Kyles's P.O.V.
It was 8:00 PM, and I was standing alone inside the massive dome of the island's observatory.
Up here, within the high curved walls of the facility, the air was completely still, sheltered from the outdoor coastal climate. The ocean breeze couldn't penetrate the heavy structure; everything was calm, leaving the interior perfectly stable for deep-space observation.
The interior layout was symmetric and precise. Exactly three massive, primary telescopes occupied the center aisle directly under the dome's retractable ceiling track. I walked slowly toward the middle unit, stopping directly in front of it.
I took the handle, gripped the cold metal, and gently nudged the heavy telescope upward. I leaned forward, bringing my eye close to the rubber edge of the eyepiece.
The blurry haze in the glass instantly snapped into focus. A beautiful cluster of stars appeared right before me, perfectly aligned with each other like a brilliant string of diamonds stretched across the empty dark.
"I feel weird today," I muttered quietly to myself, stepping back from the lens.
I leaned my forearms against the cold metal railing of the platform, staring blindly out through the opening at the dark night. Was it because of what happened earlier? I tried to dismiss the thought, but I could still remember her face very well, clear and sharp in my mind.
I had been deeply amused by her flushed face while giving her the sun hat on the shore. I simply couldn't help but laugh softly at the memory. Her flustered reaction was genuinely funny, and I found it entirely endearing somehow.
It was a relief that she truly thought of me as just another invited visitor on this island.
That misconception worked out perfectly; it meant my plan to stay here and watch over her from a distance would not be ruined. I wanted to make absolutely certain that she was enjoying her time on the island to make up for my previous administrative mistakes. Yet, checking my own reflection in the dark glass, I knew this identity crisis wasn't like me at all.
Watching the stars usually grounded me. Looking through the lens always made me feel like there was so much more to discover beyond the boundaries of our world—the terrifying, raw beauty of the endless galaxy always demanded my full attention. Yet tonight, my focus was fractured.
Pollen's face kept appearing in my mind without warning. She hadn't even been smiling when we crossed paths on the beach, but looking back, I found her expressions oddly endearing in a way I couldn't quite explain.
"Why do I feel so weird today?" I repeated under my breath, frustration creeping into my chest.
I genuinely felt like my personal actions were getting stranger day by day.
Was it really because of a certain girl? Because of Pollen?
I clicked my tongue sharply against the roof of my mouth, shaking my head to drive the ridiculous thought away. That was completely impossible. I was a practical corporate executive who operated strictly on logic and predictable metrics, and an ordinary girl shouldn't be disrupting my thoughts or breaking my focus like this.
Talking to the stars out loud certainly wasn't my thing.
While I believed that stars could look down and speak directly to a person's soul on an emotional level, I was never the type of sentimental person who would literally stand in the dark and mutter to the empty night air. Yet here I was, entirely off-balance, blurting things out loud to the void while looking at the sky.
"So you are aware that you are weird," a familiar voice came from right behind me.
I did flinch for a second, but I quickly remained calm and turned around to look at the person behind me.
Thump, thump.
My heart suddenly raced against my ribs, a sharp spike of adrenaline hitting my chest. Her eyes were shining like the stars above, bright and luminous in the dim lighting of the facility. Her hair was down, falling softly around her shoulders, and she was still wearing the woven sun hat I gave her earlier today.
The sight of her wearing my hat completely caught me off guard, shattering whatever cold, professional composure I was trying to maintain. Pollen was walking slowly across the platform floor, stepping directly toward the right primary telescope centered next to mine.
I felt a sudden, deep urge to just move closer to her. For the first time, I genuinely wanted to know her better, to close the distance between us.
Suppressing the internal conflict, I took a small, deliberate step toward her and smiled softly, the dim ambient light catching the edge of my lips.
She stopped in her tracks, her expression instantly clouding over with deep confusion as she looked at me.
"If I am the weird one, then you're the funny one," I murmured, my voice low and quiet under the massive dome.
Pollen's P.O.V.
"You are really weird," I countered instantly, rolling my eyes as I took a few cautious steps backward away from him.
"What part of me screams 'funny'?"
Honestly, I just wanted to see the night sky using the advanced telescope up here without any added stress.
Cleo had dropped me off right at the front entrance of the building a short while ago, explicitly telling me to just call her or any of the on-duty resort staff whenever I felt ready to head back to the hotel.
I thought I would have the massive room entirely to myself, but instead, I ran straight into the one person I was trying to avoid.
"You're funny because you're still wearing the sun hat. It's nighttime," he playfully teased.
Before I could say anything, he stepped a bit closer, reaching out to gently guide the woven hat off the crown of my head. The hat features a long drawstring, and his fingers were remarkably careful as he pulled the brim back, letting the adjustable strap slide smoothly over my hair until the hat dropped behind me, dangling softly against my back.
The unexpected closeness left me completely frozen on the platform floor. My face burned with pure embarrassment as the hat settled against my shoulder blades. Up close, he really did have a remarkably good smell, which only made my heart beat faster.
'Why does he have to be so incredibly forward?' I thought to myself, panicking silently in the shadows.
I immediately turned away from him and gripped the metal chassis of the telescope right next to me, using the cold steel to anchor my erratic focus.
I needed to look through the lens and ignore his presence entirely before the frantic pounding in my chest became audible in the silent room.
"Why are you so silent?" He asked smoothly, his deep voice carrying a trace of lingering amusement.
"Earlier, you were mumbling about me being weird."
I could tell he was smirking without even looking at him, and I absolutely did not want him to see my flushed cheeks again. I forced my eyes to stay glued to the sleek black framework of the equipment.
But how on earth was I supposed to adjust this lens?
I stared blankly at the complex controls, entirely confused. I didn't know how to use this massive machine. I had only grabbed the chassis as an emergency shield to avoid his intense gaze all over me, and now my total lack of technical knowledge was on full display. Worse, I couldn't even read his mind right now; the silence in my head was total, which only fueled my paranoia that he was probably laughing at my struggle. It was significantly easier to do complex programming and write lines of coding back at my computer than it was to manage this stubborn telescope.
"Pfft," a quiet sound escape his lips.
"Mind if I help you?"
I completely ignored his offer, stubbornly keeping my hands wrapped around tightly the cold handle.
'Keep trying, Pollen.' I urged myself internally, desperately nudging the heavy steel bracket up and down, hoping the blurred lens would magically calibrate.
"You think you can adjust it on your own?" He challenged softly, his tone highly skeptical.
"Okay, let's see."
Defeated by the stubborn machinery, I stopped fighting the lock. I knew when I was completely out of my depth. Deciding to just swallow my pride, I tilted my face downward and away from him, staring intently at the floorboards so he wouldn't look at my face.
"Fine. Help me then," I said without looking at him.
"You know, it's rude to talk to someone without looking at them," he countered dryly.
I bit my lower lip, annoyed but realizing he was right. Slowly, I moved my head to look at him in the eye, forcing my gaze upward in the dim light of the dome.
"Help me... please," I whispered.
The moment those words left my lips, his entire expression completely shifted.
A brilliant, genuine smile broke across his face, and his features instantly lit up. Even though his posture remained calm and collected, I could see an undeniable spark of excitement dancing in his two eyes. He looked remarkably happy, almost thrilled that I had finally given in.
'What was that look all about?' I wondered, a small flutter hitting my ribs.
Before I could decipher his expression, he moved closer to me, stepping right into the narrow space behind me. My breath hitched in my throat. He reached around my waist, his long arms framing my sides as he grabbed my hand, guiding my fingers to wrap properly around the heavy manual gear tracking wheel together.
!!!!
The sudden, intense proximity felt entirely like he was hugging me from behind. The heavy warmth of his body completely enveloped me, trapping me against the console.
"What are you doing?" I gasped out, looking down at our overlapping hands.
"I am helping you," he said, his deep voice carrying a soothing warmth that matched the reassuring pressure of his palms.
"You can just tell me what to do," I murmured softly, my voice barely a whisper
As I spoke, the subtle expansion of his chest bumped firmly against my back. I suddenly turned my head to look at him, only to realize his head was an inch closer to mine. The proximity was completely overwhelming; I could feel the soft, steady rhythm of his breathing warming the skin of my cheek.
Under the focused starlight, his eyes were shining remarkably bright. His eyebrows were thick and perfectly structured, and his dark eyelashes were surprisingly longer than my own. His nose possessed a sharp, perfect shape, and his lips looked incredibly soft. For a terrifying second, I completely lost myself in his features.
He cleared his throat softly, the quiet sound instantly breaking the trance and snapping me back to my senses. I looked away immediately and looked down at the platform floor, desperately hiding my burning face.
His hands moved seamlessly with mine, turning the smooth metal dial to calibrate the massive machine. Together, we nudged the heavy telescope smoothly into place, guiding the chassis until it locked cleanly onto the designated star coordinates.
He paused for a brief, heavy second before he finally took a deliberate step backward, giving me space to breathe.
"Sorry about that," he added quietly, his voice dropping into a sincere, low rumble.
I stood frozen against the railing, completely dazed. Was he saying sorry because his chest had accidentally bumped into my back during the adjustment? Or was he apologizing because of his rude, arrogant attitude towards me from earlier today? I couldn't tell, and without his thought bubbles to guide me, the mystery left me entirely breathless in the dark.
"There," he said softly, his breath brushing the side of my face.
"Go look at the stars now."
He slowly moved back, stepping away from me to give me some space. As he did, his warm hands slowly slid against mine, leaving a lingering trail of heat on my skin before his fingers completely left my grip.
"Oh, thank you," I mumbled, my voice still a little breathless from how close we had just been standing.
I slowly leaned forward toward the lens, pressing my eye closer to the soft rubber edge of the eyepiece.
The sharp view inside left me completely lost for words. Through the lens, the sky transformed from a hazy dark blur into a crisp, breathtaking expanse of the upper atmosphere. Perfectly centered in the glass was a dense, glowing field of stars that looked incredibly sharp against the deep velvet blackness of the night sky.
They weren't just the tiny, faint pinpricks of light you see from a crowded street; here, they looked like scattered, brilliant crystals shimmering with absolute clarity. Looking through the telescope, a sudden wave of quiet stillness washed completely over my mind. The exhausting mental fatigue from the city and the overwhelming noise of other people's chaotic thoughts just evaporated into the dark. For the first time in months, my head felt light, clean, and perfectly peaceful.
"Gorgeous, isn't it?" he blurted out quietly from somewhere over my shoulder.
I kept my eye locked on the glass, just nodding in slow response.
"It calms me down," I muttered honestly, unable to tear my gaze away from the steady cosmic glow.
"It's like I am looking into a completely different world."
"Just like a paradise," I said, at the exact same time he rumbled, "Yeah, some kind of paradise."
We both blurted our words out in perfect unison.
Startled by the sudden synchronization, I immediately pulled my face away from the telescope to look straight at him.
We both laughed.
The sudden, spontaneous sound of his laugh instantly made the heavy, awkward atmosphere in the room feel much lighter.
For some strange reason, my usual lingering anxiety just vanished, and I felt completely normal standing around him.
He didn't feel dangerous anymore. Instead, he made me feel incredibly safe, as if his calm presence was giving me a rare kind of protection whenever I looked at him.
I know I'm so late to ask for his name, but it's better late than never getting his name.
"Our first encounters were not really good," I admitted, a small, genuine smile brushing against my lips.
"But when it comes to the stars, we're both aligned."
Stepping forward into the dim light, I raised my right arm and extended my hand out to him to offer a proper handshake.
"By the way, let me introduce myself properly this time. I'm Pollen Anderson." I looked up into his face, my smile widening slightly.
"What's your name?"
The moment the question hung in the air, his relaxed atmosphere completely shifted back into a cold, guarded gaze. His eyes narrowed, and he immediately looked away from me for a brief second, letting out a soft, heavy sigh that was just loud enough for me to hear in the quiet dome.
'Is he uncomfortable?' I wondered, my hand still resting mid-air.
'But why? He was just laughing with me a second ago.'
He turned his face back to look down at me again, but his expression had transformed into something entirely different. He wasn't radiating cold anger, but he wasn't smiling either; it was just a blank, unreadable stare completely devoid of any emotion.
"My name is..." he began, his voice dropping into a quiet, heavy hesitation.
Kyles's P.O.V.
I completely forgot that this woman standing directly in front of me didn't even know who I was. To her, I was just a rude, anonymous stranger.
Looking down at her extended hand, a wave of guilt hit my chest. I knew I shouldn't lie to her, especially not now.
We had just formed a genuine, good bond over the telescope, and for the first time, she looked completely relaxed and truly happy around me. I was incredibly glad that she liked this observatory, and that she was finally enjoying the island layout.
"My name is..." I trailed off, the words catching in my throat.
I took another slow, deep breath to steady my racing thoughts.
Don't lie. Do not lie to her, Icommanded myself sternly.
I had approved her VVIP pass and brought her to this private island specifically to apologize for the things I had done—the secret surveillance, the digital backtracking, and the constant stalking that she didn't even know about. I wanted to make things right, so starting this new connection with a fake identity was out of the question.
But I couldn't just blurt out that I was Kyles Morris, her corporate billionaire CEO, without completely destroying this fragile peace and scaring her away.
I reached out my hand, wrapping my fingers around her smaller, warm palm to accept her handshake.
"KIM"