MIRA
Escaping had started to feel like a habit now.
No matter where I went, trouble somehow found its way back to me like it was personally attached to my existence.
And just like a frightened rat cornered with no place left to hide, the only thing I knew how to do anymore was run—as fast as I could.
Just like always, I was running for my life again after embarrassing myself for what felt like the hundredth time.
But this time, it was entirely that pervert's fault.
That man seriously had no understanding of personal privacy. The situation could have stayed simple and manageable, but somehow, every single time, that monster found a way to interfere and make everything ten times worse.
Since the house was only walking distance from the university, I ended up running the entire way back.
By the time I reached the bakery, I stopped abruptly in front of it, bending slightly as heavy breaths escaped my lungs. My face was lowered, eyes tightly shut as I tried to recover both physically and emotionally.
Then I heard the soft clink of the bakery door opening.
"Mira!"
Aunt Shu-Zhen hurried outside immediately.
"Oh dear, why did you run all the way here like that?" she asked worriedly. "I was about to call for help!"
She gently brushed my back, trying to calm my breathing while I stood there dying from both exhaustion and humiliation at the same time.
And help?
I would genuinely rather die than ask another human being to retrieve my bra from someone else's rooftop because of the freaking wind.
"No, Aunty…" I said between breaths, trying to recover whatever dignity I still had left. "I can do it myself."
Then I slowly looked up toward the neighboring house.
And there it was.
My bra.
Lying proudly over the rooftop of the house like some premium showroom display item placed there for public advertisement.
I closed my eyes for one painful second.
Amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
"Just… can you do me a favour aunty and help me get a ladder," I muttered weakly.
After arguing with Aunt Shu-Zhen for almost ten minutes, she finally agreed to bring the ladder.
And somewhere during all that chaos, I also found out that the people living in the neighboring house were currently out of town.
Honestly, that alone gave me a little relief.
Because as humiliating as this situation already was, it was still better than having strangers witness my undergarments decorating their rooftop balcony.
As Aunt Shu-Zhen headed toward the basement storage to get the ladder, I stayed outside near the bakery entrance, staring up at the roof of the neighbours house with my mouth slightly open in disbelief.
I still couldn't accept this was happening to me.
Then suddenly—
I felt it.
That familiar presence stopping right beside me.
Tall.
Broad.
Annoyingly silent.
Like a giant wall had materialized out of nowhere.
My irritation returned instantly.
Without even looking at him, I moved a step away.
Immediately.
The movement was so obvious that even a blind person would have noticed it.
Beside me, Yuze let out a quiet breath through his nose.
"You ran all the way home for this?"
I crossed my arms immediately.
"You followed me all the way here for this?"
"I live here."
"Unfortunately."
A brief silence passed.
Then he spoke again.
"As your landlord, I was curious about what kind of mess my problematic tenant created this time."
I slowly turned toward him in disbelief.
"Problematic tenant?"
"You sprinted home like the police were after you."
"That was because of you!"
"I didn't throw your clothes off the balcony."
"The wind would have been enough! You didn't have to secretly listen too!"
"That wasn't intentional."
I narrowed my eyes.
"You still listened."
"And now I regret it."
I gasped softly in offense.
"Oh wow. Amazing. Thank you for your emotional support during this difficult time."
"You're welcome."
The calmness in his voice made me want to fight a wall.
I looked away from him and back toward the rooftop again.
"This is humiliating."
"You're overreacting."
I snapped my head toward him instantly.
"My undergarment is hanging on someone else's rooftop and I'm overreacting?"
He stayed silent for two seconds.
Then very calmly—
"…Fair point."
I blinked.
That was the first time this man had ever agreed with me about anything.
And somehow…
It couldn't feel any better.
Meanwhile, Aunt Shu-Zhen finally came out carrying the ladder with visible difficulty.
But the moment she noticed Yuze standing beside me, her face instantly brightened in relief.
"Oh! Yuze, thank God you're here!" she said quickly before handing the ladder directly to him.
And honestly…
Out of everyone in the world, was he the only last person I wanted help from right now?
Aunt Shu-Zhen stepped closer to him and lowered her voice as if trying to whisper secretly.
Unfortunately for her, I could still hear it perfectly because I was shamelessly listening.
"See, Yuze," she murmured, "this is a good chance to apologize to Mira… And it's pretty high up there. She could get hurt, so can you…"
"But it seems like she doesn't want that," he said suddenly.
I looked up immediately.
He was already looking at me.
I straightened my posture instantly and crossed my arms.
"Aunty, like I said, I can do it myself," I replied firmly. "And you know how embarrassing this already is."
"I know, dear," she sighed softly, "but when someone might get hurt, people shouldn't think about embarrassment first."
And annoyingly enough…
she was right.
She was always somehow on my side no matter what happened, which honestly made me respect her more than anyone else in this house.
But even then—
out of all people—
I really didn't want his help.
So, deciding not to waste any more time arguing, I finally grabbed the ladder myself.
"It's fine, Aunty," I said firmly. "As long as you're down here, I know nothing bad will happen."
Aunt Shu-Zhen looked both touched and worried at the same time.
I adjusted my grip on the ladder and tried pulling it toward the neighboring balcony.
Except—
it didn't move.
At all.
I frowned slightly and pulled harder.
Still nothing.
My expression slowly darkened as I looked down.
His hand was still holding the side of the ladder casually.
And no matter how much force I used, the thing refused to move even an inch.
What exactly was this man built out of?
Concrete? Steel? Mountain rocks?
"Let go," I said, glaring at him in irritation.
He didn't answer.
Not even a single word.
Instead, he simply took the ladder right out of my hands with one smooth movement and walked forward before positioning it properly against the wall leading toward the balcony.
I stood there watching him do it, my annoyance growing even more.
The worst part?
He was doing everything so naturally that it somehow made me feel like I was the unreasonable one here.
"I'm holding it tight. You go up," he said calmly.
I stared at him for a second.
Is he… helping me?
No.
Impossible.
This had to be some new method of irritating me psychologically.
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "And if I fall?"
"You won't."
"That confidence sounds dangerous."
He placed one hand firmly against the ladder, the other gripping the side rail easily.
"You talk too much for someone who was in a hurry two minutes ago."
I opened my mouth to argue again—
then looked up toward the balcony.
Right.
The mission.
The humiliation hanging proudly above civilization.
I let out a defeated sigh and finally stepped onto the first rung of the ladder carefully.
"This is all your fault somehow," I muttered under my breath while climbing.
Behind me, I heard Aunt Shu-Zhen gasp softly.
"Yuze! Hold it properly!"
"I am."
"Properly properly!"
"Ma, if I hold it any tighter, the ladder will file a complaint."
I almost choked trying not to laugh.
Wait.
Did this man just make a joke?
I paused mid-step in genuine shock and slightly turned my head.
Unfortunately, the movement made me wobble a little.
Instantly, Yuze's grip on the ladder tightened.
"Face forward," he said immediately, his voice lower this time. "And stop moving around."
The sudden seriousness in his tone made my heartbeat skip strangely.
Not romantically.
More like—
the terrifying awareness that if I actually slipped right now, this situation would become tomorrow's funeral topic.
I carefully climbed onto the rooftop balcony and immediately looked down at Yuze below.
He was staring up at me with that same unreadable expression, though there was something in his face that looked almost impatient—like he wanted this disaster to end as quickly as possible.
Right.
The mission.
The bra.
I slowly turned my head toward the roof, it was far up from the balcony where the piece of humiliation was hanging proudly in the wind.
Then my expression dropped.
Wait.
How was I supposed to reach that thing?
From below, it didn't look that far at all.
But now that I was up here, I realized it had landed near the outer edge beside the next section of the roof.
Which meant I would actually have to climb farther up.
I stared at it in silence.
"Oh God…" I muttered under my breath. "Can this day get any worse?"
"What happened?" Aunt Shu-Zhen called worriedly from below.
I leaned slightly over the railing.
"It's farther than it looked!"
A pause.
Then from below, Yuze spoke calmly.
"Of course it is."
I glared down at him instantly.
"Why do you sound happy about my suffering?"
"I'm not."
"You emotionally are."
He ignored that completely.
"Move back," he suddenly said.
I frowned. "Why?"
Instead of answering, he started climbing the ladder himself.
My eyes widened slightly.
Wait.
Why was he coming up here?!
"Aunty!" I called down immediately. "Your son is invading my privacy again!"
"I'm preventing you from falling off a roof," Yuze replied flatly while climbing upward effortlessly.
"That sounds exactly like something a criminal would say."
"You've watched too many dramas."
Within seconds, he climbed onto the balcony beside me.
And somehow, the small rooftop suddenly felt ten times smaller with him standing there.
The wind moved lightly through his dark hair as he glanced once toward the bra hanging near the edge.
Then toward me.
Then back toward the edge again.
"…You seriously thought you could reach that yourself?"
I crossed my arms defensively.
"I had confidence."
"You had delusion."
My jaw dropped in offense.
As he climbed up, he glanced at the edge of the balcony and murmured almost to himself, "It's really far."
I blinked.
"…did I seem like I was lying?"
"Shut up."
My eyes widened instantly.
Did he just tell me to shut up?
How dare he—
I immediately turned toward him, ready to fire back, but before I could even form the words, his hands suddenly grabbed my legs from behind.
"W-What are you doing—WOAHHHH!! YOU PERVERT—BRING ME DOWN!!" I shouted, instinctively gripping the railing.
"Can you just be calm for a moment," he said flatly, "and accept someone's help without making it dramatic?"
His tone was calm—but there was a slight edge to it this time. Like he had already tolerated enough nonsense for one day.
It made me pause.
Just for a second.
"…Fine," I muttered, still flustered. "But if I fall, I'm haunting you."
"You already do," he replied casually.
I froze.
Rude.
But somehow, I shut up anyway.
He lifted me up slightly higher, steadying me with an ease that was honestly unfair for a normal human being.
"Okay," I said, focusing again. "I'm almost there."
I stretched my arm forward carefully toward the balcony edge.
"Push me up a little more."
He adjusted his grip without hesitation.
No struggle.
No effort.
Like I weighed nothing at all.
"A little more," I repeated, reaching further.
"Stop moving so much," he said.
"I have to move—otherwise I can't reach it!"
A beat of silence.
Then he shifted again, just enough to stabilize me properly.
And suddenly—
my fingers finally brushed against the fabric at the edge.
I smiled as I finally grabbed it.
Success.
After all this chaos, I actually did it.
I held it up slightly like a trophy for a second, relief washing over me.
Then I tried to glance down carefully without shifting too much.
That's when I suddenly realized and felt his hand gripping my ass and hip to push me upwards.
My ears went hot.....
And then for a split second, my brain just stopped.
"…Oh," I muttered under my breath.
And then, very slowly, I went completely still.
"Don't move," his voice came immediately from below.
Like he had already sensed the disaster brewing.
But it was far too late for my soul to recover.
I shut my eyes tightly, bracing myself for the thought of falling.
A loud thud echoed through the space.
"MIRA! YUZE! ARE YOU TWO ALRIGHT?!" Aunt Shu-Zhen's voice came panicked from downstairs.
Her words snapped me back into reality.
I was… still here.
Not falling.
Not hurt.
Still breathing.
And then I realized—
I wasn't on the ground.
I was pressed against something steady.
Warm.
Firm.
Unmoving.
A strange kind of protection that had caught me before I even understood what was happening.
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
I saw him,
I opened my eyes and saw him.
His calm face. Those sharp features I was so used to seeing from a distance, now suddenly too close.
This was the first time I had ever seen him like this—this closely.
And it was unfair.
How could someone look like that up close?
Heavenly in the most irritating way possible.
His usually sharp eyes felt slightly softer now, hidden behind his glasses, no longer cutting through me like before.
The wind moved gently across the rooftop, but everything between us felt strangely still.
I could feel his arms behind me—firm, steady, controlled. Not holding me like I was fragile… just making sure I didn't fall again.
"…You good?" he asked again, quieter this time.
I nodded, though it came out too quickly.
"Yeah."
But I didn't move away.
And neither did he.
For a second, neither of us said anything.
The usual noise between us—arguments, sarcasm, irritation—just… wasn't there.
Only silence.
Close enough that I could notice things I normally wouldn't.
The faint rise and fall of his breathing.
The slight looseness in his expression now that everything had settled.
And the fact that I was still in his hold… too aware of it now to pretend otherwise.
I suddenly became very aware of how I was laying against him.
Of how I had almost fallen.
Of how he had caught me.
My throat went slightly dry.
And then—
I felt it.
Warm breath brushing faintly against my face.
So subtle I almost thought I imagined it.
But I didn't.
I was too close for it to be anything else.
My thoughts stuttered for a second.
"…I—" I started, but stopped immediately.
Because I didn't even know what I was about to say.
My fingers tightened slightly against nothing, like my body was finally catching up to the situation my brain had been refusing to process.
And for the first time…
I couldn't decide if I wanted to step back…
or stay exactly where I was.
Thank you so much Moonies for supporting me like this everytime 🥹🍀✨
And let me know what are your thoughts about the sudden build up between the chaos? 🫣✨
See you in the next chapter!!