Chapter 5 Chapter 5

Kael who had never surrendered anything to anyone found himself surrendering everything.

Adrian pressed his forehead down against his breathing hard.

Both of them were.

"I've got you," He said. Rough. Like the words cost him.

Kael closed his eyes.

Who do you belong to.

His chest did something complicated.

He didn't say it out loud. But the answer was still sitting there at the back of his teeth, same as before.

You. Apparently you.

....................

Dawn crept quietly through the curtains. Kael woke slowly, his head heavy but clearer than he expected. For a moment he didn’t move. The room felt unfamiliar, the air thick with the lingering scent of cologne and alcohol.

Then memory crashed back.

The club.

The blindfold.

Hands in his hair.

Adrian.

Kael sat up abruptly.

The room was empty.

His shirt lay crumpled on the floor beside the chair. The silk used to tie his wrists had been tossed aside on the small table but Adrian was gone.

Kael ran a hand through his hair, breathing slowly as he tried to piece together the night.

It felt surreal like some fevered dream. Yet the marks on his wrists where the silk had pressed into his skin told him it had been real.

Or at least… it should have been.

He dressed quickly, the alcohol haze fading as cold clarity returned to his thoughts.

The sky outside the club was just beginning to lighten when he stepped onto the street.

Around 3am, Kael’s car rolled back through the tall gates of the Ardent estate.

The mansion still glowed with music and light. The party hadn’t ended.

The older guests had likely gone to bed hours ago, but the younger crowd was still alive with energy.

Laughter and music spilled out through the open balcony doors.

Kael stepped inside.

The ballroom had transformed.

Jackets had been discarded. Shoes kicked aside. Glasses clinked loudly as groups of young elites lounged on couches or danced without restraint.

This wasn’t the polished celebration from earlier. This was the messy aftermath and Kael felt strangely detached from it all.

His eyes scanned the room searching, then he saw him.

Adrian stood near the center of the room, leaning lazily against a couch while a group of women crowded around him.

One sat beside him with her arm draped over his shoulders, laughing at something he had just said. Another leaned close, brushing a kiss against his cheek.

Adrian accepted it easily like he had been there all night.

Like nothing unusual had happened.

Kael felt something twist painfully in his chest.

He walked straight toward him.

The moment Adrian noticed him, his eyebrow lifted slightly in mild surprise.

“Well look who came back,” He said casually.

The women glanced between them curiously. Kael ignored them.

“We need to talk,” he said quietly.

Adrian tilted his head. “About what?”

Kael stared at him. For a moment he wondered if Adrian was joking.

“About tonight,” Kael said.

Adrian blinked once. Then he laughed.

The sound was easy and genuine enough that several of the women giggled along with him.

“Tonight?” Adrian repeated.

Kael’s patience snapped. “You know exactly what I mean.”

Adrian leaned back further against the couch, his arm sliding comfortably around the woman beside him.“Enlighten me.”

Kael felt heat creeping up his neck. “You followed me to the club,” he said quietly. “The room. The blindfold.”

For a brief moment Adrian simply stared at him. Then he frowned slightly, as if trying to recall something vague.

“A club?” He reapeated.

One of the women beside him snorted softly.

Adrian glanced at her before returning his attention to Kael. “You think I followed you somewhere?”

Kael’s stomach dropped. “Stop pretending.”

Adrian raised both hands in mock surrender. “I’m not pretending anything.” His eyes glittered faintly with amusement. “What exactly do you think happened?”

Kael opened his mouth. Then hesitated.

The words suddenly felt impossible to say.

Adrian noticed immediately.

“Go on,” he said smoothly. “Explain.”

The women around him were now watching openly, curious about the strange tension unfolding.

Kael’s pulse pounded in his ears. “You came into the room,” he said through clenched teeth.

Adrian waited. “And?”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “And you…” He stopped.

The room felt too quiet.

Adrian leaned forward slightly, his expression innocent. “I did what?”

Kael stared at him. The memories of the night flashed vividly through his mind.

The touch.

The kiss.

The look in Adrian’s eyes.

But standing here now, Adrian looked completely normal. Relaxed. Amused. Like none of it had ever happened.

Kael suddenly felt unsteady.

Adrian tilted his head again. “You’re saying you went to some club,” he said thoughtfully. “Got drunk.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “And now you think you imagined me there?”

Laughter rippled faintly from the nearby couch.

Kael’s chest tightened.

“No,” he said sharply.

Adrian shrugged. “Then what?”

Silence.

Kael realized something horrifying. To explain the situation… he would have to say it. Out loud.

In front of everyone.

He would have to admit he believed he had spent the night with Adrian.

Adrian watched him carefully. The faintest smile curved his lips again.

“Well?” he said softly.

Kael’s thoughts spiraled.

Had it been real?

Or had the alcohol twisted everything into something else entirely?

The certainty he’d felt earlier began to crack.

Adrian leaned back again, completely at ease. “You look like you had one hell of a dream,” he said lightly.

Kael felt like the floor beneath him had vanished.

He didn’t say another word.

The laughter behind him blurred into a distant noise as he turned and walked away from the room. Each step felt strangely heavy, like the floor beneath him had softened.

Adrian didn’t stop him. Didn’t call after him. That somehow made it worse.

Kael pushed through the hallway doors and into the quiet corridor leading toward the private wing of the mansion. 

The music from the party faded behind him until only silence followed.

His mind churned.

Had I imagined it?

The question repeated itself over and over.

The blindfold.

The hands.

The kiss.

The look in Adrian’s eyes.

But Adrian had stood there moments ago laughing like the whole thing was absurd.

Like Kael had completely lost his mind.

Kael rubbed a hand across his face as he climbed the stairs to his room.

Maybe Adrian was right.

Maybe he had been drunk enough to twist reality.

Maybe the man in the room hadn’t been Adrian at all. Just a stranger.

A stranger whose face he never even saw.

The thought made his stomach twist.