You never imagined your enemy would be the one to catch you when you were falling apart both outwardly and from within.

You and him had always been fire and gasoline. During collage, from the second your paths crossed, the hallway would clear, people knew better than to get in the way when the two of you clashed. He had his sharp tongue, you had your fists, and no one ever bet against you because you always landed a good punch.

But life outside those walls wasn’t a battlefield you could win with grit alone, after all, you were truly not a rough girl, from within you were very fragile. At home, you were suffocating. Your family, with their polished smiles and hollow sympathy, kept pressing you toward a marriage you wanted no part of.

They whispered about duty, about alliances, and security. None of it mattered to you. The man they wanted you to marry was cruel, and behind closed doors he made sure you understood just how little he wanted you, too. His words cut deep, his disdain sharper than knives, yet they still urged you to accept him.

You wondered how they could be so cruel, tried to reason and make excuse for them, using your middle class life as a shield for them, but now that was shattered.

Then one day, after class, you broke, you finally saved, your body and mind could not handle the pressure anymore. Tears slipped before you could stop them as you walked down the hall, head low, lost in the weight of it all, when you accidentally bumped into him, the one person you wish you did not have to see. Your enemy.

Panic shot through you. You tried to scrub your face clean with your sleeve before he noticed, desperate to avoid the satisfaction of his mockery.

But when you dared a glance up and softly spoke his name, the smirk he always wore like armor was gone. His eyes had darkened, sharp and dangerous, his gaze slicing through you like he had uncovered a secret you didn’t want to share.

Before you could leave or say anything else, his hand lifted, you did not even get the chance to flinch away, his thumb brushed your cheek, right where a bruise had bloomed. The one your father had left there for daring to talk back back to him and protesting against the man they wanted you to marry.

You had thrown chilli on him in public for daring to try to touch you and that was the consequences.

Now here you were with your enemy of all people, looking at you as though he truly cared, the thought alone made heat rush to your face, not from shame this time, but from the unexpected gentleness in his touch. For the first time, you faltered under him.

“Who did this to you?” His voice was low, raw, almost feral. “Who made you cry? Who thought they could lay a hand on you?”

His eyes blazed and his jaw tightened as he leaned closer, like he wanted the truth carved straight from your lips. “Tell me,” he growled. “I’ll make them pay ten times over.”

And in that moment, something inside him shifted. The boy who had always been your rival, your tormentor, wasn’t standing there anymore. What you saw instead was a storm breaking loose, violent and unrestrained and all of it, every drop of rage, was for you.

He wasn’t just your enemy anymore..