THE SHADOW OF THE HEART

CHAPTER 06 - A WELCOME GONE WRONG

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Ohm exhaled slowly, his chest tight with the weight of what he had seen. He hadn’t gotten the answer he wanted, but in a way, the silence spoke louder than words. Whatever Nanon had gone through, whatever loss had hardened him into the man he was now, it was still there—just beneath the surface, hidden behind the harshness, the sternness. And Ohm knew, in that moment, that Nanon’s insistence on being selfish wasn’t just a strategy for survival. It was a defense mechanism—one forged from pain, from the fear of losing again.

He watched Nanon’s distant figure, wondering if he would ever find out what had broken him, and if, maybe one day, Nanon would let himself care again—enough to risk the very thing he was now so desperate to avoid. Ohm is determined to crack through Nanon to see it by himself.........

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Nanon POV

The instant Ohm’s voice pierced the air with that frantic "WATCH OUT!" I didn’t have time to react, I didn’t have time to think. Suddenly, I felt a sharp tug on my arm, and the world around me blurred as I was yanked backward with a force I didn’t expect. Ohm’s grip was tight—too tight—like he was holding onto me for his dear life. Before I could process what was happening, we were on the ground, his body shielding mine against hard fall. The loud crash of the beam hitting the floor echoed in my ears, and I felt the shockwave of the impact through the concrete beneath us.

My body pressed against him, his arms wrapped around me as if he could shield me from the world. It was suffocating in more ways than one. My heart raced, pounding erratically against my chest, and I could feel his heartbeat too—wild, frantic, mirroring my own. His scent, the warmth of his skin, the way his chest rose and fell against me—it was all too much, too intense.....

For a moment, I couldn’t move. I was too stunned. Not by the beam or the close call, but by how fiercely Ohm had held onto me, like he couldn’t let go. And worse, how some part of me didn’t want him to.

I HATE THAT.

I hate that he made me feel this vulnerable, this exposed. Ohm’s is a new rookie who needs to transfer faster than he has arrived.  As I analyzed his character he is overly confident, annoyed, just all chatty personality...... But this time I felt I'm wrong because it was different. This time, he wasn’t just being as I thought—he was being 'selfless', risking his own life to save mine, as if my life was worth more than his. * Never was my life worth more than anyone. He don’t know the weight of trying to save someone who’s already beyond saving.*

That’s what terrifies me the most.

He doesn’t understand. He can’t. The world we live in doesn’t reward selflessness. It punishes it. And I can’t—*I won’t*—let him keep doing that as I'm his mentor. I’ve seen what happens to people who think they can save everyone else. I’ve seen them die. Or worse, I’ve seen them lose the people they care about most, and that breaks them in ways they can never recover from. I know the pain and every inch of it.

I refuse to let that happen to this idiot rookie. I can’t afford to let him care like that.

When he looked at me after we hit the ground, his eyes were so full of concern—so full of *something* I didn’t want to acknowledge. And when he muttered that he couldn’t just let me get hurt, it felt like a punch to the gut. Because I know where that kind of thinking leads. It leads to pain. Loss. And I can’t watch him go down that path.  Not after what I’ve been through. Feelings never must be involved.