Chapter One – The Stranger in the Dark

The rain hit the pavement like whispered secrets—soft but steady, soaking through the city’s usual noise and neon. It was the kind of night Mei Lin liked best. The kind where no one paid attention. The kind where she could vanish between streetlamps, wrapped in shadows and the scent of wet earth.

Her shift at Tea Garden Café had run an hour too long. Again.

The old man who owned the place didn’t care that the electricity flickered, or that the gutters outside were overflowing. As long as Mei Lin smiled at customers and refilled the jasmine teapots, she was useful. Replaceable. Forgettable.

Just how she wanted it.

She tightened the knot of her thin scarf, pulled her hoodie over her head, and stepped out into the rain. The street was mostly empty—only a few late-night cyclists swerving through puddles and a sleeping stray curled under a noodle stand. Neon lights from the karaoke bar across the street reflected in the puddles like fractured stars.

She took three steps. And then she heard it.

A crash. Glass shattering. Heavy footsteps slamming the pavement. Her body froze, instincts screaming don’t move. But her eyes—curious, foolish—looked.

A man stumbled out of the alley to her left. Young, barely older than her. Blood ran down his sleeve, staining his white shirt a deep, awful red. He looked over his shoulder once—then limped past her without a word.

And that’s when he appeared.

The second figure moved with deliberate calm. No limp. No panic. Just… presence. The kind that made the air thinner. He wore a long black coat, glistening with rain. His dress shirt, dry beneath it, clung to his chest like armor. His face was carved from marble—sharp cheekbones, smooth jawline, lips unsmiling. But it was his eyes that made Mei Lin forget how to breathe.

Cold. Dark. Commanding. Like he saw everything and judged it already.

He stopped just a few feet away. Right in front of her.

“You saw nothing.”

His voice was low. Velvet wrapped around steel. No emotion, but somehow it still made her skin tingle.

“I—I was just leaving,” Mei Lin said, stepping back. Her fingers gripped her umbrella like it could save her.

His eyes flicked down to it. Then back up to her.

“You work here?”

“Yes.” Her voice was smaller than she liked.

He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. His gaze felt like a blade pressed to her neck—testing, not cutting. Yet.

“You’re not afraid,” he said.

It wasn’t a question.

Mei Lin swallowed hard. “I didn’t say that.”

Something flickered across his face. Not quite a smile—just the barest twitch of one corner of his mouth. Amusement? Curiosity?

“Name,” he said.

She blinked. “What?”

“Your name.”

She hesitated. He waited.

“…Mei Lin.”

He repeated it softly, like tasting it.

“Pretty name. Don’t get yourself killed using it in places like this.”

“I didn’t—” she started, but he was already turning.

Then he paused.

“Tell your boss to close early tomorrow.”

“What? Why?”

He didn’t answer. Just walked off into the darkness like he belonged to it. And the alley swallowed him whole.

Mei Lin stood there long after the silence returned, the rain still falling.

Her heart hammered inside her chest, even though nothing had happened.

But something had. She felt it.

There was something terrifying about the way he looked at her. Not with lust. Not even threat. It was like she’d been marked—seen in a way no one had ever seen her before. And now, she couldn’t hide.

She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know what he’d done.

But she knew this much:

She should’ve been scared.

And yet… part of her wasn’t.

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