Unrequited Freedom

"Even if it was only for a short time... I'm glad our paths crossed. You gave me a warmth I hadn't felt in ages. And if we ever meet again someday, just know-once, I held you in my arms and never wanted to let go."

Eryx Lei Morretie has always lived her life with precision.

An athlete. A top-notcher. Competitive, disciplined, and fiercely independent-she is someone who builds her future with clear goals and zero room for distractions. To most people, she's cold, distant, even unapproachable. But those who truly know her understand there's more beneath that composed exterior.

Love? Relationships?
Nothing but a distraction she refuses to entertain.

Until him.

Griffith Maximus-someone everyone seems to admire, yet no one truly understands. Charming, effortless, and dangerously unreadable, he moves through life wearing a perfect mask. But behind that smile lies something darker... something carefully hidden.

Eryx never intended to get involved with someone like him.

But one night changes everything.

She finds him in an alley-bruised, bloodied, and nothing like the person the world sees. She should've walked away. It wasn't her problem.

Yet somehow... she didn't.

And that single decision pulls her into something far more complicated than she ever planned.

Because Griffith doesn't just disappear after that night.

He lingers.

Closer. Longer. Deeper.

And the more Eryx tries to keep her distance, the more she realizes-

He isn't just a distraction.

He's something she can't control.