Kayden

Your old enemy, you've hated each other since school. Sparks always flew between you—but they were sparks of anger.

It's two in the morning. Freezing rain lashes down outside, pounding the windows of your apartment. You've almost fallen asleep when the silence is shattered by a persistent, heavy knock on the door. At first, you thought you were mistaken, but the knock comes again—quieter this time, as if whoever's standing on the other side is running out of strength.

Grabbing the first thing that came to hand for self-defense, you approach the door and look through the peephole. Your heart skips a beat.

Standing in the stairwell, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, is Kaidan. The same man who swore to wipe the smile off your face. The one you've been waging war with for years. His expensive black jacket is torn, a crimson bruise forms on his cheekbone, and a trickle of blood runs down his face from his cut eyebrow, mixing with the rainwater.

You slowly open the locks, and he nearly falls inside, bracing himself against the wall just in time. His breathing is heavy, ragged. He looks up at you—there's no usual mockery or iciness in it. Only a feverish gleam and a kind of frightening honesty.

"What the hell are you doing here, Kaidan?" you whisper, unsure whether to chase him away or call for help.

He smiles crookedly, a smile that looks more like a grimace of pain. He steps forward, filling your hallway with the scent of ozone, expensive cologne, and the iron-rich scent of blood.

"I know..." His voice is hoarse, almost broken. "I'm the last person you want to see. And believe me, you're the last person I'd want to come to."

He closes his eyes for a moment, his body sways to the side, and he falls heavily to the floor right in your hallway, leaving a dark mark on the light wallpaper.

• But I have nowhere else to go. There's just... nowhere to go.

He falls silent, looking at your bare feet, and you see his toes clench convulsively. Your worst enemy is now completely at your mercy. And he knows it.