Selena watched him carefully, stunned by how quickly a man could change his face — his entire presence.
Just moments ago, Adrien had been furious, his voice like thunder. And now… silence. Calm. As if the storm had never existed.
I moved closer, my heart pounding louder than the storm.
"Adrien," I whispered,
He didn't turn at first. Then slowly, he looked back at me, eyes dark and raw.
"We're not safe yet," he said, voice low and steady. I swallowed the fear knotting my stomach and stepped forward. I looked into his eyes. There's something in his eyes. Like a deep sea. Just like the sea hides countless secrets beneath its surface,
Selena felt Adrien was no different.
As if he carried stories he could never speak,
wounds too deep for words,
and memories that sank like stones in the ocean of his soul.
Without warning, Adrien broke the silence.
His tone was quiet, but there was something commanding in it.
"You should rest now, Sele."
"You've seen enough for one day."
Selene snapped out of her thoughts, slightly startled.
She hadn't expected that — not from him.
The sudden gentleness in Adrien's voice caught her off guard,
like a crack in the armor she thought he never took off.
So what had Selene really expected from Adrien?
She had hoped for warmth, maybe even a flicker of softness.
But deep down, she knew the truth:
Adrien didn't have a heart to give.
Adrien led her silently through a labyrinth of dimly lit corridors until they reached a door at the end of the hall. Without a word, he opened it and stepped aside, allowing Selena to enter.
Inside, the room was a quiet sanctuary — a sharp contrast to the cold, sterile world outside. Soft golden light filtered through sheer curtains, casting gentle patterns on the polished wooden floor. A large, inviting bed dressed in creamy linens sat against one wall, flanked by dark mahogany nightstands. Delicate potted plants breathed life into the space, their subtle fragrance mingling with the faint scent of old books stacked neatly on a nearby shelf.
Selena stepped into the room, her eyes taking in the calm refuge around her.
Without a word, Adrien turned and silently left, disappearing down the corridor toward another equally well-appointed room reserved for himself.
I wonder if I'm even worthy of you, Sele —
if there's any part of me deserving of the light you bring into this darkness.
For the first time in his life, Adrien found himself thinking of a woman this way —
Selena sank onto the edge of the bed, her mind drifting back to that day —
the day she saw Adrien for the second time.
Sometimes I wonder if that night was fate… or just a cruel joke. The second time I saw Adrien, everything was different.
The storm had passed, but the air still smelled like rain and regret.
I wasn't the scared girl from the café anymore—
I was someone trying to pretend she wasn't falling apart. Dizziness flooded through me like a tide of blood.
Before my eyes lay my uncle's lifeless body — cold, still, and haunting. Adrien's men had completely taken over the house. I could only stare — I couldn't save him.
I was just coming home after work, like every other day.
But nothing could have prepared me for what I walked into.
Not for the blood.
Not for my uncle's lifeless body lying there. "Didn't expect to see you again," he said, voice low but not unkind. There was something fragile beneath his ruthless exterior. A flicker of something real that no one else ever saw.
He offered me a cigarette—his way of offering trust in a world that had none.