Chapter 10
1172 Words
Authoress’s POV
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Leon Kael arrived early. Always did. He’d grown accustomed to the quiet that came before dawn, the silence before the world’s chaos began to rise.
There was something sacred about mornings untouched by noise, by people, by eyes. Especially here. The area is really secluded.
He stepped out of the car, the thick soles of his boots hitting the earth with deliberate calm. Beside him was the only human being he let into his space: Ezran Vale, his best friend, though no one knew that, and no one ever would. Too many whispers came from letting others in on things that weren’t their business.
Ezran yawned exaggeratedly, stretching like a lion. “Bro, I’ll wait outside,” he said, already leaning lazily on the hood of the second car.
Leon didn’t reply.
He knew Ezran.
Ezran was a paradox, disciplined when he wanted to be, impossibly lazy when he chose. The world saw him as the charming one, the extrovert, the overly friendly shadow opposite of Leon’s always stoic energy. What they didn’t know was Ezran had teeth and he bit when he needed to.
Leon simply gave a slight nod and walked toward the entrance of the site. His long coat rustled behind him as the early chill slid along the ground like a whisper.
This reason why he was here for a month or more was supposed to be finished by now. A new model headquarters for KaelCorp’s global expansion into fashion. But no, the stakeholders had moved too slowly. Too many dinner meetings. Too many second-guessing committees.
He was tired of fake.
Too many industry faces these days were powdered, filtered, lip-injected clones of each other. Caked with makeup. Perfectly imperfect in a way that felt… manufactured. False.
He wanted real.
Real skin. Real scars. Real presence.
That’s why he’s here, to check on the structure himself, to speed it up, to make sure the vision was coming alive.
Inside, he spoke briefly with some architects from his industry, a few investors, and reviewed updated blueprints. Satisfactory. Barely.
Stepping out of the building again, he pulled out his tablet and skimmed through his latest emails, mentally sorting priorities.
Until…
His peripheral caught Ezran speaking… to someone.
A girl.
Leon glanced up, not particularly interested until the shape became clearer.
Slim frame. A slight limp. A walking stick.
His brow arched.
It was her.
The girl from last time. The one who fell in the crowd. He’d recognized her then, and now here she was again, standing awkwardly beside Ezran like fate had decided she was some kind of recurring background character in his story.
He kept walking forward, eyes drifting back to his screen, until Ezran’s voice cut through.
“Kael, you’ve got someone here who deeply admires you.”
Leon stop and faced the girl then Ezran asked her.
“Your name, little girl?”
And she choked.
Leon look at her with raised brow.
She was coughing like someone had yanked the air out of her lungs, her eyes wide, lips trembling.
Ezran burst out laughing beside her. “Damn, are you that scared of Kael here?”
Leon shot him a cold glare that shut him up instantly.
But when he turned back to the girl—
She was gone.
Well, not gone. But turning on her heels and limping away at top speed, like her life depended on it.
Weird.
“She’s one strange girl,” Ezran muttered. “Came here just minutes ago asking if you were around, then when she saw you, she basically self-destructed and ran off.”
Leon watched her figure retreat, silent.
Ezran laughed again. “Man, you sure attract crazy people.”
Leon raised an eyebrow. “Are you that unoccupied?”
He turned, signaling the driver, and stepped into the back seat of the car.
Ezran slid in beside him. “You’re cold, you know that right?” he said, shaking his head.
Leon scoffed lightly, but didn’t respond. His eyes wandered back to the road. Back to where she had gone.
He noticed it.
The marks.
Faint, but there, on her arms, around her ankle and the day she fell. Her gown had rolled up and he saw a huge bandage in her thighs.
“Did you notice the marks?” Ezran asked beside him, his voice lower this time.
Leon didn’t look at him. He didn’t need to. “Yeah.”
They didn’t say anything else.
But for the next few minutes, he didn’t open his tablet. Didn’t think about construction. Didn’t check the emails.
He thought about her.
And memories he had buried clawed at the edges of his mind like shadows reaching through time, memories of nights with no light, of pain disguised as discipline, of voices that left bruises deeper than fists.
He shut his eyes.
Just for a moment.
Then he reopened the tablet and went back to work. As always.
**
Ayra’ POV
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I ran.
I don’t even know how I ran, but I did. With my walking stick dragging awkwardly beside me and one leg barely cooperating, I darted off like a thief caught red-handed.
My heart? Pounding like a drum in a war zone. My thoughts? An absolute mess.
Leon Kael. Leon freaking Kael was standing right in front of me.
And what did I do?
I choked. Coughed like a sick puppy. And then fled.
I didn’t wait for him to say a word. Not a hello. Not a question. Nothing. Just whoosh, limp, drag, flee.
Honestly, the way I bolted out of there, you’d think someone lit my shoes on fire.
He probably thinks I’m insane.
No, worse. He probably thinks I’m some unhinged, awkward fangirl who fakes limping for attention and chokes at the mere sound of a name.
I buried my face in my palms, groaning as I sat outside the school gate, waiting for dawn.
What if he recognized me?
He had to. Right? I mean, same stick. Same girl. Same disaster energy.
I could practically imagine the gears turning in that perfect, infuriatingly unreadable brain of his.
*Ah yes, the one who fell in front of everyone like a sack of potatoes.*
And now? *Ah, the same girl. Now she runs with one good leg and sheer humiliation. Fascinating.*
God.
Just bury me.
Right there. Under that sycamore tree.
Better yet, let lightning strike and save me from the memory of bolting away like a limping chicken.
Ughhh.
I pressed my palm to my forehead. I am never showing my face there again. Ever. Unless I become someone new. With a new name. New legs. New dignity.
Preferably all three.
Sorry I’m exaggerating, haha.
Nothing will stop me from meeting Leon. Not even my Dad.
You want me to stop fangirling over Leon?
Are you kidding?
Oops sorry I wasn’t fangirling, I just admire him just like his friend said.
Started today with an absurd scene and then an embarrassing scene.
Ohh just kill me.
- Writer
