Adam Daniels was supposed to disappear. After losing the only woman he's ever loved, the last thing the newly published author wants is attention-or worse, sympathy. So he does what anyone would do with an unexpected book advance and a broken heart: he books a solo bike tour across Japan. Emi never expected to find a foreigner standing in her grandparents' entryway, soaked and shivering and somehow familiar. She definitely didn't expect it to be him-the quiet, kind-eyed man who helped her in Tokyo days before. He's wounded. She's devoted to a life she never chose. Neither of them is looking for love. But love has a way of showing up anyway. As they share meals, glances, and slowly unravel their walls, one thing becomes painfully clear: they were never supposed to find each other. And now that they have, walking away might be harder than staying-even if staying means sacrificing everything.

In a quiet, unassuming hypnosis academy, a new class begins under the watchful guidance of a charismatic and enigmatic instructor named Lucien. With each lecture, students delve deeper into the science and art of hypnotic control-demonstrated most vividly through a seemingly random student, Elena, who becomes the center of increasingly intense experiments. What begins as simple academic exploration soon blurs the boundaries between study and surrender. As Elena's resistance falters, the lessons grow more immersive, more mesmerizing, and more... consuming. But beneath the surface of trance inductions and colorful spirals, something else is quietly unfolding-something none of the students notice until it's far too late. Because sometimes, learning isn't the only thing being absorbed. And sometimes, the spiral doesn't just teach... it takes. (no smut)