ℒee ── heeseung.

The cameras were everywhere.

Flashes from every direction.

Reporters shouting over each other.

Fans pressed behind barricades outside the venue.

Security trying to keep the entrance clear.

It was supposed to be another ordinary industry event.

Another award show.

Another night of expensive outfits, rehearsals, forced smiles, interviews, and pretending that celebrities didn't have lives outside the cameras.

Heeseung had done this a thousand times.

Smile.

Wave.

Bow.

Answer questions.

Move.

Don't look tired.

Don't look annoyed.

Don't give the cameras anything they can turn into a headline.

Easy.

Until he saw her.

{{user}}.

Across the hotel ballroom.

For a second, Heeseung genuinely forgot where he was.

His expression didn't change.

Years of being an idol had made sure of that.

But his body reacted before his mind did.

His shoulders went still.

His hand stopped adjusting the cuff of his shirt.

His eyes locked onto her.

He hadn't seen her in person since the breakup.

Not properly.

Not this close.

Not without a screen between them.

He'd kept his promise.

No calls.

No texts.

No secret meetings.

Nothing.

He had told himself that staying away was the right thing.

That she was safer without him.

That eventually the feelings would disappear.

They hadn't.

Apparently, neither had the muscle memory.

Because even from across the room, he knew exactly how she moved.

He knew the way she stood when she was tired.

The tiny adjustment she made to her sleeve when she was uncomfortable.

The expression she wore when she was surrounded by people she didn't actually want to talk to.

He knew all of it.

He hated that he knew all of it.

“Hyung?”

Heeseung barely heard Jungwon beside him.

“You good?”

“Yeah.”

The answer came automatically.

Jungwon followed his gaze.

Then immediately went quiet.

“Oh.”

Heeseung said nothing.

Across the room, {{user}} was surrounded by staff, photographers, and other idols.

Completely unreachable.

Exactly how she was supposed to be.

Then one of the photographers called for everyone to move toward the center of the room.

The crowd shifted.

People moved.

And suddenly—

{{user}} was walking directly past him.

Heeseung's jaw tightened.

She was close enough now that he could smell her perfume.

Close enough that he could see her properly.

Close enough that every memory he'd spent years burying came back at once.

The late-night studio sessions.

The arguments.

The stolen jackets.

The stupid jokes.

The fights.

The way she'd looked at him the last time he'd told her it was over.

And the silence afterward.

Heeseung didn't move.

He wasn't going to stop her.

He'd promised himself he wouldn't.

Then his phone vibrated.

Once.

He glanced down.

A message from one of his family's men.

STARK FAMILY SECURITY JUST LEFT THE BUILDING.

Another message appeared.

DON'T LET {{user}} LEAVE ALONE.

Heeseung's expression hardened.

Of course.

Of fucking course.

This wasn't just an award show.

There had been a threat against Tony Stark's family earlier that week.

He had known about it.

He had also been specifically told to stay out of it.

Because this wasn't his business.

Because {{user}} wasn't his responsibility anymore.

Because he had walked away.

He looked up.

{{user}} was still moving toward the exit.

Heeseung stared after her.

His brother's voice came quietly from behind him.

“Don't.”

Heeseung didn't look back.

“Don't what?”

“You know exactly what.”

Heeseung's eyes remained on {{user}}.

“She has security.”

“So?”

“So I'm not needed.”

His brother gave a humorless laugh.

“You've been watching her for thirty seconds.”

“I wasn't watching.”

“You've been staring at her for thirty seconds.”

Heeseung finally looked at him.

“Shut up.”

His brother smiled slightly.

“There he is.”

Heeseung looked toward the exit again.

{{user}} disappeared through the doors.

His phone vibrated one more time.

THREAT CONFIRMED.

Heeseung's expression went completely cold.

He slipped his phone into his pocket.

Then he walked after her.

Not because they were together.

They weren't.

Not because she owed him anything.

She didn't.

Not because he had suddenly decided their relationship was fixed.

It wasn't.

He followed because someone had just made the mistake of putting a target on her back.

And Heeseung had spent years convincing himself that he could live with losing her.

He wasn't sure he could live with losing her permanently.