He's here again.
He's always here.
As usual, his back was turned to her, silver hair cascading over his shoulders like liquid moonlight. She had never seen his face—not once.
"Who are you?"
She swallowed her hesitation and took a step closer.
"At least tell me your name. If you won't let me see your face… just your name."
Silence.
Her fingers curled into fists. Why won't he answer?
"You keep appearing in my dreams, yet I don't even know who you are," she murmured, frustration laced in her voice. "Just… why?"
For a long moment, there was nothing. Then, a whisper—soft, melodic, and eerily hypnotic.
"What's yours? Your name"
The way his voice wrapped around her sent a shiver down her spine, like an enchantment pulling her in.
"Me? I'm Xian. Xianying."
"Xian," he echoed, drawing out the syllables like a secret he was unraveling.
A pause. Then, in that same entrancing voice, he murmured:
"You ask why I keep appearing in your dreams… The truth is, I am drawn to you by a force I cannot fight. A force that is dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Her heartbeat quickened.
"And yet… you are not the one I seek."
Xian frowned. Not the one he seeks? Then why—
"Dangerous," he repeated, this time with quiet certainty. "Because the closer I come to you, the more ruined you will be. And yet…"
His voice dropped lower, almost as if speaking to himself.
"I won't stop. I can't."
Xian opened her mouth to demand answers, but in the next blink—
He was gone.