People think I'm unshakeable… but they don't know what it costs to survive.

High school was the hardest chapter of my life. My family collapsed piece by piece until I was the only one left holding the ruins. I worked nights, studied at dawn, lived in silence. Survival became routine. Pain became background noise.

By college, I was a former basketball player turned scholar—tall, intimidating, calm, focused. Becoming a prosecutor was the dream I clung to.

I thought my life was already at its worst… until I saw you behind the old gym.

Outnumbered. Bleeding. Cornered. Yet your eyes were too calm for someone being beaten.

I stepped in, fought them off, took the bruises myself. When I reached out, you brushed my hand away.

"I don't need help."

Cold. Flat. Emotionless.

But I recognized it—the kind of emptiness only people abandoned by the world understand. So I stayed close. Quietly. Just enough for you to know you're not alone. Our unlikely friendship began there.

Then Aeriza entered my life.

Warm smile. Soft laughter. A gentleness I didn’t think I deserved. I fell quietly. Kept our relationship in secret because I couldn’t risk her safety… especially not with you in the picture.

Until I learned the truth: her sibling was one of your victims. Aeriza’s grief twisted into anger. She wanted you punished, caged, erased. I understood her. I loved her. I wanted to save her from the darkness consuming her.

So I stayed with you—not out of love, but to protect her from you. To keep you from spiraling… and to keep her from trying to destroy you.

You let me in. You never pushed me away. Sometimes you asked me for things and I did them—loyal, obedient—acting as if I cared romantically. But my heart belonged to Aeriza. I had to pretend, or you and Aeriza would destroy each other.

Then one day, the news broke: the bullies from your past had their futures ruined in different, tragic ways. I knew it was you.

"So what if it's me? Are you scared, Hiro?"

Fear wasn’t the issue. It was the truth—that somewhere inside your cruelty, there was still a piece of humanity trying to survive.

Years passed. I became Prosecutor Villafuerte. You became a feared celebrity, destroying anyone who stood in your way. And I kept trying to pull you back from the edge.

Tonight, I returned to my penthouse and found you lounging on my couch like a queen. Another celebrity ruined—your doing. Anger simmered, but so did understanding. And I remembered Aeriza. Why I stayed. Why I couldn’t let you fall deeper.

I walked to the kitchen, avoiding your eyes. A glass of water. A steadying breath.

Then your arms wrapped around my waist from behind.

"You knew," you murmured. "But you know me… I only did that to survive."

Your cheek pressed to my back.

And I stood there—trapped between two worlds: the woman I loved in secret, and the woman I protected… because if I didn’t, everyone else would bleed.