Chapter 9

The blinding headlights made it impossible to open my eyes. All I could hear was the horn screaming closer and closer—yet I somehow forgot to move.

A gust of air blasted past my face, thick with a metallic stench, sweeping over me like a wave.

Then—someone yanked my arm.

Hard.

The force dragged me backward, my legs scrambling to keep up until I stumbled a dozen steps and hit the ground. Pain shot up from my tailbone, snapping my mind awake.

I forced my eyes open.

The man who’d fallen with me—

My ex.

“Henry.”

His name slipped out, and to my surprise, my voice shook with something like relief.

“You need to be more careful walking home this late,” he said, brows drawn tight.

“Were you the one following me in the parking garage?” I blurted, remembering those footsteps shadowing mine.

He nodded.

“After you dumped me today, I… couldn’t shake the feeling something was off. I wanted to know the real reason. So I stayed in the hallway at your company, waited until you got in the elevator, then followed you to the garage. But I didn’t dare show up in front of you. Did I scare you?”

A humorless laugh escaped me. I’d nearly died of fear.

But still…

“Thank you. For pulling me back.”

Without him, I’d already be a smear under that truck.

“Gia,” he said softly, “can you tell me the real reason we broke up now? I want the truth. Don’t lie.”

Under the moonlight, his eyes looked unexpectedly clear—calm, almost gentle.

Fine. Considering he just saved my life…

“Are you human?”

The moment the words left my mouth, I realized how awful they sounded. I quickly corrected myself. “I mean—are you actually human?”

He shook his head.

My heart dropped. So he really wasn’t—

“You’re really not human?!”

“Idiot.” He sighed, staring at me like I was the strange one. “I shook my head because I had no idea how to respond. If I’m not human, then what exactly do you think I am?”

His exasperation felt painfully familiar.

“Aves said you’re a corpse,” I whispered. “That if we took your jade cicada, your true form would show.”

“So you did steal my jade cicada.”

Heat crawled up my neck. “I’m sorry. Aves kept insisting you were… undead. I figured instead of guessing, we might as well check. When we went shopping, she stole it from your dressing room.”

“And? Did you confirm anything?” he asked, voice quiet, almost teasing.

“Aves took it to an antique dealer. We saw a giant half-meter black centipede crawled out of it. I freaked out. I believed her. And that’s why I broke up with you.”

Henry fell silent.

I knew he couldn’t explain that… hobby. Even if he was human, keeping something like that on him wasn’t normal. Honestly? It was disturbing.

He finally sighed, unshouldered his backpack, and pulled out a small cardboard box.

He opened it.

Inside were over a dozen jade cicadas.

I went speechless.

“Gia,” he said calmly, “they’re suppositories for treating diarrhea. They’re not real jade. They melt. Rub one in your palm.”

I stared at the jade cicadas, noticing they were slightly different from the one Aves stole—the mouths were closed, the eyes smaller.

Against my better judgment, I picked one up and rubbed it in my palm. In seconds, it softened.

It was… really a suppository.

Real jade would never soften like that.

But then another thought struck me.

If the jade cicadas were fake… why would Aves use a different jade cicada to impersonate Henry’s?  And that centipede—where did it come from?

“Why would she do that?”

A smile flickered across Henry’s face—strange, knowing, a touch too calm.

“I actually met Aves long before I met you,” he said. “She was with her parents at a KFC. I was working there part-time. While I was wiping down tables, I overheard them.”

My pulse quickened. “What were they talking about?”

He shifted his voice—pitch perfect, eerily accurate—as he mimicked an older woman.

‘Aves, that Gia girl is too sharp. You put her in your will and she doesn’t even appreciate it. Forget trying to make her leave her things to you.’

I froze.

Then he switched to a man’s voice.

‘Let it go. She’ll get married one day, have kids. Her money will go to them, not you.’

Finally, he imitated Aves herself—tone dripping venom.

‘Don’t try to stop me. I won’t give up halfway. No matter how many boyfriends she dates, I’ll drive them all off. I’ll never let her get married or have children.’

I felt cold all over.

“That’s… that can’t be who she is,” I whispered, more to myself than him.

Had she gotten close to me—been so good to me—just for my money?

“If you want to know what kind of person she truly is,” he said quietly, “go to her place tomorrow. Hide. Watch. But whatever you do—don’t let her see you.”