Xue Yan felt trapped.

Something was pressing against her chest, keeping her still. She tried to struggle-- squirming her body, kicking her legs.

Ow.

She opened her eyes and rubbed at her shin.

New car smell. Huh?

Shay found herself inside a car... strapped into its passenger seat.

She... calmly unbuckled her seat belt.

She swiveled her head around, looking at her surroundings. All the buildings were familiar; she was only a few blocks away from school.

--but where... was she before that?

She blinked several times. Where had the day gone? The clock on the car dashboard said it was already 5 PM! She needed to get home and study. Oh, but first she’d need to make dinner before her uncle threw a fit.

...Whose car was she in?

It was a two-door, black sedan with an interior that looked... luxurious? She’d seen plenty of what she thought were expensive cars parked in the school parking lot, but... she never thought she’d be inside one.

She reached over to open the glove compartment, but something fell onto the floor.

--something shiny.

She picked it up to examine it.

It was a golden pin... shaped like a snake in motion.

What... was going on?

She heard the voice of someone talking outside, so she slowly and quietly pulled at the door handle.

Oh, no.

She was trapped.

The pin-- did it belong to her kidnapper?

She gasped.

Did she get drugged??

Was she going to be sold into slavery overseas?!

No! That wasn’t the adventure of a lifetime she wanted!

She pulled at the handle more frantically--

And... she... saw that the door was locked.

Mm.

MmmhMmm.

She calmly unlocked the door... and opened it just a crack~

She was about to slip out and run for her life... but she caught the tail end of a conversation.

“--Merlin for more of those pills,” a man said, his voice, deep and sonorous.

--and he was talking about pills?! So he DID drug her!

“What about the girl?” he said.

Shay froze, hearing her kidnapper mention her. Could she still run away? Maybe she could buckle herself back in and pretend to still be asleep?

No, wait-- then she’d get sold into slavery for sure! Or maybe they’d just chop her up and steal all her organs!

“She’s in the car, awake and reasonably hale,” the man said. “In fact, she’s listening to our conversation this very moment.”

Shay lost her balance, tumbling out of the car and onto the pavement. She snapped up to her feet, fists balled up to confront her kidnapper.

She knew Tae Kwon Do!

She could defend herself!

She stretched her lead arm forward and cocked her other fist back.

And she gazed upon the face of...

--a tall man in a dark suit... his enchanting, short silver hair flowing in the breeze.

“Oh... no,” she whispered. “He’s hot.”

“Lovely. I’ll see you in the office,” he said before hanging up the payphone.

‘Lovely,’ he said...

Wow.

He approached her, staring down with a neutral expression.

His eyelids had a slight slant to them... so Asian? Half-Asian?

And his eyes... they had this gorgeous hazel hue.

Shay opened her mouth to say something.

Her jaw hung open for a moment.

Then she tried again.

“D-did it hurt?” she asked.

The man gently tilted his head to the side.

“Did what hurt?”

“When... when you fell from heaven?”

“...It did not.”

Oh.

Okay.

Shay gulped.

Her hands felt cold and gross. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was sweating.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He... was older... third or fourth-year college, maybe?

But-- just... he was...

He looked like an actor! Like-- a movie actor! Or someone you could put on a billboard! Whatever he was selling, Shay was willing to save up for however many weeks she needed to afford it!

He was fit, with super-broad shoulders and a dashing silhouette. He was tall-- for an Asian guy, anyway.

And his face was. just. perfect.

Shay was suddenly reminded of all the imperfections of her face. Oh, no. Didn’t she have a pimple yesterday? Was it still there? Was half of her face covered by the biggest pimple in the world?

Then, the man’s clothes--

She’d seen people in suits before, but...

Oh, and the dark vest... and the emerald-green tie...

And they matched so well with his eyes--

Shay reached up to mess with her twin-tails, but she stopped herself and hid her hands behind her back.

“Y-ou have... really pretty eyes,” she mumbled.

The man lifted his chin almost imperceptibly.

“Hm. Thank you for the compliment.”

“Can... can I touch them?”

What?

Shay furrowed her brows. Did she really just say that?

“...No,” the man replied. “That sounds highly unpleasant.”

He took off one of his gloves-- why was he wearing gloves?

He swept her bangs to the side, placing the back of his palm against her forehead.

Shay couldn’t help but lean into his touch.

“My... name? is... Xue Yan?”

“Good afternoon, Miss Yan,” he replied, “Was that a question or a statement?”

A slight smirk had crept into the corner of his lips.

Shay stared at it, suddenly and painfully aware of how loud her heart was beating.

“It was... a promise,” she said breathily.

“You’ve taken fever,” he said. “Perhaps you should go home and rest.”

He took his keys out of his pocket, his car unlocking with a low thunking noise.

“I’ll drive you to a bus stop. Would somewhere by your learning institution be appropriate?”

OhHHh... how she loved the way he spoke.

LeArniNg inStituTion.

Maybe he was mocking her. Still, she liked the way his soft lips moved as he mouthed the words.

The man walked around the car to the driver’s seat.

Shay immediately got in, sitting her butt down on the comfortable not-quite-leather before buckling in obediently.

...Maybe she was getting kidnapped.

How bad could it be? She didn’t need all her organs, anyway.

The man turned in his seat, “Why are you sitting in the back?”

Uh, because that’s where children sat-- not that she was going to say that out loud. Also, Shay wasn’t sure her heart could take it if she sat next to him.

“Miss Yan?”

“I LiKe it here!!” Shay exclaimed-- her voice cracking as she did.

“...Very well.”

OhhH~

Very.

Well...

Yes, that sounded nice.

No-- that sounded lovely.

----------------------------------------

After a short drive, Shay got out of the car and stood in a daze next to the bus stop.

The expensive automatic windows of the automatic car rolled down as the silver-haired man leaned over.

“Are you quite alright?”

Shay opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She nodded hurriedly, as to not to waste her handsome kidnapper’s time.

--that made a mess out of her bangs.

“Should... I stay with you until the bus arrives?” the man asked.

Shay wobbled her head to signal a no.

She quickly fixed her hair, twirling the ends with her fingers as she forgot what she was doing.

Wait-- that was wrong! She should have said yes!!?

Her kidnapper gave her a slow, uncertain nod.

“Farewell, Miss Yan.”

The windows began to glide up again, snapping Shay out of her brain fog.

She reached her hand forward, “W-w-wait?”

The windows stopped.

“Yes?” the man said, a curious glint in his eyes.

“N-n-name?” Shay blabbed.

Errgh. Arrrrgh. Uuuuurgh. EeeeEe~

“I want to know your name!” she yelled.

That smirk.

He put on that lovely, beautiful smirk of his. It was a little condescending. It was a little amused. Every single ‘he smirked’ she read in her books was instantly and permanently replaced by the image of that person’s expression.

“Have a good evening, Miss Yan.”

The car quietly drove off... smooth and super-silent as its expensive nature suggested.

Shay watched it go.

She waved.

And... then...

She reviewed her most recent life choices.

She put her bookbag down on the bench.

She walked to the nearby standing billboard...

And she smacked her head against the plastic.

‘Did it hUrt when you fell from heAveN??’

She wanted. to. cry!

Why did she say that? Why would any human being seriously say that to another human being?

She plonked her head again. The face on the billboard looked like it was laughing specifically at her.

She had acted soOoo creepy!

--so creepy, she didn’t even get kidnapped properly!

AND she didn’t even get that guy’s name!

He rEfuSed to give it to her!

What if-- what if she never saw him again?

There were millions of people in Archangel. It was basically impossible to find him again.

Oh-- but maybe... maybe he lived somewhere nearby? And-- and that’s how he found her? It was LoGiCaL~!

Shay lifted her head off the billboard and pursed her lips.

What... happened to her?

She didn’t even ask.

Did she... pass out somewhere? Had she ever passed out before? It wasn’t something she wanted to ask her aunt about. (And if she called Dad to ask, that’d only make him worry.)

She... probably passed out.

Why else was there a whole blank in her memory between after-school and waking up in that guy’s car?

Everything was just so...weird.

--and then that weird conversation...

He mentioned Merlin... the wizard of King Arthur’s court?

Shay shook her head. No, she must have misheard.

Merle? That was another name. Merlot? That was a kind of wine.

...Berlin? Maybe?

Oh, the bus was coming. She waved to the bus driver to make sure they knew she was waiting.

--and something shiny dropped onto the ground.

She hurried to pick it up.

The pin!

She still had to give it back!

YeessSSSsss! She had a perfectly reasonable excuse to see that person again.

--to get his name.

--and his number.

--and his favorite foods... his favorite TV shows...

Err... and to apologize for a thousand different things.

She asked to touch his eyes?

She shivered as she tried to work out the stupid logic in her stupid brain that somehow led to saying that sTuPid thing.

She quickly boarded the bus, both giddy with excitement and reeling from crushing despair.

The problems remained: she didn’t know anything about that person. How in the heck was she supposed to find him?

Would she ever see him again? Her mysterious, nameless, noble knight who rescued her from lying on the street like a bum?

Hah...

Or maybe it was all just the weirdest dream?