Chapter 1- Meeting Him
Everyone told me to stay away from DANIEL.
The way his name fell from their lips was always the same…… careful, afraid. Like saying it too loudly might summon him.
I didn’t listen.
The first time I saw him, he was leaning against a black car outside the café, hugging his tall frame. His jet-black hair fell messily over his forehead, and his sky-blue eyes were cold, sharp… and painfully sad.
He looked like someone who had already lost too much.
When his eyes met mine, something in my chest tightened.
“Stop staring,” he said, voice low and rough.
“I wasn’t,” I lied.
He stepped closer. Too close. I could smell smoke and rain on his jacket.
“You should be afraid of me,” he whispered.
I should have walked away…..but I stayed.
Then he grabbed my wrist—not gently, not cruelly, just firmly enough to warn me.
“Don’t get attached,” he said. “I don’t save girls like you.”
I turned away …..and went home
Maya saw him again.
Daniel was standing across the street, leaning against a silver car like he owned the night. The city lights reflected off his black leather jacket, and his jet-black hair fell into his eyes in that careless way that made him look dangerous and beautiful at the same time.
He wasn’t smiling.
He never did.
But his sky-blue eyes were fixed on her.
Maya heart stumbled.
She told herself to keep walking. She didn’t. Her feet slowed, her body turning toward him like something invisible was pulling her in.
“You stalking me now?” his voice cut through the noise of the street.
“I just… I was walking,” she said, her cheeks warming.
He pushed himself off the car and took a step closer. One step. That was all it took to make her breath change.
“You keep finding me,” he murmured. “That’s dangerous.”
“So are you,” she whispered.
For a second, something flickered in his eyes — not anger, not coldness… something softer. Something lonely.
Then it vanished.
Daniel stopped just inches from her. She could smell his cologne, feel the heat of him in the cool night air. Her body reacted before her mind did, her pulse racing.
“You don’t know what you’re inviting,” he said quietly.
“Maybe I do.”
His jaw tightened. His gaze dropped to her lips. Maya felt it — the way he was fighting something inside himself.
“Go home,” he said.
She didn’t move.
When his fingers brushed against hers, it felt like electricity.
“Daniel…” she breathed.
He pulled his hand back like he’d been burned.
“That’s exactly why you need to leave,” he said, voice low and rough. “Before you start wanting things you can’t understand.”
But Maya already wanted him.
And he knew it.
