Every time he closed his eyes, Cai Lang's voice returned calm, controlled, and far too certain.
You'll see me again.
The words clung to him like smoke.
Morning came with gray skies and a dull ache behind his eyes. Suo Ran moved through the streets carefully, changing routes, watching reflections in shop windows. He told himself he was being paranoid.
He was wrong.
The narrow alley near his apartment was quiet too quiet. The sound of footsteps echoed behind him, slow and deliberate.
"Stop," Suo Ran said without turning.
The footsteps stopped.
"You're improving," Cai Lang's voice came from behind him. "Most people panic first."
Suo Ran turned sharply. "Are you stalking me now?"
Cai Lang stood a few feet away, hands visible, posture relaxed. "If I were stalking you, you wouldn't have noticed."
"That's not comforting."
"It's honest."
Suo Ran exhaled sharply. "You said you'd let me decide what I do next."
"And you decided to pretend I don't exist," Cai Lang replied. "That was never going to work."
Suo Ran clenched his fists. "You don't get to control my life."
Cai Lang's gaze sharpened. "I'm not trying to."
"Then why are you here?"
For a moment, Cai Lang didn't answer. His eyes flicked toward the mouth of the alley, where distant voices echoed. Then back to Suo Ran.
"Because someone else is watching you," he said.
Suo Ran's chest tightened. "Who?"
"Not me."
That single sentence sent a chill through him.
"You're lying," Suo Ran said, though his voice lacked conviction.
"If I were lying," Cai Lang replied calmly, "you'd already be cornered."
As if on cue, a shadow moved at the far end of the alley.
Suo Ran stepped back instinctively.
Cai Lang moved forward.
It wasn't aggressive just decisive. He placed himself slightly in front of Suo Ran, close enough that Suo Ran could feel the heat of his body.
"Stay still," Cai Lang murmured.
"Don't touch me," Suo Ran whispered.
"I'm not," Cai Lang replied. "Not yet."
The shadow disappeared.
Silence returned.
Only then did Cai Lang step away.
Suo Ran's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You didn't tell me."
"I wanted to see if you'd notice."
"That's cruel."
Cai Lang studied him. "So is this city."
Suo Ran looked at him really looked. At the tension beneath the calm, the sharp awareness in his eyes.
"You're dangerous," Suo Ran said.
Cai Lang's lips curved slightly. "And yet you didn't run."
Suo Ran hated that he was right.
"This is the last time," Suo Ran said. "After this, stay away from me."
Cai Lang stepped closer again just close enough to blur the line between threat and intimacy.
"I can't," he said quietly.
"Why?"
"Because you're already involved."
Suo Ran swallowed. "With what?"
Cai Lang leaned in, voice low enough to feel rather than hear.
"With me."
He stepped back, turning away before Suo Ran could respond.
"Be careful tonight," Cai Lang said over his shoulder. "And don't take the rooftops."
Then he was gone.
Suo Ran stood alone in the alley, heart racing, knowing one terrible truth:
Cai Lang had already crossed a line.
And somehow… Suo Ran had let him.