Hades Wildfire

Her heart stopped at first and then it picked up speed.

Was she hallucinating?

Her entire interest was suddenly on him, and she didn't notice the strange way he was staring at her before he turned off his vape. However, a cloud of smoke still swirled around him.

She wasn't kidding. This was him. The man of her dreams. Quite literally.

However, the man always appeared regal in her dreams. Like an undefeatable historical figure, with a regal robe and sword beside him, his long white hair blowing behind him.

Alice had always dismissed it as the overactive imagination of a writer, a product of her obsessive crafting of the male character in her upcoming web novel.

But this... this was different. This was real. She stood frozen, mouth agape, staring at him as if he were a ghost. Her breath hitched in her throat, disbelief washing over her in a dizzying wave.

Or was she simply drunk from the single glass of wine she'd indulged in?

Tentatively, almost afraid to break the spell, she took a step closer.

She couldn't resist the urge to observe him, and for the first time in a long time, a thrill of excitement and something she could not explain coursed through her, forgetting her previous anxiety.

His brow furrowed as he regarded her, his expression unreadable. She paid no attention as she moved closer and sat down across from him on the couch, her interest unbroken. The smell of whatever he had been smoking bothered her greatly. It was strong, uncomfortable, yet somewhat soothing. However, that was the least of her worries now.

"W-Wow!" she breathed, looking at him as if he were a piece of art. She was a lover of art.

"You are… perfect," she said like a talent scout, taking in his appearance before she took her phone from her purse. She opened her notepad and began to type, muttering, "Blue almond eyes, sharp features, black, neck-length wavy hair with streaks of blue... are those even real?" She was speaking to herself as she continued typing after briefly glancing at his neck.

"A tattoo that extends from the left side of the neck." The rest was covered beneath the black shirt he was wearing, so she couldn't tell beyond that.

"H-How tall are you?" This time, she looked up at him, paying attention to 'him' and not his features.

When she locked eyes with him this time, it was as though she was suddenly pulled back to reality. Her eyes widened and she hiccuped.

She had broken character.

Another hiccup as her face flushed even a deeper shade of red.

She was supposed to be sophisticated, aloof, and confident. Aurora was reserved and didn't speak to people. She would never be so forward. So undemure.

She immediately jumped from her seat as if she had just been electrocuted, fixing her phone back inside her purse as she tried to run away in wobbly movements.

But then he stood up, towering well above her. With his gaze fixed on her, he began to approach her.

Startled, she kept moving back until her back was pressed against the large glass frame where she had been overlooking the party earlier.

Another hiccup escaped her.

"Wh-What… do you think you're doing?" She stammered in fear and looked up at him. She tried to sound tough by maintaining eye contact with him and, at the same time, trying to scan her surroundings for a self-defence weapon.

He kept eye contact with her, searching her eyes. It was as though he knew she was hiding something, and the thought scared her so much that she tried to avoid his gaze. But then he gently held her chin up, keeping her in place while looking straight into her eyes.

She was tiny compared to him, which made her feel very vulnerable as her eyes kept blinking rapidly.

Then slowly, his lips curled up, and he spoke the very first words since they met. "We will meet again, little girl." Then he turned and exited the room, leaving her there, stunned, confused, and apprehensive.

She had never met him before.

But why did he feel awfully familiar?

Suddenly, her phone rang. It was from her groomer who sounded urgent, "The Wildfires showed up. You need to leave now. The car is waiting outside. Make sure you do not bump into any of them."

The Wildfires.

Alice's heart suddenly stopped, and she quickly ended the call to check the data on her phone with shaky hands. She hadn't bothered much about that person because she had been told to avoid him. But now, she opened the file, and her face paled as she reread the description.

[No image]

[Brother-in-Law to be]

[Black hair with some crazy blonde strands]

[Tattoos]

[Second Young Master, Hades Wildfire]

[You MUST avoid him]