The house fell silent after Kairo left. Selene stood in the hallway, barefoot, watching the door slowly close behind him.
She didn't move. Not yet.
She waited for the feeling to pass.
But it didn't.
She walked to the living room, picked up one of the prints hanging on the wall—an old black-and-white photo. A different city. A different life. Her smile in it was soft, unguarded.
A lie.
She turned the frame over. Taped behind it was a smaller photograph—one she kept hidden.
Kairo Reyes.
But younger.
Smiling on a beach with a camera, a girl clinging to his arm. Someone from long ago.
Selene stared at it for a long time.
Then set it on the table.
She poured herself a drink, ignoring the buzz of her phone. Too many texts. Too many eyes watching her that didn't understand.
Selene Vaughn wasn't just some rich girl looking for an aesthetic photo shoot.
She didn't find Kairo by chance.
She had looked for him.
Tracked him through clients. Social media. Whispers in the freelance art scene.
Because someone she once loved got their heart broken by him.
Or at least, that's what they told her.
And she had believed it. Until she saw him in person.
Now… she wasn't so sure.
Selene opened her laptop and pulled up a folder marked: "PROJECT: KAIRO."
Inside were screenshots, tagged names, and a list of girls—eleven.
Some still in town. Some who vanished from the internet.
All connected to him.
She tapped her finger on the most recent name.
Tessa Yuen – Model, disappeared from scene two months after dating Kairo Reyes. No press. No interviews.
Selene narrowed her eyes.
"You don't even know what you do to them, do you, Kairo?"
"You think you're cursed. But maybe…"
"Maybe it's not a curse. Maybe it's you."
She closed the folder, locked the screen, and looked out her window toward the city lights.
There was something magnetic about him.
Something dangerous.
Something broken.
She hadn't decided yet if she wanted to help him…
…or ruin him.
Kairo couldn't sleep.
The city hummed outside his window—cars groaning, sirens wailing in the distance—but his mind was stuck on one thing:
Her.
Selene Vaughn.
She spoke like someone who had seen straight into his soul. Not like the girls before her, who only loved the surface.
Selene had asked him if she broke his heart, would he add her to the collection?
That wasn't a flirt.
That was a challenge.
He rolled over and stared at the wall. Eleven pinned Polaroids. Eleven smiles.
He had promised himself long ago that the next one would be different.
But Selene felt like a risk he didn't know how to measure.
The next day, his phone buzzed.
Selene Vaughn:
Come back tomorrow. Same time. Bring the camera. We're not done yet.
No "please." No explanation. Just expectation.
Kairo stared at the screen for a long moment.
Then typed:
Why me?
No response came.
He wasn't surprised.
He showed up anyway.
This time, she met him barefoot, in a soft silk robe. Hair damp, no makeup.
No performance. No armor.
"Make me look like someone I used to be," she said, handing him a vintage locket. "Someone no one remembers."
Kairo hesitated. "Why are you doing this?"
Selene didn't answer. She just sat in the light, turning her face away from the lens like it hurt to be seen.
He took the shot.
Click.
Something cracked in her expression. Just for a second.
He lowered the camera. "You're not like the others."
Selene met his gaze. "Aren't I?"
"You're not chasing me."
"I don't need to chase what I already understand."
Kairo felt something tighten in his chest.
"Then tell me," he said, "what do you think I am?"
Selene didn't blink.
"I think you're dangerous in the quietest way," she whispered. "You make girls feel seen, then leave them emptier than before—because once you look away, no one else ever looks at them the same again."
It wasn't hate in her voice.
It was pity.
Kairo took a step back. "Is that what someone told you?"
"No," she said softly. "That's what I saw in your photos."
The shoot ended in silence.
This time, she didn't offer money.
She offered something worse: a question.
"When was the last time someone made you feel wanted without needing anything back?"
He had no answer.
Selene watched him leave, her locket still around her neck.
And for the first time, Kairo Reyes felt like he was the one being studied.
Kairo didn't know why he was editing Selene's photos.
He told himself it was just another gig, but something about her eyes—how they saw through him—made it hard to look away. Even in still images, she had that effect.
He was halfway through adjusting the lighting on one portrait when his phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He let it ring.
Then a message came.
"Is this still Kairo Reyes?"
Before he could reply, another message followed. This time with a photo.
His breath caught in his throat.
It was a photo he took. Four years ago.
Of a girl standing on a bridge at night, her head tilted back, laughing under city lights.
He knew that photo.
He knew her.
Lina.
His first love.
The one who left without a goodbye.
The one whose picture he never pinned to the wall because it hurt too much.
She was gone. Vanished. No trace. And now… now she was texting him?
"We need to talk."
"Please. It's about what happened back then. I shouldn't have left like that."
Kairo stared at the screen. His heart, carefully armored after years of bruises, was cracking at the seams.
He started typing.
Then stopped.
Then typed again.
Where are you?
She responded instantly.
"Not far. I can meet you tonight. Just say the place."
That night, the café felt too quiet.
Kairo sat by the window, tapping his fingers against his cup, watching strangers pass by with the kind of calm he hadn't felt in years.
Until she walked in.
Lina.
Same eyes. Softer now. More tired. Her hair was longer. Her smile slower.
And guilt clinging to her like perfume.
She sat across from him. No hug. No fake pleasantries.
Only three words.
"I messed up."
Kairo didn't speak. He couldn't. He was back in time, on rooftops, in stolen kisses, in whispered dreams of running away together. And then… in silence.
"You ghosted me," he said finally. "No note. No explanation. I woke up and you were just… gone."
Lina looked down. "I know. And I want to tell you why. But not all at once. There's something you need to understand first."
He raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"
She leaned in, her voice barely above a whisper.
"That girl you're seeing now—Selene Vaughn? You need to stay away from her."
"She's not who you think she is."