xhan

six years.

That was how long it had been since Noah disappeared from your life.

six years since you had called him Xhan.

six years since he had called you Kiddo.

six years since you were twelve, hopelessly attached to a boy who was only two years older and yet somehow felt like your entire world.

It had never been a normal relationship.

It had been online.

Messages at ridiculous hours.

Long conversations.

Little promises.

A thousand tiny moments that shouldn't have meant as much as they did.

But they did.

When Noah ended it, telling himself you were too young for him, you didn't understand.

You only understood that he was gone.

You cried.

You begged.

You reread your conversations until you knew them by heart.

You saved his pictures.

You checked his accounts.

You watched him date someone else.

Then someone else.

Every time, you convinced yourself that maybe he would come back.

He never did.

Eventually, even obsession gets exhausting.

So you stopped.

Not because you stopped caring.

Because you finally learned how painful caring had become.

six years passed.

You were eighteennow.

Noah was twenty.

And somewhere during those five years, the boy you remembered had disappeared.

You just didn't know it yet.

Because Noah had become the chairman of Xhein Group, the world's most powerful corporation.

His name was everywhere.

Business magazines.

News reports.

Financial headlines.

People twice his age waited for his approval.

Executives feared him.

Politicians wanted his attention.

And Noah himself?

He rarely seemed interested in anyone.

Except one person.

You.

It took him years to understand what losing you had actually meant.

He dated.

He met people.

He tried convincing himself that what happened between two teenagers online had been nothing more than a childish attachment.

It wasn't.

Nobody remembered him the way you did.

Nobody cared about the smallest things.

Nobody had stayed awake just to talk to him.

Nobody had loved him before he had money.

Before power.

Before Xhein Group.

Before anyone knew his name.

You had loved Noah.

Not the chairman.

That realization didn't make him sentimental.

It made him dangerous.

Because Noah wasn't the kind of man who spent years wondering what if?

He found answers.

He began searching.

Quietly.

His private security division traced old accounts and abandoned usernames. Public information. Old connections. Every legitimate trail that might lead to you.

Then, one night, his phone was placed on the table in front of him.

A photograph appeared on the screen.

You.

Older.

Different.

Beautiful.

Noah stared at it.

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Then he asked one question.

“Is this her?”

“Yes.”

His thumb moved slowly across the screen.

Five years.

He had spent five years believing he had lost you.

And now you were suddenly real again.

He found your number.

Your Instagram.

Your current life.

He contacted you.

You replied.

But you didn't take him back.

That surprised him.

You still cared.

He knew.

But you chose yourself.

You had finally stopped being the girl who waited for him.

And Noah found that far more interesting than forgiveness.

He didn't push.

He didn't beg.

He simply disappeared from your messages.

And then he came to your country.

Without telling you.

---

The house was unusually crowded that afternoon.

Your parents had told you they were expecting guests.

Nothing more.

You hadn't bothered asking.

You came downstairs expecting an ordinary afternoon.

Instead, you stopped halfway down the stairs.

Your parents were sitting in the living room.

Across from them were another couple you didn't recognize.

And beside them sat a young man.

You didn't know him.

At least, you didn't think you did.

He was tall.

Six feet, maybe.

Dark hair.

Sharp jaw.

Black suit.

His posture was relaxed, but there was something unsettlingly controlled about him.

He wasn't speaking.

He was simply listening to the adults talk.

Then his eyes moved.

They found you.

And stopped.

The conversation continued around him.

You didn't hear a word.

Because something about the stranger's stare made the room feel suddenly smaller.

Not hungry.

Not desperate.

Certain.

Like he had been waiting for this exact moment.

His mother smiled at you.

“There she is.”

You smiled awkwardly.

“Hi.”

The man said nothing.

He just looked at you.

Your parents began introducing everyone.

You listened politely.

His father.

His mother.

Their family.

Their business.

You barely paid attention.

Then his mother said his name.

“Noah.”

Your stomach dropped.

Not because you recognized his face.

You didn't.

But the name.

Something about it scratched against a memory buried so deeply you hadn't touched it in years.

Noah.

You looked at him again.

He watched your expression change.

And for the first time that afternoon, he smiled.

Very slightly.

Because he knew.

You didn't recognize him.

But some part of you remembered.

He leaned back.

“It's nice to meet you.”

His voice was different.

Deeper.

Older.

Nothing like the voice you remembered from five years ago.

You sat down beside your parents.

Your father continued talking about why both families had gathered.

You slowly realized what they were discussing.

Marriage.

Your eyes widened.

You looked at your parents.

Then at his.

Then back at the stranger.

He looked completely calm.

Too calm.

As if this entire situation were perfectly normal.

As if he hadn't crossed a country to sit in your living room.

As if he hadn't spent months finding you.

As if he hadn't already seen photographs of the person you had become.

You frowned.

He noticed.

Of course he did.

His mother laughed softly.

“You two should spend some time together. Get to know each other.”

Noah's eyes remained on you.

“That's a good idea.”

His tone was polite.

Almost gentle.

You didn't know why, but something about him made you uneasy.

He seemed familiar.

Not his face.

Not his voice.

Something else.

The way he looked at you.

The way he seemed to know when you were uncomfortable.

The way his expression changed whenever you looked away.

You glanced toward the kitchen.

When you looked back, Noah was still watching you.

This time, you caught him smiling.

He looked away immediately.

Perfectly innocent.

You had no idea that he had spent years remembering your face.

No idea that he knew exactly how you used to type his name.

No idea that he remembered the nickname you gave him.

No idea that he had saved things you had long since forgotten existed.

And you certainly didn't know that when his mother had asked him whether he was sure about this arrangement, he hadn't hesitated.

Not once.

Because Noah wasn't here to ask whether you would fall for him again.

He already knew you had loved him once.

The question that interested him now was much darker.

What would happen when you discovered who he really was?

And more importantly...

What would happen when you realized the stranger your parents wanted you to marry was the same boy you had spent years trying to forget?

Noah looked across the room at you again.

six years ago, you had been the one watching him from a distance.

Now the roles had changed.

And this time, you didn't know you were being watched.