Chapter 94: [I’LL MAKE YOU BLUSH!]

’What does do it right even mean?’

Eli pressed his forehead lightly against the cool glass of the passenger window, watching the blur of streetlights rush past.

The city looked alive out there—glittering, chaotic, endless—yet inside the car, the silence was suffocating.

Kairo’s words gnawed at him, looping over and over in his skull like a curse.

’Do it right.’

What was the right way to save his family? To save his mom?

Start a fundraiser? Donate anonymously? He had no idea how to do that without screwing it up. Those things took time, effort, planning—things he didn’t have the luxury of right now.

The only thing he knew how to do was throw money at the problem. He was rich now. Wasn’t that what rich people did? Money equaled solutions.

But if that was wrong—if that was reckless—then what the hell was left?

His chest tightened. His reflection in the glass stared back at him, pale and haunted, eyes ringed with sleepless shadows.

’I don’t know how to be rich. I don’t know how to… be him. All I know is that I could hand Lucas the money or pay the bills myself. That’s it. That’s all I know.’

His thoughts spiraled, tripping over each other in frantic waves. ’So what’s the other option? What am I missing?’

The world blurred until his stomach lurched with the sudden deceleration. His head jerked up.

The car had turned smoothly, sliding down a familiar ramp.

The gold-and-glass lettering of Aureum Gold loomed over them, gleaming even in the dark.

Eli blinked, stunned. “…You drove me back home?” His voice cracked with disbelief. His hands tightened on his knees. “How did you even know where I live?”

Kairo’s answer was immediate, flat, like it was obvious. “Research.”

Just that. One word.

Eli’s stomach sank.

Research. Of course. Caelen had pried into him before, but somehow, he hadn’t expected Kairo to bother. The man barely spoke unless necessary, his coldness infamous. Why would he care enough to dig?

And yet, here they were.

Eli chewed on the inside of his cheek, eyes darting toward the hunter in the driver’s seat. His profile was cut sharp under the dim lights of the underground garage—jaw clenched, eyes unreadable, every movement controlled.

’God. Don’t tell me Kairo is secretly a cocky, winning-obsessed bastard too…’ Eli thought bitterly, recalling Caelen’s endless smirks, his smug little games. His chest tightened with a mix of dread and frustration.

No. Kairo wasn’t like Caelen. He was colder, sharper, more like a wall of stone. But after the past few days, Eli wasn’t sure if he could trust any S-Class hunter not to play some kind of twisted game with him.

He licked his lips nervously, breaking the silence. “I hope you don’t mind the constant asking—”

“I do.”

The words dropped like a blade, slicing his sentence clean in half.

Eli’s face fell. His lips parted soundlessly, but no retort came. Instead, he forced a weak laugh, awkward and strained. “…Right. Okay. Good to know.”

Still, he tried again, his voice quieter this time. “If you’re just… dropping me off, why are we parking? You could’ve just let me out at the entrance.”

Kairo didn’t answer immediately.

His eyes stayed fixed, scanning rows of polished cars glinting under fluorescent light. The engine purred, the low hum filling the silence as he steered with that same unshakable precision.

Eli fidgeted, chewing on his lip. Every second of silence dragged like iron chains. He wanted to ask again, to demand an answer—but one glance at Kairo’s expressionless face stopped him cold.

So he waited. Patient, but tense. Watching the hunter’s hands on the wheel, watching the calm way he maneuvered through the garage like he already owned it.

Until finally, the car slid into an empty space with a smooth, decisive halt.

The hum of the engine died as Kairo twisted the key. Silence settled heavy between them, broken only by the faint tick of cooling metal.

Eli’s fingers curled nervously against his knees, waiting for some clipped dismissal or another lecture. Instead, Kairo’s head turned, black eyes locking onto him with unflinching weight.

“The reason I came here tonight,” Kairo said at last, his voice deep, steady, “was to have a conversation with you.”

Eli’s chest tightened. He blinked, caught off guard.

Kairo’s gaze didn’t waver, sharp enough to cut through the quiet. “I happened to see you leave Aureum Gold. I followed. That’s how I saw you enter the hospital.”

No lies. No misdirection. Just blunt, brutal honesty.

Eli’s heart skipped. For some reason, he had expected half-truths, some cold avoidance, anything but… this.

’He’s actually being straightforward with me?’

The honesty disarmed him more than the dragging, more than the car, more than anything else tonight.

Really, he was the exact opposite of Caelen.

Where Caelen twisted words with smirks and arrogance, Kairo simply was blunt and direct.

And somehow, that honesty disarmed Eli more than being dragged through the hospital, more than the expensive car, more than anything else tonight.

And yet—

The task flickered in his mind like a cruel reminder.

[SYSTEM MISSION – ACTIVE]

Objective: Make target [KAIRO] feel flustered and blush!

Eli’s chest tightened. ’This is good. I wasn’t able to help Lucas and Mom today, but I can at least try and finish this task.’

So he forced it—dragged a small, careful smile onto his lips, the edges trembling but holding.

“Alright then,” he said softly. His voice wasn’t as strong as he wanted it to be, but at least it was steady. “That’s fine. We can go up to my penthouse and talk.”

For a moment, Kairo just studied him. Black eyes steady, unreadable, like he was weighing Eli’s very soul in his silence.

Then—just a single, short nod.

No questions. No hesitation.

And without another word, he pushed the driver’s side door open, the heavy slam echoing through the underground garage.

Eli exhaled shakily, tension leaving him in fragments. His own door felt heavier than it should, but he shoved it open and stepped out.

The cool underground air wrapped around him, sharp and sterile, carrying the faint tang of oil and rubber. His shoes clicked faintly against the polished floor as he straightened, his heart thundering.

Kairo was already ahead, long strides eating up the distance, his figure cutting a tall, commanding shadow beneath the fluorescent lights.

The dark red of his coat caught the glow in flashes, like blood against stone.

Eli swallowed hard. His chest swelled with a storm he couldn’t quite contain.

On one hand—his heart ached, dragging him back to Lucas’s baggy, tired eyes, to his mother’s frail body, her shallow breaths under the white sheets.

Guilt gnawed at him, heavy and unrelenting, a chain he couldn’t shake.

But on the other—this was his chance.

The system’s task loomed over him, relentless. His tether. His punishment if he failed.

’I can’t fix everything right now. I can’t save them tonight. But what I can do… is this. I have to focus. If I can’t help Lucas tonight, then I’ll make sure I do this right. I’ll survive this.’

He forced his steps to match Kairo’s, keeping his pace just behind him. His smile lingered, faint but resolute, determination flickering beneath the sorrow.

His fists clenched at his sides.

’I’ll make you blush, Kairo. Even if it kills me.’

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