Hypernova : A Sequel to Supernova

Episode 1: The Faded Past..

"It's you..." The words slipped from Nine's lips before he could stop them, soft as a breath, as his eyes locked onto the figure stepping out of the stall.

Jorah was standing there, framed in the fluorescent light, as if pulled straight from the depths of Nine's restless dreams.

The air in the room seemed to still, and each step Jorah took echoed like a thunderclap. Nine's heartbeat surged, each thud a painful reminder that this wasn't some cruel figment of his imagination. This was real. The moment he'd imagined countless times had come unheralded, without any preparation.

After giving Nine a cursory glance, Jorah returned to his phone call, dismissing someone on the other end with cold finality. "Just get it done or look for a new job."

The words struck Nine like lightning, instantly transporting him back to their one-month anniversary. Jorah had just returned from a whirlwind business trip to Taipei, where he'd been overseeing production issues for SerenTech.

"So everything is all set with the manufacturers?" Nine had asked as they sat in his apartment.

"Naturally," Jorah had replied with an easy, confident smile. "I told them if everything wasn't fixed, they'd all be looking for new jobs."

And now, here he was—same man, same voice, same commanding presence—but how?

Eighteen months had passed. Eighteen months since Jorah had vanished without a trace, swept away by a jet and a whirlwind of uncertainty after the accident. No one knew where he'd gone, not even his best friends. It was another poignant reminder—Jorah Jindaya was no ordinary person. How else could he have disappeared from the earth at will?

And then suddenly, Jade had called one day with news. News Nine had refused to listen to.

What was the point of letting hope live? Whatever news or update about Jorah would have been useless by then. After all, their relationship was all but over, wasn't it? They were no longer co-stars, and the news of his engagement had already been announced.

So, he did the only thing he could do with dignity—he tried to move on. He'd tried to erase the nights they spent wrapped in each other's arms, the whispered promises, the laughter, the love. But words were always easier to say than to live by.

For months, Nine had cried himself to sleep, until even sleep abandoned him, leaving him alone with his thoughts, haunted by the question that had plagued him his entire life: Why does everyone I love always leave me behind?

And then, six months ago, Jorah started appearing everywhere—on the news, gracing magazine covers. The Eren Heir had returned triumphantly to lead the empire into a new era.

Now the emperor was standing before his eyes.

Nine's breath hitched as Jorah finally looked up from his phone, his gaze sweeping across the room until it landed on him. He tried to steady his trembling hands as their eyes met, waiting for Jorah to speak first.

When their eyes met, there was no spark of recognition in Jorah's brown eyes—just a fleeting glance, cool and distant, as if Nine were a stranger invading his space.

Wordlessly, Jorah used the sink next to Nine's to wash his hands without giving him a second look, all while Nine's heart thudded in his chest.

"Is he really going to be like this?" Tears pricked Nine's eyes unexpectedly. Even enemies acknowledged each other when their paths crossed. Even if Jorah didn't want anything to do with him anymore, wasn't he being too cruel?

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Nine's hands shook as he fumbled to wash them, the icy water doing little to steady his nerves as the gut-wrenching reality settled like rot in his bones. With his stomach in knots, he hastily washed his hands. He had to leave. Now. Before the dam broke and everything spilled out—his anger, his heartbreak, his longing, and confusion. The seams of his control were fast unraveling.