There has to be a way. 🥺
1106 Words
---
Kael watched as Dahlia's fingers trembled over the collar's sleek metal. Her touch was hesitant, delicate, yet determined. He should have pushed her away. Should have told her to leave before it was too late.
But he didn't.
Because for the first time in his life, someone had chosen him.
Not as a weapon.
Not as a prisoner.
But as him.
Dahlia.
Her brows furrowed in frustration as she searched for a latch, a seam, anything that would set him free. But he knew better.
"It won't open," Kael murmured, his voice low.
She shot him a glare. "There has to be a way."
"There isn't."
Her hands curled into fists, her breath shaky. "I don't accept that."
She was so stubborn. It should have been infuriating. But instead, warmth coiled in his chest, unfamiliar and unwelcome. He clenched his jaw and forced himself to look away.
"You need to go," he said, his tone sharper now. "If they catch you here-"
"I don't care," she interrupted. "I am not leaving you in this place."
Kael's fingers twitched.
Dahlia was human-fragile. Breakable. And yet, she sat in front of him, defying everything to be here. He didn't deserve it. Didn't deserve her.
His throat tightened.
"You have to," he whispered.
Dahlia shook her head violently. "No, Kael. I can't-"
The door clicked.
Their heads snapped up.
Dahlia barely had time to scramble away before a guard stepped inside.
Kael forced himself to relax, his expression smoothing into one of indifference. But inside, his mind raced. How much had they seen?
The guard, a thick-shouldered man with a grim expression, narrowed his eyes at Dahlia. "You're not supposed to be here."
Dahlia stiffened but held her ground. "I was given clearance."
The lie was so smooth, Kael almost believed it himself.
The guard frowned. "By who?"
"Director Sinclair," she said-her father's name rolling off her tongue like venom.
°Yeah that's my Dad's alias name here or should I say Captain Vega whatever fits°
The guard hesitated, clearly unsure. Kael knew how the Agency worked. Dahlia's father was their leader, and nobody wanted to question orders from the top.
Still, the guard eyed her suspiciously. "Even if that's true, your visit is over."
Dahlia clenched her fists, but Kael caught the subtle shift in her stance-the slight tilt of her weight. She was ready to fight.
No.
Not for him.
"Go," Kael said softly.
She looked at him, eyes burning with something he couldn't name. And for a second, just a second, he thought she might listen.
But she didn't.
Instead, she turned to the guard and forced out a breath. "Fine," she muttered, lifting her hands in surrender. "I'm leaving."
The guard didn't lower his stance until she walked past him.
Kael exhaled slowly.
It was better this way.
Even if a strange, hollow ache formed in his chest as the door slammed shut behind her.
---
BACK TO REALITY
Dahlia barely made it to her room before she screamed into her pillow.
This is impossible.
Every time she tried to fight for Kael, she lost. Every time she tried to break him out, she failed.
And worst of all?
Her father was sending her back to school.
"You have external exams coming up," he had said at dinner, barely looking at her. "You need to focus."
Focus?
How was she supposed to focus when Kael was locked away in some sterile room, slowly losing the very thing that made him Kael?
She slammed her head against the pillow again.
Then her phone buzzed.
Jianna: Where the hell have you been?
Dahlia sighed. Jianna was her best friend, and she'd been ignoring her texts for days.
Me: Grounded.
Jianna: LMAO. What did you do this time?
Me: Long story.
Jianna: Tell me at school. Ugh, I hate that we have to go back tomorrow.
Right.
Tomorrow.
Back to school. Back to normal. Back to pretending she wasn't fighting for an alien boy who had somehow managed to make her heart hurt in ways she didn't understand.
---
SCHOOL FELT LIKE A DIFFERENT PLANET
Dahlia slumped into her chair as the teacher droned on about physics formulas.
None of it made sense.
None of it mattered.
All she could think about was Kael. Was he eating? Was he sleeping? Did he still have that quiet defiance in his gaze, or was the collar breaking him?
She swallowed hard.
A sharp poke in her ribs made her jolt.
Jianna grinned beside her. "Welcome back to Earth. You good?"
Dahlia forced a smile. "Yeah. Just... tired."
"Girl, you look like you've been fighting demons in your sleep."
She had.
Jianna wiggled her eyebrows. "Don't tell me this is about a guy."
Dahlia's face heated. "What? No."
Jianna gasped. "It is about a guy! Oh my God. Spill. Who is he?"
Dahlia groaned. "It's no one, Ji. Just-drop it."
Jianna pouted but relented.
Dahlia sighed.
She wished it was that simple. That she could just call Kael a 'guy' and pretend like he wasn't something more.
But he was more.
More than she should care about. More than she should risk everything for.
And yet-
She knew she would.
---
TWO WEEKS LATER
The house was silent when Dahlia crept downstairs.
She had been patient. Had played the good daughter. Had sat through school, studied for exams, done everything right.
But enough was enough.
Tonight, she was going to see Kael again.
Even if it meant lying. Even if it meant sneaking past security.
Because if she didn't-
She was afraid he'd disappear completely.
Her heart pounded as she slipped through the halls, her fingers tight around the stolen keycard.
Her father had taken everything from her.
But he wasn't taking this.
Not without a fight.
---
MEANWHILE, IN THE CELL...
Kael lay on the cold floor, eyes half-lidded.
Two weeks.
His energy had dulled even further. The silence inside him had grown heavier.
He was fading.
But even in the darkness, even in the suffocating stillness-
He felt something.
Something familiar.
Then, the door clicked.
And there she was.
Dahlia.
Heart pounding. Breath unsteady. Eyes burning with fierce determination.
Kael inhaled sharply.
No.
She shouldn't be here.
She shouldn't care.
And yet-
The way her lips trembled. The way her fingers hovered over the collar, hesitating-uncertain-
For the first time in weeks, something inside him stirred.
She was breaking him.
Not in the way the Agency wanted.
But in a way far, far worse.
And Kael was terrified.
Because this wasn't just survival anymore.
This was her.
And he didn't know if he could survive that.
---
- Writer
