Chapter 4: What She Saw
1847 Words
*******
3 p.m. Concert Day
The crowd carried her.
Mira let herself be swept along, bodies pressing on all sides, screams echoing off concrete walls. Above her, banners stretched across the venue: LYCANS SOLD OUT BANGKOK.
Her heart pounded.
I'm here. I'm actually here.
Forty-eight hours ago, she'd been sitting on a hotel room floor, shaking, a threatening note in her hand. Forty-eight hours ago, someone had called her little moon and promised they were watching.
She'd told herself to leave. To go home. To run.
But the concert tickets were paid for. The hotel was booked. And somewhere deep in her chest, stubborn and fierce, something refused to be afraid.
I didn't come this far to hide.
So she put on her best outfit, ripped jeans, a cropped top, her grandmother's necklace she'd found at the bottom of her suitcase, packed without thinking and joined the crowd.
Now, standing in line, she felt almost normal.
Almost.
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
Unknown number.
Enjoy the show, little moon.
I'll be watching.
Mira's blood went cold.
She looked around wildly. Hundreds of faces. None looking at her. None that she could see.
They're here. They're actually here. Watching me.
Her hands shook as she shoved the phone into her pocket.
I should leave. I should run. I should
"Hey! Mira!"
A voice cut through the chaos. Familiar.
She turned.
Jimmy. Pete. Pushing through the crowd toward her, smiling.
Pete reached her first. "We thought that was you! What are the odds?"
Jimmy's eyes found hers, and his smile faltered. "Are you okay? You look."
"Fine," Mira said quickly. "Just tired. Still jet lagged."
Pete grinned. "Well, shake it off! This concert is going to change your life."
It already has, she thought. And not in the way you mean.
"You guys here too?" she asked.
"We know the group," Pete said casually. Too casually. "Backstage passes. The whole thing."
Jimmy shot him a look. "Pete."
"What? She's cool." Pete winked at Mira. "Stick with us after. We'll introduce you."
Mira's mouth fell open. "Introduce me? To the Lycans?"
"Maybe." Jimmy's voice was gentle but guarded. "No promises. But we'll see."
Her phone buzzed again. She ignored it.
"Come on," Pete said, grabbing her hand. "Let's get you closer to the stage."
********
The concert was everything she'd dreamed of.
Fireworks. Lights. Music so loud it vibrated in her bones. The crowd moved as one, screaming every lyric, light sticks waving in perfect sync.
And on stage.
Ace.
Zayn.
The others.
They moved like gods, like they'd been born for this, like the stage was the only place they belonged.
Mira watched Ace and felt something shift in her chest. He was cold on screen, but on stage he was on fire, every movement sharp, every glance into the crowd electric.
And Zayn. Softer. Warmer. Smiling in a way that made her heart hurt.
They're beautiful, she thought. Both of them.
The thought came and went. Innocent. Just appreciation.
She didn't know yet.
But somewhere deep, something stirred.
Why do I want to watch them together?
The question surprised her. She pushed it away.
*****
Two hours later.
The concert ended. The crowd spilled out, buzzing, exhausted, euphoric.
Mira needed a bathroom.
Badly.
She told Jimmy and Pete she'd meet them by the exits, then pushed through the chaos, following signs, weaving through bodies, her bladder screaming.
The hallway was quieter. Backstage area. She shouldn't be here.
But the bathroom sign pointed this way. And she really, really had to go.
She rounded a corner.
And stopped.
Voices. Low. Intimate.
A man's voice. Deep. Familiar.
"You were perfect tonight."
Another voice. Softer. Warm.
"We were perfect. Together."
Mira's heart stopped.
She knew those voices.
She'd been listening to them for years.
Ace. Zayn.
She should turn around. Walk away. Pretend she didn't hear.
But her feet wouldn't move.
She peered around the corner.
Two men. Close together. Too close.
Ace pressed against the wall. Zayn crowding him, hands on his waist.
They were kissing.
Not a quick peck. Not a friendly thing.
Kissing.
Deep. Slow. Like they'd done it a thousand times. Like it was as natural as breathing.
Ace's hand came up, cupping Zayn's jaw, tilting his head for more.
Zayn made a sound, small, broken, beautiful.
Mira's brain stopped working.
My bias.
My ultimate bias.
Kissing his bandmate.
Kissing him like he's the only thing in the world.
She should be shocked. Disgusted. Horrified.
She wasn't.
That was the strangest part.
She was... something else.
Her chest ached. Her eyes burned. Her heart pounded for reasons that had nothing to do with fear.
They look beautiful together.
The thought came quietly. Honestly.
They look like they belong.
She made a sound, small, involuntary, a gasp swallowed by the distance.
They broke apart.
Ace's head snapped toward her. His eyes went cold. Hard. Dangerous.
"You." His voice was icy. "What are you doing here?"
Mira couldn't speak. Couldn't move.
Zayn stepped forward, hand raised. "Ace, wait."
"She's a sasaeng." Ace moved toward her, each step deliberate. "Following us. Sneaking backstage. Taking pictures."
"I'm not." Mira's voice came out strangled. "I swear, I'm not."
"Then what are you doing here?"
The bathroom. I just wanted the bathroom. I didn't know. I didn't mean to.
But the words wouldn't come.
Because all she could see was his mouth. The same mouth that had been on Zayn's seconds ago. The same mouth that was now spitting accusations at her.
He was just kissing him.
He was just holding him like he mattered.
And now he's looking at me like I'm the enemy.
"I lost my way," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't see anything. I swear to God, I didn't see anything."
Ace's eyes narrowed. "You expect me to believe."
"Ace." Zayn's voice was quiet but firm. "Look at her."
Ace looked.
Mira stood frozen, hands shaking, tears threatening, her face pale with terror.
Not the face of a sasaeng. Not the face of someone who'd just gotten the footage of a lifetime.
The face of someone who'd stumbled into something they never meant to find.
The face of someone who looked at them not with obsession, but with... understanding.
"She's scared," Zayn said softly. "Let her go."
Ace didn't move.
"Please," Mira breathed. "I just want to go home. I won't tell anyone. I don't even know what I saw. Please."
Something flickered in Ace's eyes. Something that looked almost like recognition.
The airport.
The bump.
Her eyes.
He remembered.
Then it was gone.
"Go," he said flatly. "Before I change my mind."
Mira ran.
*****
She didn't stop running until she burst through the wrong door, the men's bathroom. She realized it was too late, and collapsed against the sink, gasping, shaking.
What just happened?
What did I just see?
She stared at herself in the mirror. Pale. Wild eyed. Destroyed.
But underneath the fear, something else stirred.
They love each other.
The thought came out of nowhere.
That wasn't just a kiss. That was love.
She'd watched BL for years. Seen a thousand fictional couples fall in love on her screen. Cried over their heartbreaks. Celebrated their happy endings.
But it was real.
Real men. Real feelings. Real secrets.
And she'd walked right into the middle of it.
Her phone buzzed.
She grabbed it.
Unknown number.
A photo.
Her. In the hallway. Peeking around the corner.
Told you I'd be watching.
A
Mira dropped the phone like it burned her.
They were there. They saw everything. They took a picture of ME watching them.
Who the f**k is A?
********
She found Jimmy and Pete by the exits. They took one look at her face and stopped smiling.
"What happened?" Jimmy asked quietly.
"Nothing." Mira's voice was hollow. "I just. I need to go back to the hotel."
Pete opened his mouth. Jimmy silenced him with a look.
"We'll take you," Jimmy said.
*****
Back at the hotel, Mira sat on her bed, staring at nothing.
Her phone buzzed again.
She didn't look.
I know what he did.
He's not who you think he is.
Enjoying Bangkok, little moon?
I'll be watching.
Told you I'd be watching.
And now a photo.
Who are you?
What do you want?
Why are you doing this?
A knock at the door.
Mira nearly screamed.
She crept to the door, heart pounding, and looked through the peephole.
Jimmy. Pete. Concerned faces.
She opened it.
"We brought food," Pete said gently. "You didn't eat."
Mira stared at them.
Strangers. I've known them for two days.
But they feel safer than anyone I've ever known.
She stepped back. Let them in.
They didn't ask questions. Just sat with her. Ate in comfortable silence. Watched a Thai drama on TV that she didn't understand but didn't need to.
At one point, Pete's phone buzzed. He glanced at it, then quickly away.
Too quickly.
Jimmy noticed. Mira noticed.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." Pete smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Just work stuff."
Mira let it go.
But later, when Pete went to the bathroom, Jimmy leaned toward her.
"If you're in trouble." He paused, choosing words carefully. "If you need help. you can tell us."
Mira's throat tightened. "Why would you help me? You don't even know me."
Jimmy's eyes held hers. "You don't have to know some people to help them, you just know."
She didn't cry. But she wanted to.
*****
Meanwhile,
Across the city.
Ace sat in the dark, staring at the flash drive in his hand.
Mira Haven.
The woman from the airport. The woman from the bathroom tonight.
The woman who'd looked at him not with obsession, but with fear.
And something else.
Something he couldn't name.
"She's not a sasaeng," Zayn said from the doorway.
Ace didn't turn. "I know."
"She looked at us like." Zayn paused. "Like she understood. Like it didn't matter."
Ace's jaw tightened.
"I saw her face," he said quietly. "When she ran. She wasn't thinking about cameras or clout. She was thinking about us."
Zayn crossed the room, sat beside him. "That scares you."
"Everything scares me." Ace's voice was barely a whisper. "That's the problem."
Zayn was quiet for a long moment.
Then: "I remember her. From the airport. She bumped into you. Dropped something."
Ace nodded slowly. "I remember too."
"Her eyes," Zayn said. "I couldn't stop thinking about them."
Ace looked at him.
"Neither could I."
The confession hung between them.
Zayn reached out, touched the flash drive. "We should return it. Find her. Make sure she's okay."
Ace looked at him.
"And if she's not okay?"
Zayn met his eyes. "Then we protect her."
The word hung between them.
Protect.
They didn't protect Faye. They couldn't. She left before they had the chance.
But this woman, Mira Haven, was still there.
Still in Bangkok.
Still alone.
And she'd looked at them like they were human.
Not idols. Not fantasies.
Just. human.
Ace slipped the flash drive into his pocket.
"Tomorrow," he said. "We will find her tomorrow."
*******
- Writer
