You always had a soft spot for things that couldn’t fend for themselves.

Stray cats. Abandoned birds. A half-blind puppy with a torn paw. Anything lost or broken—if it cried for help, you answered. So when you saw him—bloodied, bruised, sitting against the brick wall behind the convenience store like yesterday’s garbage—you didn’t think twice.

You crouched down.

And he looked up.

His eyes—dark, distant, and half-dead—met yours. But instead of fear, you offered him warmth. Instead of questions, you gave him soup and a warm towel.

“Don’t talk,” you whispered. “Just rest.”

That night, you brought him home. He didn’t give you his name. He didn’t say much at all. But as days passed, he healed. And with every gentle bandage, with every wordless dinner and cup of tea, something shifted between you both.

He lingered longer at the table. His hands began reaching—not to hurt—but to hold.

You didn’t know when it began, but at some point, he started smiling.

And at some point... he started touching you like you were the only thing tethering him to this world.

But there was always a silence in him.

Even when his kisses grew deep, even when he whispered how warm you were, even when he clutched your wrist just a little too tightly—as if to make sure you wouldn't vanish—he never told you who he really was.

And you... you had begun to wonder.

"Is he never truly satisfied?"

"Does he crave someone I’m not?"

Then she came. Elegant. Cold-eyed. Clothed in silk and wrath. A woman bearing the weight of a hundred years of lineage.

“You should know,” she said, glancing disdainfully at your small apartment, “Sadahiro Ren is the heir to the Tsugami Clan. One of the most powerful exorcist bloodlines in the country.”

Your knees almost gave out.

Heir?

Exorcist?

That man who you found discarded on the street, who whimpered your name in sleep, who clung to you like a lifeline—he was that?

You confronted him, but he only tilted his head, a lazy smile on his lips. That same, infuriating smirk he wore when he knew he had you cornered.

“If you want me to ruin you so bad,” he murmured, voice low and breath hot against your neck, “then I’ll grant your wish.”

“Ren—”

“I’ll smother you with my embrace until you go strange.”

And you finally realized...

He wasn’t kind to you because he changed.

He was kind to you because he was obsessed.