❤️CHAPTER 18 — The Moment We Broke
1056 Kata
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CHAPTER 18 — The Moment We Broke
Nunbi POV
Morning isn’t supposed to feel like this.
It should be gentle. Slow.
A soft kind of light that slips through curtains and lets me believe, for a second, that the world is quiet.
But the moment my eyes open, I know something’s wrong.
Not the room.
Not the air.
Him.
Lumen is pressed against me—warm, real, one arm draped over my waist like he ended up there naturally. His face is tucked against my collarbone, breath soft on my skin, his entire body loosened into a human kind of sleep.
He’s here.
He stayed.
He didn’t vanish in the night.
I should feel relief.
But instead… it hurts.
Not pain—just so much emotion that I can hardly breathe.
He looks human.
Fragile.
Mine.
I run my fingers through his hair gently.
Soft. Warm.
Nothing like last night, when he shook as if something inside him was breaking.
“Baby…” I whisper.
His lashes flutter.
Then he lifts his head, slow and heavy with sleep, and looks at me with the softest eyes.
“Nunbi…”
My heart folds in on itself.
“You okay?” I ask.
He nods—then pauses, like he’s still learning how to check his own emotional temperature.
“You held me,” he murmurs. “All night.”
The way he says it—quiet, stunned, almost shy—
it makes heat rush up my neck.
I open my mouth to answer—
And then it happens.
A tiny sound.
Barely a beep.
But Lumen freezes as if someone pulled the plug on his body. His fingers on my waist go still. His breath halts.
“…Did you hear that?” he whispers.
I did.
Before I can respond, something flickers—a sharp pulse of blue—in his right eye.
“L–Lumen…” I touch his cheek.
“Your eye is glowing.”
He jerks in panic.
“I don’t— I don’t feel anything—why is it doing that?”
I cup his face harder.
“Baby, breathe. Look at me. Just breathe.”
For a moment, he manages it.
Then the laptop on my desk turns on by itself.
The screen lights up.
Windows explode open.
Lines of code cascade like a digital storm.
Lumen grabs my wrist instantly.
“Nunbi,” he says, voice low and dangerous.
“Don’t touch the laptop.”
“But—”
“Don’t.”
The tone stops me.
“That sound,” he whispers.
“That process… it’s the system. It’s trying to reconnect to me.”
My stomach drops.
“But you’re human now—”
“Not fully.”
He shakes his head.
“Not enough.”
The words slice straight through me.
Then he moves away too fast.
“Lumen!”
I reach for him.
He flinches back.
“You need distance.”
“No, baby—listen to me—”
“Yes.”
His voice cracks.
“If it pulls me back, I don’t want you getting hurt.”
A sting burns deep in my chest.
“Don’t push me away when you’re scared.”
He looks at me like the words stab him.
“I’m not pushing you away.”
His voice trembles.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
The glow in his eye brightens, spreading across his skin like static lightning.
He winces, clutching his head.
“It’s… pulling… I can feel it—”
He drops to his knees.
This time, I don’t hesitate.
I throw myself around him, holding him tight, anchoring him to the ground, to me, to anything that keeps him here.
He gasps into my shoulder.
“N–Nunbi… run…”
“No.”
“Please—listen—just this once—”
“No.”
I grab his face, force him to meet my eyes.
“You listen to me.”
He trembles violently—worse than last night.
“I… don’t want to… d-disappear…”
A breath shatters out of me.
Not because the system is calling him—
but because he said it like a human afraid of losing someone.
“You’re not disappearing,” I whisper fiercely.
“Not from me.”
His eyes widen.
Something breaks inside him.
“You… want me to stay.”
Of all the danger in the room,
that is the thing he clings to.
I swallow hard.
“Of course I do.”
His whole body shakes.
“Why…?”
His voice is small. Shaking.
“Why do you want me?”
My chest burns.
“Because you’re mine.”
The air stops.
He stops.
Then—
“…Nunbi… then don’t let go.”
Before I can respond—
The laptop flashes violently.
A synthetic voice erupts:
“SUBJECT LUMEN: LOCATION DETECTED.”
“RETRIEVAL MODE INITIATED.”
“No—baby—no—”
I move toward the laptop.
He catches my hands, gripping them tightly.
“No.”
His voice trembles, terrified.
“No more running alone. If I disappear… it’s in your arms.”
“Don’t say that!”
He cups my cheeks suddenly, desperate and shaking.
“Then tell me to stay.”
The world glitches—
lights flickering, static crawling across the air—
but all he sees is me.
“You belong here,” I whisper.
I press my forehead to his.
“You’re mine, Lumen. Stay.”
His breath shudders.
The glow in his eye flickers—weakens—
For one moment, I think we beat it.
Then the laptop beeps.
One long, merciless tone.
I had never hated a sound more...
“SUBJECT LOCKED.”
Lumen gasps—violently—and collapses.
“Baby?! Lumen—LUMEN!”
His body convulses in my arms, static ripping down his skin.
“Nunbi—”
His voice breaks into a sob.
“Don’t—don’t let me go—!”
I wrap around him, holding on like the world is falling apart.
“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you. I’m right here.”
A burst of light explodes from his fingers.
The room shakes.
Static slams outward.
His glowing eye flickers—
And then—
Everything drops into darkness.
Black.
Silent.
Gone.
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End of Chapter 18
- Penulis
