He caught me before I could fall.
My body ended up against his back, my arms wrapping around him without thought.
I forgot to breathe.
My eyes shut tight as my fingers clutched the fabric of his T-shirt at his waist. Air refused to reach my lungs.
All I could see was the moment Alexander had warned me about — the gate closing… me running… barely escaping.
What if I hadn't?
What if it had sealed before I crossed?
My chest tightened.
Unconsciously, I pressed closer, my forehead resting near his back. His shoulders were solid beneath my hands, his warmth steady and grounding — real.
My grip tightened.
Only then did I realize… I was holding him.
He didn't pull away.
He didn't even move.
As if he understood through my uneven breathing that I was afraid.
His voice came low and calm, wrapping around my panic.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here."
Guilt struck me harder than fear.
"I should have listened to you, Lucian… I should have listened before leaving the cabin… but I didn't."
My voice broke, barely a breath.
My arms tightened again without permission from my mind.
For a moment he stayed perfectly still — letting me hold on, or perhaps knowing I needed something solid to anchor myself to.
His hand slowly closed over mine.
Not to remove it.
To keep it there.
"You can breathe, Cristina."
The steadiness in his voice reached me before the meaning did. My lungs drew in air shakily, then again — deeper this time.
"It's alright," he said softer, heavier.
"I won't let anything reach you."
Those words weren't comfort.
They were a promise.
My breathing steadied against his back. The warmth of him seeped through the thin fabric beneath my cheek.
I felt every rise of his chest… and he felt every breath I took.
I opened my eyes — and realized how close I still was.
Slowly, I stepped back.
He gently removed my hands, careful not to startle me. The moment distance formed, heat rushed to my face.
Too aware. Too shy. Unable to face what had just happened.
Before he could speak, I turned and hurried out — almost escaping into the library.
I stayed longer than necessary, forcing my thoughts to settle, convincing my heartbeat to slow.
...,....
Scene shift to lucian ..
Cristina went to the library, and I remained where I was for a long moment.
I had never experienced anything like that before.
Even after she left, her warmth lingered — the softness of her small frame, the faint trace of her scent when she held me. She felt so light… so fragile. Her breathing had trembled against my back, her heartbeat revealing the fear she tried to conceal.
I am a demon — a creature made for ruin.
Yet she, fragile as a flower, held me tightly… as though she trusted me completely.
Such a simple moment, yet it refused to release me.
She held me as if I were her only refuge… as if I were safety itself. Her arms tightened, and for an instant even I forgot how to breathe.
She is human.
I should not feel this way.
So why do I?
And the way she spoke my name — Lucian — so gently, as if it meant comfort… it unsettled something deep within me.
In that moment, I understood only one truth:
Whatever happens…
I will protect her.
I finally turned and walked back to the cabin.
The silence there felt different now..
I returned to the cabin and sat in my chair.
Leaning back slightly, my gaze rested on the door without intention. I told myself I had come back to work — yet my attention never left the corridor she had taken.
As I waited, David's presence entered my mind.
"What were you thinking, Lucian?"
David's voice carried anger, but beneath it lay something heavier — concern.
"Not now, David… leave," I muttered.
"No," he said firmly. "Tell me what that was."
"It was nothing."
For a moment he only stared at me, and the silence felt sharper than any accusation.
"You held her "
His voice dropped low.
"I prevented her from falling."You're overthinking," I replied, forcing calm indifference into my tone.
"Lucian," he said coldly, each word deliberate, "she is human. And you are a demon — a creature of Hell. Remember your place…"You know the rules."
Then he was gone.
I remained seated, alone with the weight of my thoughts.
Every memory of her lingered — the warmth of her hand, the faint tremor in her breath, the way her eyes searched mine without understanding why.
There was a line.
And I was standing too close to it.
The door opened softly..
........
Cristina
When I returned and pushed the door open quietly, he was already seated.
I sat down.
Neither of us spoke.
The silence felt heavy — filled with everything we weren't saying.
It was time for him to leave.
With a subtle motion of his hand, the money appeared neatly on the table beside me. He stood and walked toward the gate.
Just before stepping through, he paused.
"Goodbye, Cristina."
His voice trembled — almost imperceptibly, yet I heard it.
Maybe I only imagined it… or maybe something truly had changed.
"Bye, Lucian," I said.
The next moment, the world shifted and pulled me back into my own — but the feeling stayed with me.
..,.....