A woman's voice.
Clear.
Mocking.
Sensual.
Nari's blood ran cold.
Her entire body froze.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Her instinct screamed at her: don't turn your head.
Don't look.
Stay ignorant.
But she turned her head.
Slowly.
Centimeter by centimeter.
As if she were walking toward an execution.
Behind the tinted glass railing, lit by a bluish light…
Sion.
Sitting on a couch in the VIP corner.
Completely drunk.
Shirt half-open.
Head slightly tilted back.
And on him…
A woman.
A woman whose skirt was lifted up to her hips.
Bra visible.
Hands tangled in his hair.
Her mouth pressed against his neck.
Her leg locked between his.
She was kissing him everywhere.
Devouring him.
And Sion…
He was holding her by the waist.
By reflex.
By uselessness.
By total dissociation.
He returned the kiss.
Mechanically.
In slow motion.
Like someone whose consciousness floats far behind his eyes.
Nari's heart exploded.
Not metaphorically.
REALLY.
The pain was so violent it made her nauseous.
She staggered.
Her knees gave out.
She collapsed to the floor.
The sound of her fall was dull, almost covered by the music, but to her, it was a detonation.
A BOOM inside her soul.
The girl lifted her head, annoyed, breathless.
Her lipstick smudged.
— Who are you? she said, frowning.
You get off watching a guy and a girl making out?
She laughed.
A cruel laugh.
That laugh pierced Nari like a blade.
Sion saw her.
But he didn't react.
He turned his head slowly.
His eyes slid over Nari.
They saw her.
They recognized her.
But…
He didn't move.
Not a gesture.
Not a word.
Not a flinch.
His hand stayed on the girl's waist.
His lips, still shining from the kiss, remained slightly parted.
He was broken.
Destroyed.
Far away.
Very far away.
Dislocated.
It wasn't that he didn't care.
No.
It was worse.
He wasn't even there anymore.
Not in his body.
Not in his head.
Not in his life.
Completely dissociated.
A living shell.
An absence that was still breathing.
And Nari understood something horrible:
He doesn't even have the strength to stand up for me.
Not even the strength to say no.
No strength to love me.
No strength to stop.
She felt her entire being implode.
As if someone were pulling on every thread of her life at the same time.
She thought:
— He replaced me.
— I no longer exist.
— I really am… nobody.
Her breathing stopped.
Tears burst out silently.
The floor beneath her seemed to tilt.
The world started spinning.
The lights blurred.
The music became a distant breath.
And she, in the middle of that VIP floor…
Was nothing more than a heart shattered into a thousand pieces.
Nari didn't even feel her legs move.
Her body went on its own.
One step.
Then another.
Then suddenly a desperate run, heels slamming against the VIP floor, her hands shaking so badly she almost slipped.
She couldn't see anything anymore.
The lights became blurred streaks.
Silhouettes blended together.
The music was nothing more than a dull roar behind her silent screams.
Her tears were falling so fast they blurred everything.
She was running.
Running as if her life depended on it.
As if staying one more second would kill her.
She rushed down the VIP stairs, grabbed the railing, almost lost her balance, caught herself, and ran straight toward the dance floor.
Aera and Ryo were still dancing, drunk, laughing, shining under the strobes.
Until they saw Nari.
Not smiling Nari.
Not dancing Nari.
Not relaxed Nari.
Collapsed Nari.
Devastated Nari.
Destroyed Nari.
Her shoulders shaking with sobs.
Her eyes red and wide with terror.
Her lipstick faded.
Her glittering dress clinging to her trembling body.
Aera felt the alcohol evaporate from her blood instantly.
— Nari?… she whispered, her voice breaking.
Then, louder:
— NARI!
She ran to her.
Ryo too.
The laughter still stuck to his lips vanished instantly.
Nari collapsed against Aera, literally, like a stringless doll.
Her arms were shaking too much to stand.
Aera caught her just before she hit the floor.
— Hey… hey, it's okay, I'm here, I'm here, Aera repeated, panicked.
But Nari was screaming.
Not a loud scream.
A muffled scream.
A scream coming from the gut.
A scream of a broken heart.
Ryo opened his mouth, shocked.
He couldn't even speak.
Aera turned to him, eyes wide.
— We're leaving. Right now.
She slipped Nari's arm around her shoulders.
Ryo supported the other side.
They left the club half-running, ignoring the crowd, the stares, the questions.
Once in the car, Aera started driving without thinking.
Not a word.
Just the crying.
Nari's crying.
Sobs so violent her body was shaking.
Every breath was a sob.
Every sob a knife.
Ryo, in the back seat, had his hand over his mouth.
He had never seen someone cry like that.
Aera drove fast.
Too fast.
Eyes shining with tears, jaw clenched.
Sometimes she gripped the steering wheel so hard the leather creaked.
As soon as they arrived, Aera opened the door and took Nari in her arms, almost carrying her.
Nari had no strength left.
Her legs buckled with every step.
Aera sat her down on the couch.
Placed a warm blanket over her trembling shoulders.
Stroked her back again and again.
— Ryo, make her a hot chocolate… now, she said in a voice that was trembling despite herself.
— Yes… yes, right away, he replied without arguing, rushing to the kitchen.
Aera knelt in front of Nari.
— Nari…
She took her icy hands.
— Nari, look at me… what happened?
Nari opened her mouth.
No sound came out.
Just a hiccup.
A broken breath.
One more tear.
— Come on… talk to me… please…, Aera whispered.
Then Nari spoke.
But it was…
Chaos.
Broken sentences.
Words crashing into each other.
Sobs swallowing syllables.
— He… he…
He was there…, she whispered.
Her voice was nothing more than a trembling thread.
Aera leaned closer.
— Who? Who, Nari?
— Sion…, she managed to say, in a whisper that seemed to tear her apart.
Aera's eyes flew open.
— And… what happened?…
Nari was cut off by a sob so violent she almost lost her breath.
Then:
— He was with…
She put her hand over her mouth.
Her entire body folded in on itself.
— With a girl… on him… she… she… she was kissing him…
Aera felt her own heart break.
Ryo, in the kitchen, stopped stirring the spoon.
— When… when he saw me…, Nari continued in a torn voice,
— he… he did nothing…
She placed a trembling hand on her chest, as if trying to hold her heart together as it fell apart.
— Not a word… not a gesture…
He was looking at me… his eyes…
— His eyes… they weren't him anymore.
They were empty… so empty…
As if…
As if I was nothing anymore.
She inhaled with difficulty:
— He didn't stand up…
He didn't push the girl away…
He didn't say my name…
He didn't try to come to me…
Her voice broke:
— I thought I was going to die.
She burst into sobs, collapsing completely into Aera's arms as she held her as tightly as she could, tears rising to her own eyes.
— It's over…
I… I really am nothing to him anymore, Nari sobbed.