Kai didn't remember walking home.He just knew he ended up there — soaked, trembling, the sound of the rain still hammering inside his head.
The mirror above the sink showed a stranger.Dark circles under his eyes. A bruise along his jaw. His hoodie torn near the sleeve where the man had grabbed him.
He turned on the faucet, splashing cold water against his face until the sting cut through the noise.But it didn't help.The memory was still there — that voice, that smirk, the words that sank into him like a blade:You think she won't find out?
Kai's fist tightened around the edge of the sink.He'd worked too damn hard to keep that part of his life buried.
Velithra didn't deserve to see that version of him — the one covered in blood and guilt and too many second chances that went wrong.She deserved quiet. Normal. Things he couldn't give.
The vibration of his phone snapped him back.Another message.Same number.
Unknown:She looks a lot like her.
Kai froze.His pulse went cold.
He typed back before he could think.
Stay away from her.
No reply came. Just the faint buzz of the rain outside, louder now, like it was trying to drown everything out.
Kai shut off his phone, threw it onto the couch, and sank down beside it. His hands wouldn't stop shaking.He tried to breathe, but it came out uneven — rough and shallow.
He hated this.The feeling of being dragged backward, pulled into a life he swore he'd burned down years ago.
But the moment Velithra's name was mentioned, something inside him snapped.He could live with his past haunting him.But not her.
Kai pressed his palms to his face, whispering under his breath,"Not again."
When he finally looked up, his reflection in the dark window stared back at him — hollow-eyed, wet-haired, broken.And for a fleeting second, he thought he saw movement behind him in the glass.A figure.Watching.
He turned.Nothing.
Just the rain.Just the quiet.
But something in him knew — the past wasn't knocking anymore.It was already inside.