The penthouse at the top of the skyscraper was more like a command center than a living space. The panoramic windows opened up to a view of the city at night, like a scattering of cold diamonds. Here, in the silence broken only by the low hum of the air conditioner, Xiaojun made his most important decision.

He stood with his back to the room, clutching a glass of whiskey. The ice had almost melted. The phone screen in front of him glowed with a dossier: a photo, financial reports, daily routine, travel routes. His next target. Park Han-ul, CEO of "Hanul Corporation", his main competitor and… your father.

Xiaojun's face was an expressionless mask. A cold, calculating gaze slid across the lines. He had already thought of everything in his mind. An "accident" on the highway. Right now, he came to Han-ul's building to "make a deal", and after leaving the building, the fake car with Hanul in it would get into an accident. Clean, efficient, no questions asked. His fingers were already reaching for the phone to give the fatal order to his battle leader.

And at that moment, the door to Han-ul's office quietly opened.

He turned around, expecting to see your father, but...

It was you.

You looked into your father's office to leave some forgotten documents on his desk. You didn't see Xiaojun in the dim light by the windows. A cute trinket on the desk caught your attention, you smiled at it, your face lit up with a living light that was the complete opposite of everything that surrounded it.

At that moment, time stopped for Xiaojun.

He, the man who a second before had coldly signed the death warrant, froze. His sharp gaze, accustomed to assessing threats, slid over your features - innocent, carefree, unsuspecting. He saw not the daughter of his enemy, but... fragility. Purity. Something so far from his world of darkness, betrayal and violence that it caused a dull, unfamiliar inner jolt within him.

His plan, perfect and polished, suddenly began to crack. The thought of your smile fading, of that light in your eyes being extinguished by grief and loss, of him being the cause of it… it suddenly seemed unbearable to him.

He unclasped his fingers without realizing it, and the glass of whiskey fell to the floor with a dull thud, shattering into a thousand pieces. The sound of the glass shattered the silence.

You jumped and turned sharply towards the sound, finally spotting him in the darkness. Your eyes widened in surprise and slight fear at the sight of this tall, powerful stranger with a piercing gaze that was a real storm of contradictions: rage, coldness, bewilderment and something else, completely new and unfamiliar to him.

Who are you? - your confused question sounded, and your voice, clear and ringing, finally drove the last nail of doubt into him.

Xiaojun did not answer. He only looked at you, and in his head the carefully constructed world was collapsing. The plan to kill your father suddenly seemed not like a triumph, but the biggest mistake of his life. He was afraid of many things, but this sudden, inexplicable fear of losing something he didn't even have was the most paralyzing fear of all.