Chapter 1:the ecape
N A R I N
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
The air in the mansion was always the same: thin, cold, and smelling of expensive floor wax. It felt more like a golden cage than a home.
I stood in front of my vanity, tugging at the collar of my oversized, soft lavender knit sweater. It was far too comfortable for a Jantarachot, which was exactly why I loved it. It made me feel like a normal person—like someone who didn't have a name that made people sweat when they heard it.
My phone buzzed on the bed. A text from Jet: 'The car is at the back gate. You have exactly three minutes before the security shift changes. Don't be late, or we're all dead.
I let out a soft sigh, staring at my reflection. I knew I should stay. Phi Khluen had been so stressed lately, his brow constantly furrowed under the weight of the family business.
He treated me like a precious porcelain doll that might shatter if he blinked too fast. But I was tired of being fragile.
"I'm sorry, Phi," I whispered to the empty room. "But I can't just be a secret anymore."
I grabbed my bag, making sure to hide my phone, and moved toward the window.
My heart was thumping a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I'd practiced this exit a dozen times in my head, but actually climbing out of a second-story window was a different kind of rush.
I swung my legs over the sill, my sneakers hitting the grass with a soft thud.
I didn't look back. I just ran. I cut through the garden, past the perfectly trimmed hedges that felt like prison bars, and toward the dark shadows where I knew the side gate was.
Jet and Rain were waiting there, looking terrified.
"You're late!" Rain hissed, pulling me into the car. "We almost had a heart attack.
If your brother finds out we took you out, he's going to make us disappear."
"He won't find out," I said, my voice steady even though my hands were shaking.
I leaned back into the seat, watching the mansion shrink into the distance.
"Tonight, I'm not a Jantarachot. I'm just Narin. And I want to feel like I'm actually alive."
The city lights started to blur past us as we hit the main road. I didn't know that on the other side of town, a man named Kawin was ending his shift, his eyes already searching for a reason to keep going.
I didn't know that my "escape" was actually a path leading me straight into the one thing I was supposed to avoid.
