The city was loud. Unforgiving. Fast.
Aelina flinched at the sound of a car horn blaring far too close. Her boots were worn, still stained with forest dirt. Her clothes, simple and slightly too big, clung to her frame awkwardly. She had no suitcase, no phone, no map—only a leather satchel pressed tightly to her side and the memory of trees whispering her name.
Eighteen years alone.
Eighteen years in silence.
Now, for the first time, she was surrounded by voices that didn't belong to the wind.
People bumped into her without apology. Neon signs flashed colors she'd never seen before. The air smelled of smoke, oil, and fried food. She hated it.
But she had no choice.
The forest could no longer protect her. She wasn't safe there anymore. And here, though the buildings towered like giants and the noise made her flinch, she hoped—somewhere in the chaos—she could disappear.
She kept walking.
Until she ran into him.
Literally.
The impact was soft, but the man was not. He was tall. Strong. His chest was like a wall of stone, and her body jolted backward with the force.
"Careful," he said, voice low and steady.
Aelina's honey-colored eyes met his, and the world seemed to stop.
He had hair as white as snow, tied at the back of his neck. Skin pale like marble, and eyes in a shade of blue that could freeze fire. His suit was dark, perfectly tailored, and he stood like he owned the ground beneath his feet.
For a second, she forgot to breathe.
Then she stepped back quickly. "Sorry."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "Are you lost?"
"I'm fine," she answered fast, too fast. Then turned to leave.
"Wait." His voice followed her, not loud but commanding. "You look like you've never been to a city before."
She paused, then looked over her shoulder. "And if I haven't?"
He smirked, but it wasn't cruel. "Then you'll be eaten alive out here."
She said nothing. Just kept walking.
He didn't follow. But he watched.
And somehow, Aelina could feel his eyes on her long after she vanished into the crowd.
She found a corner by an old bookstore, far from the crowd. Her heart was racing. Why had he spoken to her? Why had he looked at her like that? Like he knew something about her—something she didn't even understand.
She touched her chest, right over her heart.
Still beating. Still scared.
Kael Vireon leaned against his black car, eyes still on the street she'd taken. He had a meeting in fifteen minutes. A merger worth billions. But his mind wasn't on numbers.
It was on her.
The girl with the wild eyes and dirt-stained boots.
She had moved like a ghost among wolves. Untamed. Alone. And yet, something about her presence had stirred something in him he hadn't felt in years.
Curiosity.
Dangerous, for a man like him.
He pulled out his phone and called someone. "Trace the cameras on 3rd and Bloom. I want the girl in the brown coat identified."
"Is she a threat, sir?"
"…I don't know yet."
That night, Aelina slept in an abandoned warehouse near the edge of the city. The wind howled through the cracks, but she was used to that. Cold didn't scare her. Hunger didn't either.
But the look in his eyes?
That was something new.
She remembered his voice. The way it vibrated like thunder. The way his gaze pierced through her.
And for the first time in years, she felt… seen.
That terrified her.
---
The next day, she walked through the business district. It was cleaner, quieter. She spotted a "Help Wanted" sign in the window of a small café and stepped in. The woman behind the counter looked her up and down but smiled kindly.
"Can you carry trays?"
"I can carry a deer," Aelina replied.
The woman blinked, then laughed. "Okay then. You start tomorrow."
It was simple. A start.
She needed money. She needed to blend in. She needed to hide.
Two days later, he walked in.
Kael Vireon.
In that same tailored suit, crisp and dark. His expression unreadable. But when he saw her—balancing a tray with coffee cups and taking orders—his lips twitched into something that might've been a smile.
"You again," she muttered.
"You remembered me," he replied.
"How could I forget?"
He sat at a corner table, eyes on her every move.
And when he left, he handed her a card.
Kael Vireon
CEO – Vireon Corp
"Come find me when you're tired of pretending."
That night, she stared at the card for hours.
What did he want?
Why her?
Why now?
But deep down, she already knew—
He wasn't the dangerous one.
She was.