THE MALL - AFTERNOON
The mall was crowded with weekend shoppers—families, couples, teenagers clustered around gaming stores. Normal. Safe. Exactly the kind of public space where Xavier could pretend to be just another college student on a date.
Except for the four armed operatives positioned at strategic points throughout the mall.
And the sniper on the roof of the building across the street.
And Jihoon coordinating everything through an encrypted earpiece disguised as a wireless earbud.
But Nana didn't see any of that. She only saw Xavier, holding her hand as they walked through the food court, looking for a place to eat.
"Ooh! That place has the good ramen!" She tugged him toward a Japanese restaurant, and Xavier followed willingly, letting her pull him along.
They ordered, found a booth, and settled in with their food. Nana immediately started chattering about her upcoming art class study tour.
"—and we're going to Mount Seorak for three days! Professor Kim says the autumn colors will be perfect for landscape painting. I'm so excited! I've never painted mountains before. Well, except in class, but that was from photos, and it's totally different from real life, you know?"
Xavier listened, his hand reaching out to pat her head gently. She was so animated when she talked about art, her eyes bright, her hands gesturing enthusiastically.
So pretty.
So innocent.
So completely unaware of the violence that orbited around her constantly.
She took a bite of her ramen, somehow managing to keep talking while eating, and Xavier couldn't help himself—he leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to the tip of her nose.
Nana froze mid-sentence, her eyes going wide.
"Xavier!" Her face flushed pink. "Don't kiss me in public!"
"Oh?" His lips curved into a rare teasing smile. "So you want me to kiss you in private?"
"No! I mean—!" Her blush deepened to crimson. "Hmmp!"
She grabbed her spoon of ice cream from dessert they'd ordered and, in a burst of playful revenge, smeared it across his cheek before jumping up and running.
"Starlight!" Xavier called after her, but he was already moving, chasing her through the mall with a smile on his face and ice cream dripping down his jaw.
She squealed and dodged around a kiosk, and he caught her easily around the waist, both of them laughing.
From various positions around the mall, Xavier's men watched with barely concealed amusement. Their boss—the Shen devil's the most feared assassin in the underground—was playing tag with a girl half his size, ice cream on his face, grinning like an idiot.
One operative, Min-jun, muttered into his comms: "This is the same man who killed twenty people two nights ago?"
"Eyes up," Jihoon's voice crackled back. "Stay alert."
Because even in this moment of lightness, they were all on duty. Protecting the one person who could make their terrifying boss act human.
"Can we watch a movie?" Nana asked as they passed by the cinema, her eyes lighting up at the posters. "Oh! That one looks good!"
Xavier followed her gaze to the poster—a thriller about a secret mafia leader who lived a double life, protecting the woman he loved while hiding his true identity.
The irony was almost painful.
"You want to watch that one?" he asked carefully.
"Yes! It looks so dramatic! And romantic!" She bounced on her heels. "Please? We have time, right?"
Xavier checked his watch. He had a meeting with the Kozlov bratva in six hours. A weapons inspection in eight. And a list of Serpent Guild locations to burn down by midnight.
"We have time," he said softly.
They bought tickets, and Xavier immediately sent a text to Jihoon on his encrypted phone: *Coming to theater 7. Full sweep. I want that room secured.*
Jihoon's response: *Already on it.*
The theater was dimmed, previews playing on the screen. Nana settled into her seat with a bucket of popcorn balanced on her lap, already engrossed.
Xavier sat beside her, hyperaware of everything around them.
Row G, seat 4: elderly couple, no threat.
Row C, seats 8-10: teenagers on phones, distracted, no threat.
Row H, seat 12: lone male, mid-thirties, watching the screen but his body language was wrong. Too alert. Military posture.
Xavier's eyes narrowed.
The man's gaze flickered—not to the screen, but to Nana. Studied her for just a moment too long before looking away.
Xavier's jaw clenched.
Another one.
The Serpent Guild was getting desperate, sending operatives to public spaces. Bold. Stupid.
The man stood casually and headed toward the bathroom.
Xavier leaned close to Nana. "I need to use the restroom. Be right back."
"Okay!" She didn't look away from the previews, already entranced.
Xavier stood, and in that same moment, Jihoon materialized in the seat behind them as if he'd been there all along.
Nana blinked, turning around. "Jihoon? When did you get here?"
"Just now. Xavier texted me you were watching a movie." Jihoon smiled pleasantly. "Mind if I join? I had nothing to do."
"Of course not!"
She turned back to the screen, and Jihoon's pleasant expression dropped. His eyes met Xavier's in the dim light.
*Thirty-four-year-old male, possible Serpent Guild operative. Second-floor bathroom.*
Xavier nodded fractionally and left.
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.
The bathroom was empty when Xavier pushed open the door.
Or appeared empty.
But Xavier had been hunting men in the dark since he was seventeen. He knew when he wasn't alone.
He moved to the sink, washing his hands casually, watching the mirror.
The third stall. The door was closed, but there was no shadow of feet underneath.
Amateur.
Xavier dried his hands slowly, then pulled out his phone as if checking messages. With his other hand, he reached behind his back and drew the compact pistol holstered at the small of his back—hidden under his loose hoodie.
The stall door burst open.
The man lunged with a knife, fast and trained, going for Xavier's throat.
Xavier sidestepped, grabbed the man's wrist, twisted it with a sickening crack. The knife clattered to the floor.
"Who sent you?" Xavier's voice was ice.
"F-fuck you—"
Xavier pressed the gun to the man's temple. "Wrong answer."
"Serpent Guild! Okay? They want the girl! That's all I know!"
"Who ordered it?"
"I don't know! I'm just contracted muscle! Please—"
Xavier's expression didn't change. "You looked at her."
"What?"
"In the theater. You looked at her." His grip tightened on the gun. "That was your mistake."
The suppressor on his pistol made the shot nearly silent—a muffled *pfft* that wouldn't carry beyond the bathroom walls.
The man crumpled.
Xavier worked quickly. One bullet to the forehead, professional. But then—because this needed to send a message—he used the man's own knife for the rest. Chest. Stomach. Making it look frenzied, personal.
A warning.
He checked his watch. Three minutes. The previews would end in five.
Xavier cleaned himself efficiently—no blood splatter on his dark clothes, thank god—and sent a rapid text to his team: *Package in second floor bathroom. Clean team ETA?*
*Two minutes. Distraction protocol?*
*Fire alarm. North exit. In seven minutes.*
Xavier pocketed his phone, adjusted his hoodie, and walked out of the bathroom as if he'd simply washed his hands.
He was back in his seat beside Nana within four minutes. The movie was just starting.
"You took forever!" she whispered. "You almost missed the opening!"
"Sorry, Starlight. Long line."
She immediately started whispering plot predictions to him, and Xavier nodded along, his hand finding hers in the armrest.
His other hand, which had just killed a man, wrapped around her small fingers gently.
The movie was, ironically, almost exactly Xavier's life.
A secret mafia boss. A double identity. A woman he loved who knew nothing about his real world. The constant tension of keeping his two lives separate.
On screen, the protagonist killed ruthlessly at night, then returned home to smile at the woman who thought he was just a businessman.
"This is so intense!" Nana whispered, gripping Xavier's arm during a particularly violent scene. "How does he keep it secret? Doesn't she notice?"
"People see what they want to see," Xavier murmured.
The movie protagonist was showing the girl his collection of books—and hidden behind one was a secret room full of weapons.
Nana gasped. "Just like your book!"
Xavier's heart stopped.
"What?"
"You know, the mature book! The special one you didn't want me to touch!" She giggled quietly. "What if it's like this? What if you have a secret room full of... mature stuff?"
"Starlight—"
"I'm kidding!" She squeezed his arm playfully. "You're not a secret mafia boss. You're my Xaviee who sleeps all day and can barely cook ramen."
The words should have been comforting.
Instead, they felt like knives.
On screen, the protagonist looked at the woman with such longing, such pain, knowing he could never tell her the truth.
*"If this happened to us,"* the character said, *"would you still love me?"*
The theater was quiet, everyone absorbed in the emotional moment.
Xavier felt Nana's eyes on him in the darkness.
"Xaviee," she whispered. "If this movie happened to us—if you were secretly someone else—would you tell me?"
His throat felt tight. "What do you mean?"
"I mean..." She paused, her hand squeezing his. "You're not a mafia leader. You're my Xaviee. Right?"
He reached up and squished her cheeks playfully, like she was made of mochi,Nana was giggling softly.
"What do you think of me?"
" You are my soft, sleepy, gentle Xaviee who wouldn't hurt a fly."
Xavier smiled because that's what she expected. But inside, something was cracking.
She didn't know.
Couldn't know.
That the hands squishing her cheeks had held a knife less than an hour ago.
That his "soft, gentle Xaviee" had just put two bullets and three stab wounds in a man's body.
That he was exactly the monster from the movie.
The alarm started suddenly—a piercing wail that had people jumping in their seats.
*"Please evacuate calmly. This is not a drill. Proceed to the nearest exit."*
Nana clutched Xavier's arm. "What's happening?"
"Fire alarm," Jihoon said from behind them, already standing. "We need to leave."
People were filing out of the theater in confused clusters. Xavier kept Nana close to his side, guiding her toward the exit.
They reached the main hall, and that's when they heard it.
Screaming.
Real screaming, not fire alarm panic, but horror.
"Oh my god!"
"Someone call the police!"
"There's so much blood—"
Nana's grip on Xavier's arm tightened. "Xaviee, what's happening?"
"Stay close to me." His voice was firm, already positioning himself between her and the crowd gathering near the bathroom corridor.
But Nana, being Nana, went up on her tiptoes to see.
And froze.
Xavier saw the exact moment she processed what she was seeing—the police tape going up, the security guards blocking access, the glimpses of red on white tile.
"Xaviee..." Her voice was tiny. "Is that... is someone...?"
"Don't look, Starlight."
But she'd already seen enough. Her face had gone pale, her hands trembling.
"There's so much blood," she whispered. "How... how could someone do that? Here? In public? Without anyone noticing?"
*Because I'm very good at what I do,* Xavier thought, but said nothing.
Nana pressed closer to him, and Xavier wrapped his arm around her shoulders, steering her toward the exit. "Let's get you home."
"But the police—should we give statements? We were here—"
"We didn't see anything. Come on."
They were almost at the exit when Nana suddenly stopped, turning back to look despite Xavier's gentle pressure forward.
"Starlight, don't—"
"There's a bullet hole," she said, her voice strange and distant. "In his forehead. I can see it from here."
Xavier's jaw tightened. "Nana—"
"And stab wounds. On his chest. And stomach." She looked up at Xavier, her pink eyes wide and shocked. "Who... who would kill someone like that? It's so cruel. So violent."
Each word was a knife in Xavier's chest.
"I don't know, Starlight. But we need to leave. Now."
She nodded shakily, and this time she let him guide her out of the mall, into the parking lot where his men had already pulled a car around.
The drive back was silent. Nana stared out the window, arms wrapped around herself, occasionally shuddering.
Xavier kept one hand on the wheel, the other finding hers and holding tight.
"I don't understand," she finally said. "How does someone do that? Kill another person so brutally? What kind of person..."
She trailed off, but Xavier heard the unspoken words.
*What kind of monster?*
He stared at the road ahead, his expression carefully neutral, while inside, the guilt threatened to consume him whole.
"I don't know, Starlight," he said quietly.
*What kind of monster?*
*Me. I'm the monster.*
*The one holding your hand.*
*The one who would do it again.*
*And again.*
*And again.*
*To keep you safe.*
Nana leaned against him in the car, seeking comfort from the very person who'd caused her terror.
And Xavier held her closer, the silver bracelet on his wrist catching the streetlight.
The butterfly charm glinted.
*What kind of person?*
The kind who loved her enough to become exactly the monster she feared.
If only she knew.
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To be continued.