Chapter 1
1111 Words
Kai Mercer snapped his eyes open. Above him was a pristine white ceiling adorned with intricate decorative moldings.
The room was so quiet that he could hear his own heavy breathing with startling clarity.
He had just woken from a horrifying nightmare. It was so terrifying that even now, his heart was still pounding violently against his chest, as if it were trying to break free. Cold sweat soaked through the back of his shirt, clinging uncomfortably to his skin. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his breathing ragged and panicked for a long while before it gradually steadied.
“What’s so wrong about liking men? Why would I be cursed with such a terrible dream?” Kai frowned faintly, silently complaining to himself.
In that dream, Kai had experienced an entire lifetime.
The world he lived in was nothing more than a novel. Even worse, he was not the protagonist, but the villain destined for a tragic ending.
In that novel, he was still Kai, twenty years old, male, gay, and never once in a relationship. His ideal type was still the same as ever: a tall man so devastatingly handsome that no one could compare.
In the dream, he saw himself being drugged by his adoptive parents and thrown onto the bed of a renowned film director, all in exchange for a role and a chance for Elliot Bennett - their biological son - to enter the entertainment industry.
And in the end, Kai truly fell into their trap.
Kai was pushed into the hands of that director. From someone who once dreamed of becoming a star, he was reduced to a toy at another man’s mercy.
Worse still, the man had recorded everything and kept the videos as leverage, sealing off every possible path of escape.
Yet even in that dream, Kai never abandoned his love for the stage. Because of that, despite knowing full well that he was sinking deeper into the mud, he could only grit his teeth and stay, enduring it all while waiting for a chance to break free.
Two months later, that opportunity finally appeared.
Edward Grayson - one of the most powerful names in the entertainment industry - took an interest in him.
With a single nod from Edward, Kai’s fate changed instantly. The man effortlessly pulled him away from the old, repulsive director and destroyed every piece of evidence that had once been used to threaten him, as though none of it had ever existed.
From that moment on, Kai stayed by Edward’s side.
Under Edward’s protection and support, he quickly stepped onto the stage and rose to fame as a singer with millions of devoted fans.
If the dream had ended there, it would have been perfect.
But no. That was only the beginning.
Everyone knew that Edward was a kingmaker in the entertainment industry. Anyone personally backed by him was destined to become a star overnight. But everyone also knew that there had always been a first love buried deep within his heart. Every person he chose to support carried traces of that man.
Kai was no exception. He was merely a substitute. So when the real one finally returned, a fake like him was naturally discarded without hesitation.
But by then, Kai had already climbed too high. He had tasted fame, wealth, and the intoxicating spotlight that drove countless people mad with obsession.
He was unwilling to let it all go.
So he desperately clung to Edward, using every trick he could to remain by the man’s side. He even went as far as harming Edward’s first love.
And the outcome could only be destruction.
Edward came to utterly despise him and cast him down without the slightest mercy.
In the end, a sudden car accident destroyed everything Kai once had. The voice that had carried him to the top, the legs that had once allowed him to dance across dazzling stages, all of it was gone.
What remained of his life was nothing but bleak darkness.
He became like a rat hiding in the sewers, peeking at the outside world day after day through the gaps of a drain cover.
Meanwhile, Edward’s first love continued to shine brighter and brighter, eventually becoming a world-famous superstar.
It truly was a horrifying dream.
It took Kai a long time to calm himself down. Only then did he begin to examine his surroundings.
The room was spacious, exquisitely decorated, and undeniably luxurious. From the ceiling and curtains to the bedsheets beneath him, everything followed the same elegant style, resembling a suite in a high-end hotel.
It was just that… He had no idea why he was here.
His memory stopped at that afternoon.
His adoptive parents had called and asked him to come home for dinner. Since turning eighteen, Kai had moved out to live on his own and only returned occasionally on weekends.
Today had been no different. He hadn’t thought much of it and simply went back after receiving the call.
Except he never even got the chance to eat.
He had only finished a glass of fruit juice before his consciousness abruptly faded away. And when he opened his eyes again, he was already inside this unfamiliar hotel room.
A strange sense of dread crept into Kai’s mind. The situation was becoming far too similar to the dream. He even mocked himself inwardly, thinking that all that was missing now was an aphrodisiac and an old director to complete the scene perfectly.
Then suddenly, heat surged through his entire body.
His breathing, which had only just steadied, turned ragged once again. Kai froze, panic filling his eyes as he felt as though an invisible flame was scorching his skin. Every inch of his body became abnormally sensitive. His head started spinning, his consciousness growing hazy as everything before him blurred beneath a thin veil of mist, distorted and unreal.
“This isn’t right…”
He clenched the bedsheets tightly, trying to hold on to the last traces of clarity.
But the harder he struggled, the stronger the feeling of losing control became.
Fear surged through Kai Mercer like a tidal wave.
He didn’t know what exactly was happening to him, but his instincts screamed that he needed to get out of this place immediately. Whether or not some disgusting old director was about to walk through that door, he had to leave right now.
“The hospital… I need to get to a hospital…”
He muttered the words under his breath as he struggled to prop himself up. Then, forcing himself to endure the dizziness and heat consuming his body, he staggered out of the room.
- Writer
