Morning sunlight trickled through the apartment's thin curtains, painting warm lines across the wooden floor. It was the first quiet morning either of them had experienced in weeks—no Core alarms, no city-wide tremors, no system warnings echoing through the air. Just stillness.
Seo Jin woke first.
He blinked up at the ceiling, letting the silence settle into his bones. No humming under his skin, no flicker of light behind his eyes. His body felt heavy, solid, undeniably human. It was strange… but comforting.
Beside him, Li Ran was curled slightly toward him, still asleep. His hair was a soft mess across the pillow, his breath slow and peaceful. The exhaustion of the past days had carved faint shadows under his eyes, but even then, he looked impossibly gentle.
Seo Jin watched him for a moment, heart tightening in a way he couldn't quite explain. Last night's confession—the trembling words, the tears, the desperation—still echoed in his mind, warm and terrifying.
