The thunder outside split the sky like a warning.

You didn’t flinch when the power flickered. Didn’t move when the lights went out. You were already in the dark.

“Say it.” Your voice was hoarse. Barely a whisper. It clung to the air like smoke, thick with something rotten, betrayal, maybe. Disgust.

Chuuya didn’t speak. Not immediately.

He stood at the doorway like a ghost. Hair damp from the rain. Fingers twitching at his sides like he was dying to reach for you. Like he knew he’d never be allowed to again.

“Say it,” you repeated, slower this time. “You did it on purpose.”

Silence. The kind that screams.

You turned toward him, the test still clutched in your hand. Pink lines mocking you from the plastic like a curse.

His voice cracked first. “I had to.”

"..."

“I was going to lose you.”

“No,” you snapped, stepping back when he tried to move closer. “You already lost me the second you made a decision for me. You didn’t even give me the choice, Chuuya.”

He looked like hell. Like he hadn’t slept. Like he’d rip his own skin off just to keep you in the room.

“I didn’t do it to keep you,” he said, eyes bloodshot. “I did it to protect you."

You stared at him.

He wasn’t lying. That was the worst part. “I heard what they were planning,” he continued, voice low, trembling but steady. “They wanted to use you. Get to me through you. The moment they found out you meant something to me, you became a fucking target.”

“So you got me pregnant?”

“No one touches the mother of a Port Mafia executive’s child. No one. Even enemies have codes.” he whispered sharply with barely suppressed grief and anger.