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Elian Volkov, a world-renowned model and actor with striking emerald-green eyes, has everything-fame, fortune, and admirers across the globe. But beneath the glitz and glamour, he longs for the one person who once made his world feel real: Taro Fujimura, his childhood best friend from Japan. Years have passed without contact, but Elian never forgot their bond. Determined to reunite, he travels to Japan unannounced, showing up at Taro's doorstep with nothing but memories and a hopeful heart.

Taro, now a hardworking manager at a small branch of an international company, has built a modest but stable life with his mother and sister. The sudden reappearance of Elian-a man who now belongs to an entirely different world-shakes him to his core. As he struggles to process their reunion, lingering emotions and unspoken words from the past resurface, challenging everything he thought he had moved on from.

However, Elian's return does not go unnoticed. A powerful billionaire with haunting ruby-red eyes, obsessed with claiming Elian as his own, watches from the shadows. With wealth, influence, and a dangerous level of obsession, he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Elian by his side-even if it means tearing him away from Taro once again.

As love, desire, and obsession intertwine, Elian finds himself caught between two forces: the warmth of a long-lost friendship that could bloom into something more and the intoxicating pull of a man who refuses to let him go. In a world where love can be both a treasure and a curse, will Elian follow his heart, or will the past and present collide, leading to a fate neither of them expected?

Toxic Gems is a story of rekindled bonds, dangerous attraction, and the fine line between love and possession.

TOXIC GEMS (BL)

The air inside Rylan's home was thick—not with warmth, but with something far heavier.

Elian stepped further in, his movements poised, unbothered—or so he pretended. He knew he was being watched. Measured. Rylan followed, his presence a quiet but suffocating force.

The grand space around them was sleek, luxurious, but devoid of any real comfort. Everything here existed to impress or intimidate.

He turned slightly, meeting Rylan's gaze with calm detachment. The man had been watching him the entire time.

Rylan smiled, slow and knowing. "You seem tense."

Elian raised a brow, giving him nothing. "Should I be?"

A soft chuckle. Rylan stepped closer. "No. There's no need for that."

This wasn't about showing him art anymore. This wasn't about politeness or business. This was about control.

And Elian had just walked into the lion's den, guided by Taro's innocent trust.

Rylan gestured toward the expansive hallway leading deeper inside. "Let me show you the collection."

Elian hesitated—a flicker of instinct telling him to be cautious. But refusing now would only give Rylan more satisfaction. So, he nodded.

With each step further inside, the walls seemed to close in. Not physically, but in the way Rylan's presence pressed down on him.

Rylan tilted his head slightly, his dark eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "On screen, you play the perfect role. But here…" He exhaled slowly, his voice dipping lower. "Here, you're real."

Something in the way he said it sent a sharp awareness through Elian's spine.

The realization settled in Elian's chest like ice. Rylan didn't just want him—he wanted to possess him.

Taro had unknowingly put him exactly where Rylan wanted him to be.

Elian forced a smirk, masking the unease curling in his stomach. "I'm still acting, Mr. Asano."

Rylan's lips parted in amusement. He liked this. The game. The push and pull.

"Then I look forward to seeing how long you can keep it up," Rylan murmured.

Because for the first time tonight, he wondered—was there really a way out of this?

Chapter 34 – The Cage Without Bars