The tension between you and Kazuya just grew, along with your workload. You couldn't rest and every time you talked to Kazuya, you avoided eye contact to remind the difference between you and him.

«This is how it has to go...no closeness to him, or I'll end up hurting myself again.»

Of course, your attitude didn't go unnoticed in front of the man, who watched you carefully every chance he got, yet never told you anything that would soften the mood.

Until he noticed something.

«You better take a break.» He said casually during your meeting, after seeing that you looked tired and bitter.

«I'm fine sir.» You weren't, but you couldn't let little sleep and stress ruin everything you were sacrificing for. You would have continued like this, on your way, if the heel hadn't taken a bad turn.

«Ugh!»

You were on the verge of touching the floor, until an arm reached out to stop you.

«As always, you never listen to me.» Kazuya said lowering his eyes to yours, caught off guard, having him so close to you made your chest flutter nervously «You would have gotten hurt if I hadn't caught you...you are careless, Y/n.»

You wanted to push yourself away from him, but your hands didn't listen to you, as they rested on his half-open shirt and your eyes were locked on his bi-colored ones, as if depended on them.

It was his fault you had tripped.

«...better I go then. Thank you Mr. Mishima.» Kazuya did as you asked, without looking at him anymore. Moreover, he noticed you didn't call him by his first name anymore and even though it was in a professional manner, it bored him a lot.

The price to pay for protecting you under his evil wings.

You left the Millenium Tower earlier than usual and not knowing where to go, you thought about going home to rest.

«Maybe sleep will reconcile my thoughts as well...» You had some doubts though, especially after the latest events.

But then your phone rang. You thought it was Kazuya who had changed his mind, instead you were shocked to see it was your friend.

«Ling?» You replied after a long time, hearing her voice was almost a relief for you.

«Y/n? Aah finally, we absolutely need to meet! Can you come to this address?» After that, the chinese girl shared the location, not very far from where you were.

«Please come as soon as possible.»

You thought it was an emergency, or that she was in trouble...but when you saw her in the distance, you also recognized the figure who was near her.

«Nice to see you here, guys.»

Ling ran to hug you tightly, as Hwoarang stood watching you intently. So much had happened in between that now you were really happy to be able to talk to them.

«Same for us, Y/n.» She answered regaining some distance, not the usual way Ling Xiaoyu would do though «But there's a reason why we wanted to see you. After what Jin told us, we wanted confirmation from you...were you Reira Lilai?»

That surprised you, honestly this wasn't what you wanted to talk about but you had to comply with her request, so as not to lose their trust.

«Yes, I did it because I believed Kazuya was responsible for my parents' death...but it was a trap designed by Nina Williams, pushing me to become something I'm not.»

You explained in a clear and precise tone, with the hope your friends would understand you. Instead, Hwoarang's gaze dropped and Ling took on a pained expression on her round face.

«But, I don't want to talk about this any–»

«Are you serious?!» The korean suddenly blurted out, catching you off guard «How could you deny something like that, you slept with that bastard Y/n!»

Your eyes widened at that statement and Ling tried to calm the redhead, full of anger.

«Sorry to disappoint you, but I've done nothing of the sort. Is this what you really think of me?» You were on the verge of breaking down, nothing seemed to be in its place and who was supposed to comfort you, now was lashing out at you violently.

«O-of course not Y/n! We were worried about you and when we saw those things at your house...honestly, I hoped that you could kill that monster, you have no idea how mean and dangerous he can be!»

Ling seemed very sure of what she was saying, especially towards Kazuya, but you weren't...true, he was an asshole and threatening most of the time, but you couldn't ignore what he had done for you despite you had tried to kill him. You couldn't ignore his touch sending your brain into overdrive, or your heart, which accepted his kindness and discharged sudden emotions in you.

If he really was a monster, you had already been devoured by him then.

«You're right, maybe I'll never get to know him well...» You said in a weak voice, getting up from the wooden bench you were sitting on «But this also applies to you. All this time, you kept me in the dark about everything, including the fact that Jin was his son...why?»

You stayed silent later. Hwoarang clenched his fists and shot one straight into the nearby net, as Ling felt guilty for treating you like a fool...right now, she would rather you hated her and not Jin for his cursed origins.

«Because I saw you liked him. And you to him.» She looked down when said that and your thoughts just became more confused.

«If so, why isn't he here and telling me straight in the eye?!» You crossed your arms, fully convinced that each of them had hidden the truth from you.

«You should judge yourselves before doing it with me.»

You hid your anger and disappointment before leaving and looking around for Jin's figure, maybe he could have fixed this situation.

«No, he would only make them worse.» You thought as you headed towards your motorbike.

You needed to distract yourself and for this reason, you stopped at the nightclub that you knew well, having been there in Reira's shoes.

And yet, it seemed like nothing ever changed.

• ● •

You had already forgotten the name. It was the second glass, but you couldn't remember what drink it was, just tasted surprisingly good in your bitter mouth.

Never as bitter as your life, of course.

You remembered the night at Kazuya's place, when were convinced that he was the culprit, but you refused to kill him anyway...and also now, you rejected your friends' hatred towards him, as if it were unfair. They knew nothing about him and the only one who could tell was you, his personal secretary.

Maybe, he liked you a little. That's why he chose you...

«Pfft!» You took another sip after chuckling about that, the alcohol was taking effect and now you were thinking stupidly «There's no way he thinks this of me, I'm a brat compared to him...I'm not a woman like Reira.»

You rested your elbow on the table and your head exploding, as if you were about to have a nervous breakdown. Everything seemed to move on its own, also the people around seemed like mixed silhouettes, feeling like a needle in a big haystack.

But you seemed to be a really shining needle, as some guys hadn't stopped eating you with their eyes ever since you stepped inside the club.

You finished the glass in time before any of them approached, sitting next to you as if he were an old friend.

«Hey, I've never seen ya here! You're very beautiful.» You thought about the reason behind such courtesy and huffed in boredom at the unwanted company.

«Wanna warm up the evening by dancing with me–»

«I'm not interested.» You yawned at their faces in a bored way, before standing up from your seat «Do your shitty business elsewhere and leave me alone, okay?!»

Your temper definitely pissed off most of them, not appreciating your sincere comment. It wasn't the first time you had been involved in such a topic, but right now, you didn't feel able to react the way you wanted.

«Fuck! My body isn't responding and I feel like I'm going to throw up at any moment...what a disgusting day off, is there anything else I deserve?!»

One of them tried to touch you and you backed away, hitting the stool behind and no one seemed interested in stopping those guys.

«Ooh calm down, baby doll!» The same guy raised his hands in a sign of surrender, but one of his group took the opportunity to position himself behind you and block your arms, making you suddenly flustered «We just want to get to know you better...why don't you come out with us?»

When massaged your ass without permission, you pushed and kicked him in the balls, making him cry on his knees, on the other hand your weakness made your body unbalanced towards the bartender's counter.

«Yeah, you provoked the wrong bitch. And now get the fuck out!» You probably weren't clear-headed, but definitely tired of being thought of as stupid by anyone.

But returning to your peace wasn't easy and those assholes were still there, staring at you with surprised and angry looks. They wanted to face you, but hadn't understood what was waiting behind them until they saw with their terrified eyes...

«Jin?!» You couldn't have seen well, but you recognized his spiky, black hair and his powerful presence which threatened everyone.

«Is it really him? What is he doing here?»

You were thinking about him lately, but all your suspicions fell when saw the thugs walking away in a rather intimidated way from the club.

Jin walked closer to you, but your vision was blurry to notice the expression on his face. His silence was exactly like Kazuya's.

You gave a weak "thank you" without looking up at your savior, who was scaring all the customers in the meantime; you heard him speak later, but his words were indecipherable and at that point, you turned in his direction assuming a very provocative posture.

«No need to be so shy, you've done worse to me.» You tilted your head, leaving much of your clean neck visible to other observers «Tsk, I can't believe you're his son...»

You spoke out, convinced the man in front of you was Jin Kazama, and suddenly burst into tears. They had been difficult days for you and you felt the need to vent and say everything you thought.

You didn't get a response from the other, but you could feel his gaze and that of others on you and so, you made an unexpected gesture, placing yourself against his hard, well-dressed chest.

«...why did you kiss me if you knew what I was doing with him, your own father?»

Again, no reaction. But the breath was longer in the man's lungs and you sensed the thing had upset him.

«Mmm this perfume drives me crazy, how can you be so good, Jin...?»

You stuck your nose through the jacket. A long arm wrapped around you, lifting your body a few inches off the ground.

«His hug...» You felt a familiar sensation and that's why you wrapped the arms around his neck, as if you needed it more...

«I missed him so much.»

At that point, he decided to withdraw from the public, taking you with him away from their prying eyes. His gaze, so sexy and deep, gave you an intense shiver that you didn't expect, not from such a mysterious guy like Jin was...yes, he was attractive and strong, but there was something still missing and you could tell by the scary silence that surrounded his figure.

«Uhm, I think I mistook you for someone else...» Your clarity was slowly returning and with it, the fear of having misunderstood something.

«Could you please let me go?»

But the other didn't seem to want to do it, in fact, he entered a private room inside the club and locked the door behind him, without freeing you from his hold for a second.

You didn't understand what was happening and the more you tried to separate yourself from the impostor, the more you realized that strength wasn't enough to push that human mountain away.

«L-let me fucking go, you jerk—»

There, you paused with frightening realization at the sight of his left eye, shining with its own, deeply red light; now that his identity was clear, your mind tried in vain to come up with some good excuse for your unseemly behavior.

«...Kazuya, I–»

«This will be more fun than I thought.»

His voice immediately petrified you. By now, nothing could forgive you for mistaking him for Jin and that's why he threw you somewhere in the room, not caring if you would get hurt.

«I won't kill you Y/n, but I need you to understand that you can't keep playing with me...»

The lights went out suddenly, leaving you in the darkness and at the mercy of his diabolical vengeance.