I stayed exactly where I was.
Face buried in my hands.
Dignity destroyed.
Future uncertain.
Soul deceased.
Across the room, Kairo remained silent.
Which was somehow worse than if he had laughed.
If he laughed, I could be angry.
If he teased me, I could defend myself.
But silence?
Silence meant he was waiting.
And Kairo was terrifying when he waited.
"...Say something," I muttered.
"You told me not to."
I groaned.
"Why are you listening now of all times?"
"Because you're embarrassed."
"Observant."
"You are."
I slowly lowered my hands and looked at him.
Big mistake.
His expression was calm.
Too calm.
Like a man who had just won a battle weeks ago and had been patiently waiting for everyone else to catch up.
I immediately looked away again.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
"I hate him."
"The omega?"
"Yes."
"He knows."
"Good."
Silence.
Then—
"You don't actually hate him."
I sighed.
Unfortunately, he was right.
Again.
The silver-haired omega was annoying, manipulative, invasive, and entirely too entertained by my suffering.
But he wasn't malicious.
At least not toward me.
Which somehow made everything worse.
"He could've kept that to himself."
"He could have."
"But he didn't."
"No."
I frowned.
"...Did you know he was going to do that?"
"No."
I turned immediately.
"You didn't stop him."
"I wasn't present."
"Technicality."
"Accurate technicality."
I pointed at him.
"You're impossible."
"No."
"You absolutely are."
A pause.
Then—
"You love me."
The room went silent.
My brain stopped functioning.
Completely.
No recovery.
No survival.
Nothing.
Just immediate system failure.
Kairo looked entirely unaffected.
Like he hadn't just dropped a meteor onto the conversation.
Like he'd simply commented on the weather.
I stared.
He stared back.
Silence.
Then—
"...You can't just say that."
"I can."
"No."
"I just did."
I hated how difficult it was to argue with facts that had already happened.
The silence stretched.
Long.
Painful.
Then I pointed at him again.
Mostly because I needed something to do with my hands.
"You should have warned me."
"About what?"
"Knowing."
"I did."
"No, you didn't."
"Repeatedly."
I froze.
Then remembered.
Every conversation.
Every time he asked what I was feeling.
Every time he looked directly at me after hearing a thought I hadn't spoken aloud.
Every time he gave me opportunities to say it myself.
...
Oh.
Oh no.
He really had.
I covered my face again.
"This is a nightmare."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Stop saying no."
"No."
I stared at him.
He stared back.
The worst part?
He wasn't even teasing me.
He genuinely disagreed.
Which somehow made it worse.
"Kairo."
"Yes."
"Be normal."
"I am."
"That's objectively false."
A pause.
Then, to my horror, the corner of his mouth moved.
A tiny smile.
Barely there.
But there.
And suddenly I understood why people wrote poetry.
Because witnessing that should've been illegal.
The realization hit me immediately after.
Which was unfortunate.
Because Kairo heard it.
The smile widened slightly.
I wanted to jump into a river.
"You heard that."
"Yes."
"Forget it."
"No."
"Immediately."
"No."
"This is abuse."
"It isn't."
I dropped back into my chair.
Defeated.
Utterly defeated.
The room settled into silence again.
But this silence felt different.
Not tense.
Not uncertain.
Just... honest.
For the first time, there wasn't really anything left hidden between us.
No misunderstandings.
No doubts.
No fears I hadn't already exposed accidentally.
Everything was out in the open.
Terrifying.
But strangely relieving too.
"You were afraid," Kairo said quietly.
I glanced up.
"A lot of things."
"Of losing me."
The words landed softly.
Not accusing.
Not demanding.
Just true.
I looked away first.
"...Yes."
The answer came easier than expected.
Maybe because there wasn't much point denying it anymore.
Kairo already knew.
Had known.
Probably for a very long time.
"I thought you'd choose someone else."
"No."
"I know that now."
A pause.
Then—
"I thought I wasn't enough."
The room fell silent.
The words felt heavier.
More dangerous.
Because they weren't about the silver-haired omega.
They weren't about the council.
They weren't about politics.
They were about me.
About every fear underneath everything else.
Kairo crossed the room.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Until he stood directly in front of me.
Then he crouched slightly.
Just enough that our eyes met.
"You were."
Simple.
Immediate.
Certain.
I swallowed.
"...You say that very confidently."
"Because it's true."
The same answer.
Every time.
Always the same.
Not because he lacked imagination.
Because he lacked doubt.
And maybe—
that was what made it powerful.
The silence lingered.
Then I laughed softly.
Mostly at myself.
"Do you know how ridiculous this is?"
"Yes."
"I died."
"Yes."
"I woke up in another world."
"Yes."
"I became someone's contractual omega."
"Yes."
"And somehow this is the part that overwhelms me."
That finally earned another faint smile.
Tiny.
Rare.
Dangerously effective.
"It should."
"Why?"
His gaze never left mine.
"Because this is real."
The answer stole every response I had.
Because he wasn't talking about the world.
Or the contract.
Or the council.
He meant us.
And that was the problem.
Everything else had been easier to handle because it felt temporary.
Manageable.
Something I could survive and move beyond.
This?
This wasn't temporary.
This wasn't survival.
This was real.
The realization sat heavily between us.
Not uncomfortable.
Just undeniable.
Then Kairo reached out.
His fingers brushed against my hand.
Not possessive.
Not demanding.
Just there.
Steady.
Certain.
Like everything else about him.
"You have nowhere left to hide," he said quietly.
I looked at our hands.
Then at him.
Then sighed.
"...I know."
The strange thing was—
for the first time—
I didn't really want to.
And somehow that felt far more frightening than hiding ever had.