Chapter 9: The First Meeting
Kian's mind was spiraling, his thoughts tangled in a web of confusion as the drug began to take hold of him. His limbs felt heavy, and the edges of his vision blurred. He had to leave—the suffocating atmosphere of the ballroom was becoming too much to bear. His heart pounded in his chest as he pushed through the crowd, his movements slow and unsteady.
The whispers of the party guests faded into a distant hum as his world tilted. The carefully controlled chaos of the event seemed far away now, just a blur of glittering lights and distant conversations. The world spun around him, each step more difficult than the last.
He needed to escape.
With a final push, he managed to make his way toward the exit, the cool air of the hallway outside cutting through the fog in his mind. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as the dizziness intensified. He needed to get away, but where would he go? His thoughts were a mess—nothing felt clear.
But then, something changed.
The moment his hand brushed the cool marble of the hallway's edge, a presence swept over him. It wasn't the sounds of the ball or the distant voices of guests—it was her.
Seraphine Vasiliev.
Though he had never seen her before, her presence felt unmistakable. There was an undeniable shift in the air as she approached, though no one else seemed to notice her. Her arrival was subtle, almost like a shadow slipping through the cracks of the brightly lit ballroom. No one saw her, and no one would.
Seraphine stood in front of him, calm and unbothered, her piercing eyes locking with his.
Kian's breath hitched, the world around him coming to a halt. His mind was still clouded by the drug, but there was no denying the impact of her gaze. It was as if everything—every thought, every feeling—centered on her. Her beauty wasn't the kind that shouted for attention; it was quiet, potent, and it burned in a way he couldn't explain.
She was standing so close now, close enough for him to feel the weight of her gaze pressing down on him, close enough that the chaos in his head seemed to quiet as if she was the only thing he could focus on.
"You're not feeling well," she said, her voice smooth, measured, but carrying an undertone of something darker, something that spoke directly to him.
Her words were simple, yet they landed with weight.
He tried to speak, to respond, but his thoughts were sluggish, his mouth too dry to form coherent words. Instead, he simply nodded, though he didn't trust his body to do much more than that.
Her gaze softened for just a moment, before she stepped closer to him, close enough that her presence felt like a storm gathering around him. The air seemed to thicken with an electricity he couldn't escape, and Kian's heart beat faster, though he had no idea why.
Without thinking, as if pulled by an invisible force, Kian closed the distance between them. His lips found hers in a kiss—urgent, hungry, desperate. It wasn't planned. He didn't even know why he did it. Was it the drug clouding his mind? Or was it something about her that had called to him in ways he couldn't understand?
When their lips parted, he felt a strange emptiness—a yearning that wasn't there before.
Seraphine blinked, her expression unreadable, before she spoke softly, almost as if she couldn't quite believe it herself. "That was my first kiss," she said, her voice low, a little surprised, though it didn't betray any weakness.
Kian's mind swirled with the weight of her words, his own voice coming out in a hushed rasp. "Mine too."
The acknowledgment hung between them, thick with unspoken understanding. There was something undeniable in the way their kiss had unfolded—something that felt inevitable, like they had always been destined to meet this way. But Kian didn't know whether the intensity of that moment was driven by the drug, or something deeper that he couldn't yet comprehend.
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that their meeting had been no accident. The connection between them, though brief, felt like it could consume him whole.
Seraphine stepped back slightly, her eyes never leaving his. She didn't say another word—she didn't need to. Her gaze alone spoke volumes, leaving Kian with a sense of confusion and desire that he could not ignore.
As the haze from the drug began to fully take over him, he knew this moment would haunt him for a long time. He had no idea what was happening, but one thing was certain: everything had changed.