The First Glance

CHAPTER 1

The air felt… wrong.

Liora couldn’t explain it, but the moment she stepped into the room, something shifted. Conversations continued, laughter echoed, glasses clinked—but beneath it all, there was a tension she couldn’t name.

Or maybe… she just didn’t want to.

“Stop overthinking,” she muttered to herself, adjusting the strap of her bag as she moved further inside.

It was just a gathering. Nothing more.

Dim lights. Loud music. People she barely knew.

Normal.

Everything was normal.

Until she felt it.

That stare.

It wasn’t the kind that made you feel admired.

It was the kind that made your skin tighten… like you were being watched, studied… claimed.

Slowly, unwillingly, Liora turned her head.

And then she saw him.

He stood across the room like he didn’t belong to the same world as everyone else.

While others laughed, he didn’t.

While others moved, he remained still.

Watching.

Her.

Dark eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that made her breath catch. There was no hesitation in his gaze. No curiosity.

Only certainty.

Like he had already decided something about her.

Liora looked away first.

She had to.

Because holding that gaze felt dangerous… like stepping too close to the edge of something she couldn’t come back from.

“Hey, you okay?” a voice pulled her back.

She forced a smile. “Yeah. Just tired.”

A lie.

She wasn’t tired.

She was unsettled.

“Come on, let’s get drinks,” her friend said, grabbing her wrist and dragging her toward the other side of the room.

Liora followed, grateful for the distraction.

But even as she laughed at something she didn’t hear…

Even as she tried to focus on anything else…

She could still feel it.

That gaze.

Still on her.

“You shouldn’t ignore me.”

The voice came from behind her.

Low.

Calm.

Too close.

Liora froze.

Her fingers tightened around the glass in her hand as her heartbeat picked up, slow but heavy, like it was warning her.

Don’t turn around.

But she did.

He was closer now.

Too close.

Up close, he was even more unsettling. Sharp features. Cold expression. Eyes that didn’t soften—even when he looked directly at her.

“You don’t know me,” she said quickly, her voice steadier than she felt.

“I don’t need to,” he replied.

There was no arrogance in his tone.

Just truth.

Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

Liora swallowed. “Then why are you talking to me?”

His gaze dropped briefly—to her lips—before returning to her eyes.

“Because,” he said quietly, “you walked into my space… and acted like I wouldn’t notice.”

Her brows furrowed. “Your space? I didn’t even know you were here.”

“That doesn’t change anything.”

Something about the way he said it made her chest tighten.

Not anger.

Not fear.

Something worse.

Something that felt like the beginning of a problem she wouldn’t be able to fix.

“I think you’re mistaken,” she said, stepping back.

One step.

That was all it took.

For his expression to change.

Not much.

But enough.

He noticed.

Of course he did.

“You don’t like being close to me,” he observed.

It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t like strangers assuming things about me,” she shot back.

A pause.

Then—

“Good.”

Her confusion must have shown, because his lips tilted slightly.

Not a smile.

Never a smile.

“Because I don’t plan on staying a stranger.”

And just like that…

The air shifted again.

He stepped aside, giving her space.

But it didn’t feel like freedom.

It felt like permission.

“Kael.”

She blinked. “What?”

“My name,” he said. “You’ll need it.”

Liora let out a small, disbelieving breath.

“Why would I need your name?”

His gaze held hers one last time.

Steady. Unshaken. Certain.

“Because this isn’t the last time you’ll see me.”

And for some reason…

Deep down…

She knew he wasn’t wrong.

By AwesomeOmos ✍⛓

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