Ren & Leo's POV
Location: Wu HQ, Toronto
Ren didn't knock.
He stormed past reception, past the stunned assistant who called after him in Mandarin, and pushed open the glass door to Leo's corner office without ceremony.
Leo looked up, mid-sentence on a call, jaw tightening.
"I'll call you back," he said flatly into the phone. Then he set it down — slow, composed — like he was trying to contain a hurricane.
But Ren didn't give him time.
He slammed the door shut and stalked across the room.
"What's your problem?" he snapped, voice already shaking.
Leo didn't respond. Just leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, eyes unreadable.
Ren's hands balled into fists.
"You think Se-Ri is just something you get to play with? Use? Discard when it gets inconvenient?"
He stepped closer.
"She almost died yesterday, bro." His voice cracked.
"But even then, she was still—" he choked back the memory, "—she was still holding out her damn hand to you."
Leo's expression flickered — barely — but Ren saw it. A crack. A flash of guilt, fast as lightning.
Ren's voice dropped, low and bitter.
"She was always like that. Snappish. Stubborn. Smart. Kind in weird ways."
He shook his head.
"You knew exactly who she was. So what changed? How the hell did she become a problem to you now?"
Silence.
Ren's breath trembled in the space between them.
"What are you running from?"
He took a step back, looking him over like he didn't recognize the man seated behind the glass desk.
"This isn't a Wu. No. Never. I looked up to you, man."
His voice broke again.
"I wanted to be like you."
Then, quieter, sharper:
"Now? I feel ashamed."
Leo stood slowly — stiff, mechanical — like something old and rusted was finally waking up.
When he spoke, his voice was rough. Unpolished.
"I can be this, Ren," he said.
"I'm not perfect. I'm not noble. I'm not whatever clean version of me you imagined."
He stepped around the desk — not to defend himself, but just to stand.
"I'm afraid of myself."
Ren froze.
Leo met his gaze directly, for once not hiding behind silence.
"I'm afraid I'll make her suffer."
His voice cracked, just once.
"I'm afraid I can't love her the way she deserves. That my love will feel like a trap — or worse, a weight."
He looked away.
"I don't want to become what broke me."
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Then Ren spoke — quiet now, but brutal.
"You already have."
He turned. Walked to the door. Paused.
"But the difference is… she still believes you won't stay that way."
Then he left.
And Leo stayed.
Alone in the silence.
For the first time, unsure if he deserved to fix what he'd broken.