secret Drak love

chasing shadows

Devyn woke with a start, a sense of unease pulling him from his dreams. His mind, still half-draped in sleep, tried to grasp at the edges of the fragments that had slipped away. He blinked against the morning light, the sun already creeping through the window, casting long shadows across the floor.

He had slept through the morning jog. A rare moment of weakness. A part of him cursed under his breath.

With a groan, he pulled himself from the tangled sheets. There were meetings to attend, calls to make, and numbers to crunch. But for some inexplicable reason, none of that mattered. The bench. Her absence. He couldn’t shake her out of his head.

Without a second thought, he slipped on a jacket and stepped out into the cool, early morning air, his thoughts a maze. He didn’t need the jog to clear his mind, but somehow, it had become the one part of his routine that still felt like it mattered.

The streets were still quiet, the city half asleep. As he walked, his steps slow and deliberate, the fresh morning air wrapped around him, but his mind was elsewhere. His thoughts looped back to her: her eyes, her calm, and the inexplicable feeling of knowing her for a fraction of a moment. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t move past it.

Time blurred as the sun began to rise, a hazy glow spilling across the sky. He turned his steps back toward home. There was no point in walking through the streets aimlessly when his body was begging for rest. He let the city’s hum wash over him, but it did little to ease the unsettling pull inside him.

The bed greeted him like an old friend, and he collapsed onto it, closing his eyes in the fleeting hope that he could erase her from his thoughts. But as soon as his eyes closed, she was there, in the quiet, invisible space between sleep and wakefulness. Her face lingered.

It wasn’t until later that he realized he'd slept through his jog — and now, the hours had passed too quickly.

**

The call from his PA was a sharp reminder of reality. He couldn’t afford to get lost in distractions.

“Sir, are you heading to the office soon? The meeting is at noon.”

Devyn rubbed his temples, a sigh escaping him.

“I’ll be there in thirty,” he replied, the words mechanical. His usual control was slipping, and he didn’t like it.

After a quick shower, he forced himself into his routine. Clothes. Coffee. The pace of the day remained predictable, but his mind kept slipping back to her. He couldn’t escape it, even though he tried.

**

By afternoon, Devyn was at his café, the place he usually came to unwind, to eat, and to drown out the world for a few minutes. His corner table overlooked the street, and the smell of fresh coffee and pastries comforted him.

But the moment he stepped inside, he froze.

It was her.

She was seated by the window, alone. Her golden hair fell in soft waves, framing her face like sunlight captured in a perfect moment. The soft blue of her frock shimmered in the warm café light. It wasn’t the brightness of the dress that caught his attention, though. It was her. Her presence was somehow both subtle and overwhelming. She sat with a book in front of her, but Devyn knew she wasn’t really reading. She was lost in some quiet world of her own.

The air in the café seemed to shift as Devyn walked in, the bustling noise of the baristas and the clinking of cups suddenly fading away. He moved closer, almost unwillingly, drawn in by her beauty, by the inexplicable pull that seemed to wrap around him.

For the first time in his life, he was completely captivated. His thoughts scrambled for control, but nothing worked. It wasn’t just her looks, though they were undeniably stunning. It was the way she carried herself — with ease, with a grace that seemed to brush away all the weight of the world. She didn’t know it, but in that moment, she was the center of his universe.

Without realizing it, he was standing beside her table. She didn’t notice him right away, absorbed in the pages of her book. Devyn stood there, just for a moment, hesitant. Then he cleared his throat softly.

She looked up.

And for the second time, her eyes met his. But this time, there was no surprise. No curiosity. Just that same unreadable calm.

“Excuse me,” he began, voice low but steady, “I think we’ve met before. At the park.”

Her gaze flickered, just for a fraction of a second, before she nodded slowly. “I remember.”

Her voice was quiet, controlled, as if she was carefully choosing her words. There was something in her tone — something almost guarded.

“I…” Devyn paused, unsure of how to proceed. His usual confidence faltered under the weight of her silence. “I’ve been meaning to ask—why the cat? Does he always follow you like that?”

Her lips curved slightly, the faintest of smiles. “He likes to follow. Doesn’t mean he belongs to me.”

There it was again. Her mysterious response, shrouded in layers he couldn’t peel away. Her words were simple, yet they left him with more questions than answers.

“Well…” Devyn took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. “You seem different from… well, everyone else. Most people have something to say. You seem content to just… exist.”

Her eyes softened for a split second, but she said nothing more. The silence between them grew thicker, and just when he thought he might say something to break it, she spoke again.

“It’s better that way. Isn’t it?”

Devyn didn’t know how to respond. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what she meant. There was a depth to her words, but they seemed like a riddle with no answer.

He stood there for a moment longer, staring at her, the urge to speak pressing against his throat. But before he could gather is thoughts, she looked down at her book again, signaling the end of the conversation.

Feeling an unfamiliar sting of rejection, Devyn turned away slowly. He walked back to his table, but his mind was nowhere near the food he was supposed to be eating. His focus was entirely on her.

**

Once seated, he took out his phone, his fingers moving faster than his thoughts. He needed to know more. He needed to understand her. Who was she? Where did she come from? Why did she have this hold on him?

“Can you find out everything about her? I don’t care about the details — just everything.” He sent a message to his PA.

It wasn’t like him to demand information this way, to obsess over someone he barely knew. But there was something about her — something elusive, like a dream he couldn’t touch, but couldn’t let go of either.

He took a deep breath, staring out the window of the café, watching the city pulse around him. But in that moment, nothing mattered more than the mystery of the girl in the blue frock, with golden hair, sitting just across the room.

And the unsettling feeling that he was already too far gone.