Chapter 2 : Shadows on Silk Skin

(Lightning flashes. The speakeasy turns into a battlefield. Screams, gunfire, and glass rain down. But amidst the chaos, something raw begins to spark—an instinct to protect, to hold, to not let go.)

[ Mira shields Dahlia with a sharp movement, gun drawn. Her eyes search the room like a predator unleashed.]

Mira (cold and precise):

“Two snipers on the west roof. Reinforcements ETA three minutes.”

Dahlia (to Mira, furious):

“This was a trap. I want them alive, Mira.”

[Hana crouched behind the piano, clutching her arm—cut from flying glass. Eyes wide. Heart racing. Yet... she's watching Dahlia.]

Hana (thought bubble):

She moves like fire—burning everything that dares come near her. And still... I want to reach out.

---

[Scene — Evenie and Blossom watch through scoped lenses from across the street.]

Evenie (tense, speaking to herself):

“They’re targeting Hana too...”

Blossom (arms folded):

“They knew she’d be bait. Dahlia walked right into it. Someone wants to break her.”

Evenie (gritting teeth):

“Then we’re getting her out. I don’t care who Dahlia is—Hana’s mine to protect.”

---

[Back inside — D.U. flips over a table, exchanging gunfire with Mira. She's fast. Too fast.]

D.U. (laughing):

“You’re slipping, Mira! The queen made you soft!”

Mira (gritted voice):

“Say that again and I’ll break your jaw.”

[ Dahlia throws her coat over Hana, lifts her to her feet. Their faces inches apart. Hana trembles slightly.]

Hana (whispering):

“I didn’t think I’d die next to you…”

Dahlia (low, fierce):

“You won’t.”

[ Dahlia pushes Hana into Mira’s arms.]

Dahlia:

“Get her out. NOW.”

---

[Scene — Kea, Hana’s mother, watches the gunfight unfold from a dark car nearby. Beside her, an older man in a suit clutches a phone nervously.]

Kea (voice calm, deadly):

“She was supposed to be safe. You said the mafia wouldn’t find her.”

Man:

“She was never hidden from Dahlia…”

[Kea turns to him. Her smile is razor-thin.]

Kea:

“Then you just declared war.”

Lightning cracked across the sky—

not just in the heavens, but in Dahlia’s eyes.

The bar was dim, soaked in the scent of bourbon and blood. Flickering neon cast dancing shadows on slick floors. Rain pounded the rooftop like war drums. Inside, glass shattered. A chair toppled.

The thunder outside answered her command.

Hana [barked bruised but not broken, staggered backward, her breath caught between fear and disbelief. Her cheek bore the ghost of a slap—not Dahlia’s, but someone else’s wrath aimed at her for simply being by the mafia boss's side]

“You think this scares me?I’ve seen worse in your shadow.”

Flash—

Another bolt of lightning exposed the madness unfolding: Mira stood on the bar counter, pistol raised, sharp-eyed like a hawk protecting its nest. Her heels dug into glass. Her knuckles were bloodied, but her stance was unshaken.

Mira [shouted]

"Everyone out!,This isn't your fight. But if you stay, you’ll regret it."

Men scrambled—thugs, traitors, and a few loyal one s who dared look Dahlia in the eye before nodding and slipping away. The bar was thinning, but the danger only thickened.

Dahlia [cool and composed, fixed her sleeves like she was preparing for a wedding, not a war. Her voice came low, slow, and lethal]

“Why did you run, Hana?”

The question wasn’t casual. It was the weight of a decade pressed into a whisper.

Hana froze, eyes widening. She wanted to scream the truth:

Because loving you meant bleeding. Because loving you meant fire, and I was drowning.

But her lips quivered instead. The moment stretched between them like a drawn blade.

Hana

[murmured]:

"You... you never looked back when I left,So I thought you never cared."

Dahlia stepped forward.

Mira [warned]:

“One more step and I swear—!

Dahlia [softly]:

“Stand down, Mira,She’s not my enemy.”

But Mira didn’t budge. The loyalty carved into her bones wouldn’t let her.

Then the front door burst open—

gunfire outside, Blossom’s silhouette in the lightning. “We’ve got company! They followed us!”

Dahlia cursed under her breath, pulling Hana behind her like a sacred possession.

Evenie [Hana’s best friend, rushed in through the kitchen entrance, soaked, wild-eyed] :

“Hana! You have to choose now! Run or stay with her!”

[And for the first time—

truly the first time—

Hana stood tall.]

Hana:

“I’m done running.”

She grabbed Dahlia’s hand.

Mira's arms lowered, just slightly.

Outside, Rihanna was being pulled from a van by two loyal men. Her body limp, wounded—

—but breathing.

Dahlia [gently]:

“Mira,she’s safe. She's alive.”

[The gun clattered to the floor as Mira collapsed to her knees and amid the storm, the bar echoed with silence.]

One born not of fear—

—but of fragile, blooming hope.

[ Dahlia walks out last, gun low, eyes burning. Behind her, Blossom appears from an alley, umbrella tilted.]

Blossom (softly):

“You’re bleeding, boss.”

Dahlia (without looking at her):

“She was hurt.”

Blossom (smiling faintly):

“Ah. So it begins.”

---

[Narration]

They thought this was the end of a night. But for Dahlia and Hana, it was the beginning of something far more dangerous. And far more intimate.

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