Our footsteps echoed through the narrow alley.

  I wasn’t sure why they sounded so much louder than usual… or maybe, I was just paying too much attention to them.

  The sky was painted in muted shades of orange, the long shadows of skyscrapers stretching across the pavement.

  The st light of the sun bled away into the horizon—taking something in me along with it.

  Everything looked normal.

  But I knew—normal was just an illusion.

  Kevin walked ahead of me, his long strides sharp and deliberate. He moved like someone who knew exactly where he was going… or maybe, he just wanted to see how much I could remember.

  “What were you doing at the abandoned warehouse?”

  The question slipped out before I could stop it.

  Kevin didn’t turn around.

  No answer. No pause. Not even the slightest hitch in his step.

  But I noticed it.

  He stopped breathing for a second.

  “Just personal business.”

  His voice was ft.

  Too short. Too quiet. Too closed-off.

  It was the kind of answer that screamed don’t ask again.

  “Personal business that got you shot?”

  Kevin stopped walking.

  It was so abrupt that I nearly crashed into his back.

  My heart clenched.

  He stood there, still as stone, in the middle of the empty street. The te sunlight cast long shadows across his back, but I could feel it—something heavy in the air around him.

  Then, he turned.

  And for a fleeting second, I saw it—

  Pale blue eyes catching the dying light.

  Cold. Guarded. Holding something deeper than I could understand.

  Then, in the next breath—gone.

  Locked away.

  “I’m serious.”

  I refused to back down, even as something in my chest twisted.

  “If it was that dangerous, why were you there?”

  Kevin held my gaze for another second.

  Then, he exhaled, voice smooth and unreadable.

  “Some things aren’t worth knowing.”

  I knew he wasn’t just talking about the warehouse.

  He was telling me—this isn’t your business.

  And then, just like that, he turned back and kept walking.

  As if the conversation never happened.

  As if my questions didn’t matter.

  But I knew now—

  Something had changed.

  Not in Kevin.

  In me.

  We stopped in front of the convenience store I had visited that night.

  Everything looked the same… and yet, something felt off.

  “Are you buying anything?”

  I asked, mostly to fill the silence.

  Kevin gnced at me, then gave a faint smile.

  “Just passing by.”

  Liar.

  He wasn’t just passing by.

  He was looking for something.

  And more than that—he was waiting to see if I would find something first.

  I stopped walking.

  Then, my stomach twisted.

  Because I saw it.

  A stain on the pavement.

  A dark patch of blood, faded but still there—stubborn evidence of what had happened.

  I knew whose blood it was.

  My fingers went cold.

  I touched my lips without thinking.

  I didn’t know why it was affecting me so much.

  I wasn’t scared… but the feeling cwing at my ribs wasn’t something I could put into words.

  “Remember anything?”

  Kevin’s voice was smooth. Too smooth. Like he already knew the answer.

  I inhaled sharply, forcing my eyes shut.

  Fshes of memory slipped past the walls in my mind—scattered, distorted.

  Then, one image surfaced.

  Someone.

  I couldn’t see his face. I couldn’t remember his clothes.

  But there was one thing I knew for certain—

  The snake tattoo on his hand.

  My eyes snapped open.

  “I saw…”

  My voice came out strained, almost breathless.

  “…a snake.”

  Kevin went silent for a second.

  Then, I saw it—

  Something in his eyes flickered, sharp and sudden.

  Something dangerous.

  "Kevin..."

  My voice came out quieter than I intended.

  Not from fear—something deeper than that.

  I knew it now.

  I knew what I saw.

  I knew it mattered.

  And I knew—I shouldn’t say it out loud.

  But I had no choice. I was already cornered.

  "I think... I saw something that night."

  Kevin didn’t answer right away.

  He just... looked at me.

  His eyes were too bnk, yet somehow too heavy. Like a weight pressing down, keeping me in pce.

  Every second of his silence felt like I was sinking deeper into something I couldn’t escape from.

  "Then say it."

  His voice was level. Controlled.

  Not rushed, not slow.

  But I knew—he wasn’t joking.

  I swallowed. Took a breath.

  "...A man."

  One word.

  That was all it took for the air around us to shift.

  I could feel it—Kevin was listening.

  Not just hearing. Listening.

  "He walked past me. I didn’t see his face… but I saw his tattoo."

  I wasn’t even aware of my own breathing anymore.

  The image in my mind started sharpening.

  I closed my eyes—let it pull me back to that night.

  ...Footsteps on the rain-slick pavement.

  ...The damp chill raising goosebumps on my skin.

  ...The streetlight catching on something—something etched into his right hand.

  "It was on the back of his hand."

  I lifted my own hand without thinking, pressing my fingers to the same spot.

  The memory was imprinted there.

  "A snake. A bck-and-gold snake… its head raised, its eyes sharp—"

  The picture was coming together now.

  And in that exact moment—

  I felt the temperature drop.

  Kevin was still.

  Not his usual stillness.

  This was something else.

  The kind of stillness when someone makes a decision in a split second.

  Then, he moved.

  His hand drifted to his wrist.

  I followed the motion, watching without meaning to—like witnessing something I wasn’t supposed to see.

  He undid his cufflink. Slowly.

  Too slow. Or maybe too fast for me to process.

  Bck and gold.

  Coiled metal, shaped into the form of a cobra—fangs bared, gleaming under the dim streetlights.

  "This?"

  My world tilted.

  I wasn’t sure if it was my breath catching—

  Or the sheer weight of the realization smming into me all at once.

  It was the same.

  The bck-and-gold snake I saw that night—

  It was right here.

  On his cufflink.

  In Kevin’s hands.

  "That…" My throat was dry. My voice barely there. "...What does that mean?"

  Kevin paused.

  Not like he was hesitating—more like he was deciding how much to let me know.

  Then, he said it.

  "The mark of Surn."

  Surn.

  I had heard that name before.

  I knew what they were.

  But I never thought—never imagined—

  They were this close to me.

  Kevin turned the cufflink between his fingers, watching me carefully.

  Not like he was testing me.

  More like he was measuring how much I already understood.

  "Surn isn’t just me. Or Jacklen."

  His voice was calm, too calm.

  "You know how many there are, don’t you?"

  I frowned. "What do you mean?"

  Kevin let out a quiet chuckle, leaning against the wall.

  "You think Surn only has a few dozen members?"

  I stared at him.

  My stomach dropped.

  Wait.

  I knew Surn was dangerous, but—

  I always assumed they were like any other syndicate. A hundred members, maybe more.

  At most, a couple of thousand.

  But the way Kevin was looking at me now— I knew.

  I had severely underestimated them.

  "We’re talking about an organization bigger than some entire countries," Kevin said, voice unreadable.

  Tens of thousands?

  Hundreds of thousands?

  And all of them had the same mark?

  How the hell was I supposed to find that one man among them?

  I clenched my fists. A cold shiver ran down my spine.

  I only had a single clue.

  A tattoo.

  But if there were thousands of Surn members—

  If every single one of them bore the same mark—

  That meant...

  I would never know who it was.

  "So that means… the person hunting me—"

  "Yes."

  I knew it now.

  I wasn’t just a girl who walked past the wrong street at the wrong time.

  I was a loose end.

  A thread that they needed to cut.

  "Right now, I’m the only one who knows what you saw."

  Kevin’s gaze locked onto mine. Steady.

  No threats.

  No coercion.

  Just the pin, undeniable truth.

  "And I’m the only one keeping you safe from it."

  I swallowed hard, lifting my head to meet his eyes.

  I didn’t want to believe it.

  But I knew—

  He wasn’t lying.

  "...And if I just don’t remember anything?"

  My voice was quiet. My hands were freezing.

  "Then the only people who’ll care about you—"

  Kevin’s eyes didn’t waver.

  "—are the ones who want you dead."

  The air felt heavier.

  The shadow of Surn was closing in.

  I knew now—I couldn’t run from this anymore.

  I couldn’t sleep this away.

  I couldn’t forget.