Ren’s expression changed immediately. It wasn’t panic; it looked like he recognized something.
The temperature in the room dropped fast enough to steal the air from my lungs.
The overhead lights flickered again, then again, buzzing loudly like they were about to give out. I looked toward the kitchen, but there was nothing there.
Still… the room didn’t feel empty. It felt crowded. Like there were too many people standing too close, even though I could only see me and Ren.
I didn’t like that feeling at all. The voice came closer again, this time. “Luna”
My stomach dropped. “Okay,” I whispered. “No, absolutely not.”
The lights went out. Everywhere was so dark I couldn’t even see Ren clearly anymore. For one horrible second, there was nothing except my heart pounding against my ribs and the sound of shallow breathing that I realized too late was mine.
Then something moved. Not footsteps exactly—more like the dark itself was shifting. The lights snapped back on suddenly. It made me flinch.
A man stood near the kitchen.
No—something that looked like a man. It was tall, a torn black robe clung to him, the edges of his body distorted strangely, blurry for half a second before settling again, like reality couldn’t fully decide what shape he was supposed to have.
And his face—
It was calm in the worst way possible. The second I met his gaze, I wished I hadn’t—his eyes were red in a way that made my entire body want to run.
“There you are.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay… I don’t know who you are, but you need to leave.”
The figure didn’t even look at me properly. Like I wasn’t worth focusing on. That alone made my chest tighten.
Ren went completely still beside me, then finally spoke in a low voice. “You shouldn’t be here.”
That made my head snap toward him immediately. “You know him?” I asked. “Of course, you know him.” I already hated the fact that I knew the answer.
Ren didn’t answer right away. His jaw tightened like he was holding something back. “…You’re early,” he said instead.
The figure smiled a small smile, like that meant something only he understood.
“And you are already unstable,” he replied.
I stepped forward slightly without thinking. “Excuse me? Hello? I am still here. Can someone explain what is happening in my apartment?”
The figure finally glanced at me just for a second. It looked like it was sizing me up and deciding I wasn’t important. “I am not here for you,” it said simply.
My mouth tightened immediately “Yeah, that is very obvious. But unfortunately for you, I am still here.”
Ren’s voice cut in, low. “Luna.”
I turned to him immediately. “Don’t ‘Luna’ me. I’m allowed to speak.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
The figure spoke again,“You remember the terms.”
Ren didn’t answer.
I let out a short laugh, but it came out tight. “Oh, I remember the terms just fine.”
I looked between them. “Cease to exist if you fail. Very dramatic wording, by the way. You could’ve gone with ‘disappear’ or ‘unbind’ or literally anything less psychopathic.”
The figure tilted its head slightly. “The wording is accurate.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you would say that.”
My hands curled slightly at my sides. “Ren. You are standing here like this thing didn’t just say it can erase you in front of me.”
Ren looked at me for a moment. “I am aware,” he said quietly.
“That is not an answer,” I said sharply, my brows pulling together as I stared at him.
Ren’s shoulders tensed slightly. He didn’t meet my eyes immediately. “It is the only one I have,” he said quietly,
The figure exhaled slowly, “You are deteriorating faster than expected,” it said again.
Ren gave a faint, tired sound. “I noticed.”
I looked at him sharply. “Are you going to explain any of this?”
His jaw tightened slightly. “No.”
That answer irritated me more than it should have.
“No?” I repeated, not believing what I had just heard. “That is your entire response?”
“Silence!”
The word cut through the room instantly. For a second, even I stopped talking without meaning to. My mouth was still open, but nothing came out.
Ren went quiet too.
The Broker didn’t move, didn’t raise its voice again. Then it spoke again, calm and steady. “You are wasting time,” it said.
Its eyes stayed on Ren. “This conversation is already past what you can afford.”
There was silence for a moment, then it added “And you are slipping further.”
“Wait… what do you mean?” I said, my voice coming out quieter than I intended, my throat suddenly feeling tight.
The figure’s gaze shifted toward me again, cold and unreadable.
“You will find out soon enough,” it said calmly.