Tomorrow, Sera is going perform on live TV with a mystery celebrity guest.
Her manager acted like it was no big deal, but the way he kept avoiding eye contact?
Yeah, it was a big freaking deal*.
Apparently, this performance had been planned months ago. The broadcast station had plastered it everywhere - posters, teasers, hashtags - so if she canceled now, her career would take a hit.
And honestly?
Sera wasn't even thinking about going back to her old life as Serena.
Serena: broke, depressed, crying over boys who don't even know she exists.
Sera: rich, gorgeous, with thighs that could crush egos.
Why would she go back?
"This is God's second chance," she told her reflection, pointing dramatically. "And I'm not wasting it. I'm the main event now."
The staff handed her the song for tomorrow.
Luckily, Sera's body was basically a dance machine - muscle memory kicked in like magic. She was spinning, twirling, hitting notes like she'd swallowed Beyoncé for breakfast.
Singing + dancing? Serena would've fainted.
Sera? She was a weapon of mass destruction.
The high notes? Destroyed.
The choreography? Slayed.
The mirror? Her biggest fan.
She practiced for 10 hours straight, taking only a couple breaks to breathe and glare at her reflection like, yeah, you're THAT b**h.
Wake up early.
Makeup: flawless.
Hair: lethal.
Outfit: illegal in some countries.
Ten minutes before stage time, her manager pulled her aside, looking like he'd just sold her kidneys on the black market.
"Forget everything you rehearsed," he said.
"Excuse me, the f***?" Sera gave him a side eye.
"And... I'm sorry." He said in a low voice while looking somewhere else.
Sera narrowed her eyes. "Sorry for what?"
"I had no other choice. This is the only way you'd get to perform solo on such a huge stage."
Before she could interrogate him, she spotted a shadow lurking backstage.
Her eyes lit up.
"Is that... the surprise guest? Who is it??" she whispered.
But her manager shoved her toward the stage instead.
"You can do it"
The music started. Sera switched into full K-pop goddess mode - slaying steps, throwing smirks, hitting the camera like she owned it.
Then... partner section.
She turned to meet her backup dancer.
Her partner was supposed to be a backup dancer.
Except... the man who stepped into the spotlight wasn't wearing backup dancer energy.
He was wearing main character energy.
That wasn't her dancer.
A hand - warm, big, illegal - gripped her waist and yanked her flush against a chest that smelled like wealth, sin, and limited-edition Dior.
Her heart stopped.
Her brain: That cologne... that freaking cologne...*
She looked up.
And almost collapsed.
Ryu.
Her bias. Her obsession. The man she had written fanfiction about in her Notes app at 3 a.m.
Her brain screamed:
"DON'T GET HORNY, DON'T GET HORNY, DON'T GET HORNY
-"Meanwhile,
Ryu?
Cool as hell.
Expression unreadable.
One eyebrow raised like he knew every dirty thought she'd ever had.
He spun her effortlessly, his hand sliding down her back.
She could feel his smirk without looking.
She tried to focus on the routine, pretending he wasn't real.
But then...
He leaned in - close enough for her to count his eyelashes.
Close enough that her delulu brain was screaming, this is it, we're getting married on stage.
She thought of her ancestors. She thought of God. She thought of cocomelon. Anything to stop herself from kissing him and keep a straight face.
And just when her heart was about to burst-
He smirked.
Dropped his hand from her face.
Winked.
Not at her.
At the freaking camera.
Her knees: weak.
Her heart: gone.
The crowd screams. Cameras flash.
Ryu just... smirks at the camera.
Performance ended.
Sera's soul left her body for the third time this week.
Backstage, her manager was basically jumping up and down.
"You killed it! I'm so proud! Oh, and... sorry again for not telling you it was Ryu cause I felt if you knew then you'll never gonna perform on the stage with him."
Sera was 404 ERROR.
System offline. No thoughts. No soul detected.
Then, before she could recover and breathe, he was there.
Tall. Dangerous. Smelling like wealth and heartbreak.
Without a word, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her into his dressing room.
Her brain: Oh, we're f**ed.*
Her heart: YESSSS.
The door slammed shut.
"What the hell is your problem Sera?" he shouted.
Sera had no clue what she did this time.
His jaw clenched. "Why are you doing this to me?"
She blinked. "Doing... what? Dancing?"
He stepped forward. She stepped back.
Her spine hit the wall.
One hand slammed against the wall next to her head, caging her in. His face was inches from hers.
"You think I don't notice? The way you look at me? The way you... react?" His gaze dipped to her lips, then back up. "Pathetic."
Her pulse roared in her ears.
Her brain is screaming. Her heart is begging. Her knees? Gone.
Then...
He laughs.
Low. Dangerous and in a cocky way.
"You couldn't handle me if you tried."
And with that, he stepped back, straightened his jacket, and walked out.
Leaving her standing there - breathless, confused, and dangerously turned on even after got insulted for no reason.
She's still trying to process what the hell just happened
God what type of prank was that?
And then-
BANG.
The door burst open.BANG!
The door slammed open so violently it shook the walls.
She startled, heart leaping into her throat.
Standing there... Shio.
King's main rapper. The Glacier. The untouchable, the unreadable.
Except this Shio was literally nothing like the one the world thought they knew.
His eyes...
God, his eyes.
They burned like he'd been holding a fire or maybe deepest desire inside him for years.
Without a word, he stepped in and shut the door.
The lock clicked.
The sound was final.
Sera had no idea now what's going to happen this time. She stands there like a drama character who had no clue what the script is?
"Can't you just forget him..." His voice was deep, uneven.
"...and look at me?"
She blinked. "Shio-what-"
Sera was questioning her life decisions and trying to process what's going on.
He moved toward her, slow but unstoppable, like a tide pulling her under.
"Do you have any idea how many years I've been waiting to tell you this?"
His tone cracked - not with anger, but with something far more dangerous.
"Every time you looked past me, it felt like dying. Every time you smiled at someone else, it killed me. And still-" He stepped closer, voice dropping, "-I couldn't stop loving you. Not for a single day."
Sera's was still standing there in confusion and had idea what to reply.
"You didn't see me." His voice broke. "But I saw you. Every laugh, every tear, every damn moment you thought you were invisible - I saw it. I memorized it."
He held her face gently, brushed her cheek with his thumb, and looked at her like she was his whole freaking world.
"I'm not cold, Sera. I'm freezing because I've been locked out of your world for so long, I forgot what warmth feels like... But it's literally you Sera."
Sera still had no clue what the hell was going on, but she was living for the drama like it was a free Netflix subscription. For a hot second, she legit felt like the main girl in a K-drama-minus the tragic backstory and perfect hair.
Her chest tightened. She could feel the weight of his words in the air, heavy, suffocating, intoxicating.
"I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't breathe when I see you with him," Shio confessed, his voice breaking like glass.
"You are the only thing in my life that's ever mattered. And I'm losing you before I've ever even had you."
Sera's lips parted, her brain buffering like bad Wi-Fi, heart - beating like a broken washing machine. Honestly, it felt exactly like one of those scenes where Shio was the tragic second male lead-aka the guy who pours his whole soul out... and still gets zero bitches in the final episode.
"Please..." He literally sounds like he's begging for love. "Look at me. Just once. Like I'm the only one here. Like I'm the only one you want. Give me that... before I lose my mind completely."
And then -
He leaned in.
So close she could feel his breath... hands shivered as he brushed her hair like he was in a shampoo ad.
"You make me lose my mind. I'd burn my career, my name, my whole damm soul... if it meant you'd just see me for once."
Shio was throwing words at Sera like he eat a whole damm romantic poetry book in breakfast.
"I'm so tired of loving you in the shadows. I want you in the light, even if it burns me."
This literally feels like a whole damm Netflix series.
You're watching "Confession of love"
Stay tuned for more updates.
Her heart was screaming. Her brain was gone as always. Maybe she don't have any brain left inside.
But just when his lips were a whisper from hers...
He stopped.
His jaw tightened. His eyes sparked
And then a single tear fell.
She didn't move. Couldn't. But screaming on the inside. Baby don't cryyyyyy.
Shio stepped back one pace, his gaze never wavering. Another tear. And another.
But his voice, when it came, was ice and fire all at once:
"You don't understand yet. But you will."
He turned toward the door, his steps slow, deliberate.
At the doorway, he paused - shoulders stiff, head tilted just enough for his words to pierce like a knife.
"If you choose wrong... I will burn everything."
And then he was gone.
Can someone please play-
"I WOULD LET THE WORLD
BURN.....
LET THE WORLD BURN FOR YOU"
The room felt colder. Her breath wouldn't come. She couldn't tell if she was scared... or if some messed‑up part of her actually wanted him to come back. Meanwhile, Sera was just standing there like an NPC with no quest-waiting for someone to press "X" to interact...
Sera blinked, shook her head, and decided, Yeah nope, I'm not paid enough for this level of drama. I'm one plot twist away from faking my own death. With absolutely zero clue what Ryu and Shio's kdrama was even about. She was still replaying the last ten minutes in her head, wondering if she had just been part of a love triangle, a mafia deal, or a very intense music video. She marched toward her dressing room like an exhausted potato in heels.
She swung the door open, already picturing herself collapsing on the couch with snacks-
...and stopped so suddenly her ancestors felt it.
Her vanity mirror wasn't reflecting her.
It was showing a shadowy figure sitting in her chair... wearing her glittery stage heels... a feather hat... and eating her emergency snacks like it was filming a live mukbang.
The figure slowly turned, crumbs falling from its mouth, and in the most casual tone said-
"Oh... you're early."
To be continued....