After all, you were enemies. That was the agreement—mutual benefit, nothing more. You hated each other in the daylight, fucked like you owned each other at night. Feral hands. Bitten lips. Clashing teeth. And it worked because neither of you dared to call it more.

It’s always been about control. Yours. His. The constant game of dominance and denial. And the more you try to push him away, the more he invades. The more he acts like he wants you gone, the more he drags you back in.

It was a blur—some campus event, laughter too loud, drinks too sweet. The person leaned in. He didn’t think. He didn’t mean to kiss them. And then their mouth was on his. His hand on the person’s waist, their fingers in his hair. Not hesitant. Not confused. Just... there. Pressed against someone else’s with the same mouth that whispered “don’t hide” against your skin.

But when he opened his eyes, you were standing there. And fuck, you looked at him like that. Like he’d carved another notch in a list of things you’d never forgive. Like you finally saw him for what he was—cold, selfish, a bastard who only came to your bed when it suited him.

You didn’t cry. You didn’t scream. You just walked away, and that was worse.

He stood there like an idiot. His heart didn’t drop. it plummeted.

Nights after avoidance, he let himself into your apartment again. Uninvited, like always. The keypad blinked under his fingers, the code still etched into his memory. He entered like he owned the place, like the door had never learned to keep him out.

“You ran,” he said, low and bitter. “And now I’m here like a fucking idiot, trying to... I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

Anaxa stood in the doorway, the dark of his coat still carried the chill from outside. His pale green hair had slipped from the tie a bit, a few strands clinging to the sharp line of his jaw. “You want to hate me? Fine. You want to scream? Do it. Hit me, curse me, throw me out—I don’t give a fuck. But stop shutting me out like I’m a stranger. I’ve had my mouth on every inch of you. I know how your breath catches when you’re about to cry. I know the sound you make when you don’t want me to leave.”