again."
She tried to smile, but the little voice in her head didn't let go.
Then something clicked—hard.
Her steps slowed.
Wait… no one knows me.
She'd never revealed her real identity. Not to the public. Not even to her neighbors.
She always acted like a normal person outside—simple clothes, quiet life, no big flashy announcements.
That's how she liked it.
So how…
How did that stranger know her name?
Her grip on the bags tightened.
The street was empty. Just streetlights casting long shadows across the road.
For a split second, she thought she saw a figure standing far behind… but when she blinked, it was gone.
The cold wind brushed her skin, sending a shiver up her spine.
She told herself to ignore it.
She told herself it didn't matter.
But deep down, her instincts whispered—
It matters.