CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE OFFERING
The light in Syra's studio burned until dawn.
Lou watched from his apartment window as the glow shifted from gold to pale blue with the rising sun. He hadn't moved all night. Hadn't slept. His body thrummed with a quiet electricity—the same charge he felt before a thunderstorm, when the air itself seemed to vibrate with potential.
His phone lay silent on the coffee table. Ming had texted twice about the Singapore merger, then wisely retreated. The city below began to stir—delivery trucks rumbling through wet streets, early risers jogging along the Bund, shopkeepers rolling up their gates. Life moving forward as if this morning were ordinary.
It wasn't.
Something had shifted yesterday in the rain. Some infinitesimal crack in Syra's armor when their fingers brushed in the café. Lou had seen it—the way her breath caught, the way her pupils dilated before she pulled away. Not rejection this time.
Fear.
Of him? No. Of what he made her feel.
The realization settled in his chest like a stone.
---
At 7:03 AM, his intercom buzzed.
Lou stilled. Only three people had access to his private line. Ming. His grandmother. And—
The buzzer sounded again, longer this time.
He crossed the penthouse in six strides, his bare feet silent on the polished concrete. The monitor flickered to life, displaying the building's lobby.
Syra stood at the concierge desk, her arms wrapped around a large rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. Her hair was piled into its usual chaotic bun, paint streaking her forearms like battle markings. She shifted from foot to foot, chewing her lower lip—the left side, always the left—as the concierge spoke into the phone.
Lou's hand hovered over the release button.
She looked up at the security camera then, as if sensing his gaze. Her chin lifted in that defiant tilt he adored.
"I come bearing gifts," she said to the empty air, her voice raspy from lack of sleep. "And before you ask—no, it's not a bomb."
The concierge choked on his coffee.
Lou pressed the button. "Send her up."
---
The elevator ride took thirty-seven seconds.
Lou counted each one, his pulse an unsteady rhythm against his ribs. He'd thrown on a black t-shirt and jeans, run a hand through his hair, but there was no hiding the shadows under his eyes or the fact that he'd clearly been awake all night.
The doors slid open.
Syra stood frozen in the elevator, the package clutched to her chest like a shield. She'd changed clothes—worn leggings, an oversized sweater that slipped off one shoulder, no shoes. Just socks with tiny paintbrushes printed on them.
They stared at each other across the threshold.
"You're barefoot," Lou said stupidly.
Syra looked down at her socks. "I forgot shoes." A beat. "Also pants."
"You're wearing pants."
"Leggings don't count."
The corner of Lou's mouth twitched. "Noted."
Silence stretched between them, taut as a canvas. Syra's grip tightened on the package.
"I brought you something," she blurted.
Lou stepped back, holding the door open wider. "Come in."
Syra hesitated, then crossed the threshold—into his space, into his life, into whatever came next.
The elevator doors slid shut behind her.
---
The package sat between them on the dining table like a confession.
Lou made tea while Syra fidgeted with the fraying edges of the brown paper wrapping. The morning light caught the gold flecks in her eyes, the smudge of cerulean blue near her temple. She looked exhausted. Beautiful.
Real.
He set the jasmine tea before her—no sugar, just a slice of lemon—and waited.
Syra took a shaky breath and pushed the package toward him. "Open it."
The paper tore easily. Beneath it lay a framed canvas—the mural she'd been working on for weeks. Lou's own face stared back at him, rendered in breathtaking detail. She'd captured everything—the scar above his brow, the stubborn set of his jaw, even the faint lines at the corners of his eyes that only appeared when he truly smiled.
But it was the background that stole his breath.
Swirls of gold and crimson and deepest black raged behind his portrait, a tempest of color that should have overwhelmed the subject. Instead, Lou's image stood calm at the center—an eye in the storm.
Syra's voice was barely above a whisper. "You asked me once why I resist you."
Lou traced the edge of the frame, his throat tight.
"It's because..." She swallowed. "Because you see me. All of me. And I don't know how to be seen like that."
The admission hung between them, fragile as the steam rising from their untouched tea.
Lou reached across the table, palm up. An offering, not a demand.
Syra stared at his hand for three heartbeats.
Then she placed hers in it.
The world didn't end. The sky didn't fall.
But somewhere in Lou's chest, a dam broke.
"Stay," he murmured.
Syra's fingers tightened around his. "For how long?"
Lou brought her knuckles to his lips, pressing the lightest kiss to each one. "As long as you'll let me."
Outside, the city woke around them—unaware that in a quiet penthouse above the chaos, two broken souls had finally found their way home.