A quarter of a year passed almost unnoticed. Looking back, Cassian struggled to remember when exactly Emily, Kyeongtae and Dayoon had stopped feeling like people he visited and started feeling like home. Perhaps there had never been a single moment.
Perhaps it had happened through hundreds of ordinary evenings instead. Shared dinners. Long conversations. Movie nights that ended far too late. Coffee in the kitchen before work. Wide smiles exchanged across the dining table. The four of them had slowly built something that none of them ever needed to force. It simply fit.
Cassian had become more than Emily's partner. For over two months now, he and Dayoon had also shared a relationship that had grown just as naturally as every other connection inside their small polycule. Emily had been right. Love had never asked to exist in only one place.
One evening, Cassian invited Emily to his house. She accepted right away, as always. The familiar rooms felt different now. Not emptier, just temporary.
After dinner, they stayed in the living area where so many of Cassian's thoughts had once begun. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. They simply looked through the large windows into the dimly lit garden.
Then Cassian reached into his pocket. Immediately, Emily looked at him. He took a slow breath.
"I've never been very good at planning speeches," he admitted with a faint smile.
Emily raised an eyebrow.
"I noticed."
Cassian laughed softly.
"I only know one thing."
He stepped closer.
"I don't want to imagine a future that doesn't include you."
For the first time that evening, Emily's expression changed. Barely, but enough. Cassian carefully opened the small box in his hands.
"Emily Martin..."
His voice remained steady.
"...will you marry me?"
Silence. The city seemed impossibly far away. Emily looked at the ring, then back at him. For several long seconds, she simply stared. When she finally answered, her voice sounded almost unfamiliar.
"...Yes."
Before Cassian could react, tears gathered in her eyes. She blinked them away almost immediately. Old habits. Not quickly enough though, because he had noticed them. Without saying anything, he stepped forward and embraced her. Emily allowed herself to lean into him. Just for a moment. Then she smiled.
"You know," she said quietly, "there's one condition."
Cassian laughed.
"Of course there is."
"Now that we're engaged..."
She looked toward the distant skyline.
"...you'll move in with us."
She didn't need to explain why. Four careers. One household. One future. It simply made sense.
Cassian smiled.
"I already assumed that."
Emily nodded once.
"I know."
The following evening, another celebration unfolded. This time, it was Kyeongtae who stood nervously before Dayoon. Unlike Emily, Dayoon never attempted to hide what she felt. So when she realized what was happening, her eyes widened immediately. Before Kyeongtae had even fully finished asking, she laughed through gathering tears.
"Yes!"
She threw her arms around him without a second thought. Kyeongtae, usually so composed, laughed into the embrace. Across the room, Cassian exchanged a knowing glance with Emily.
Several weeks later, all four of them sat together around the dining table in the house that now belonged to all of them equally. Dinner had almost finished when the conversation drifted somewhere unexpected: Children.
Emily rested her hands on the table.
"In my family," she began carefully, "children have always been... important."
Cassian listened.
"So important," Kyeongtae continued, "that every generation carries a responsibility toward the next."
Neither of them explained further. They didn't need to, because Cassian understood enough. Emily looked around the table.
"If we're going to build a future together..."
"...we should build it fairly," Dayoon finished with a gentle smile.
The conversation lasted well into the evening. There were questions. Ideas. Occasional laughter. Moments of thoughtful silence. Eventually, the four of them arrived at a plan that somehow reflected everything they had slowly become.
Two children would be carried by surrogate mothers: Cassian x Dayoon, Emily x Kyeongtae. Meanwhile, Emily herself would carry a child with Cassian and Dayoon would carry one with Kyeongtae. No connection would stand above another. No love would weigh more heavily than the rest. Each relationship would become part of the family they were creating together.
When the discussion finally ended, nobody questioned the decision. It simply felt right. Emily leaned back, looking around the table. For the first time in many years, she allowed herself to imagine the future. Not the one expected of her, but the one they had chosen together.
And before long... they began turning those dreams into reality.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
🔵② Siyeon - Chapter 2: A Decision That Did Not Need Applause
Siyeon and Luca had lived together for more than a year by now. The apartment had long stopped feeling temporary. It carried their routines, their habits and the understanding that came from sharing limited space without feeling confined. Until graduation, they found ways to support themselves without asking for more. Siyeon earned small amounts of money through street music, playing whenever the city felt open enough to listen. Luca spent more and more time programming, building small apps that sold well enough to cover their share of rent to his father and still allowed for the occasional delivery meal when neither of them felt like cooking.
On the day of their graduation, excitement and tension existed side by side. They prepared carefully, checked everything twice and spoke little on the way there. During the ceremonies, the weight of the moment lingered, heavy but bearable because they were together. By the time the celebrations began afterward, that tension dissolved into laughter. The future no longer felt like something waiting to happen. It felt close, almost tangible.
That closeness followed them home later that evening. Standing at the edge of another major change, the transition into working life, Luca seized the moment without planning it any further. In the quiet of the living room, with the day still echoing in their bodies, he asked Siyeon to marry him. His voice wavered despite his certainty, his heart racing faster than he could control. Siyeon did not hesitate. Surprise gave way to joy instantly and she accepted through tears, wrapping her arms around him as if the answer had always existed between them.
A few weeks later, they married in the smallest circle possible. Only parents and siblings attended. The decision was deliberate. Luca’s family had long been viewed with skepticism in Dowon and his father wished to shield both of them from unnecessary scrutiny. He wanted their path into working life to remain uncomplicated and unburdened by associations that others might judge unfairly.
The ceremony itself was quiet, almost understated. There were no grand gestures, only certainty. When it ended, nothing about their lives felt radically different. They returned to the same apartment, the same routines, the same shared space. The difference lay elsewhere. What they had already been living now carried a name and the future they stepped toward did so with pure intention rather than shaky assumption.
🔵 To read the full Siyeon story from the beginning, click here.
The weeks following Cassian's confession to Emily passed faster than he had expected.
After everything that had happened between them, he had imagined dramatic conversations, difficult decisions or perhaps long nights spent discussing feelings and boundaries. Instead, Emily did what she had promised from the beginning.
She showed him her world. Piece by piece. Without rushing or explaining more than necessary. And somehow, that felt very much like Emily.
One afternoon, she invited him to a small café tucked away between several office buildings in Dowon's business district. Cassian arrived first. Emily arrived exactly on time, not a second earlier or later.
As they sat down together, another man joined them shortly afterward.
"Cassian," Emily said simply. "This is Kyeongtae."
The man offered a polite smile and a small nod.
Kyeongtae Lee looked almost ordinary at first glance. His clothes were neat but unremarkable. His posture was relaxed. His voice was calm. Yet within minutes, Cassian noticed something unusual about him.
Kyeongtae rarely interrupted people. He preferred listening. When he did speak, however, everyone seemed to pay attention. The conversation drifted naturally between work, everyday life and various small events happening throughout Dowon. Only later did Cassian learn more about him.
Kyeongtae worked as a junior lawyer at a respected law firm. According to Emily, he had an exceptional talent for negotiation and occasionally assisted with legal matters connected to her father. The information settled somewhere in the back of Cassian's mind. Interesting, but not alarming. At least not yet.
More than anything else, Kyeongtae simply seemed kind. The sort of person who made others feel comfortable without ever demanding attention for himself. By the end of the afternoon, Cassian found himself genuinely liking him, which surprised him. A lot of things about Emily's life still surprised him.
Several days later, Emily introduced him to someone else. This time, it happened during a dinner at her house. A woman greeted him before he had even managed to remove his coat.
"Cassian!"
Her smile appeared instantly. Warm and bright, completely unlike Emily's carefully controlled expressions. The contrast was almost amusing.
"Dayoon," Emily said from somewhere behind him.
"Nice to finally meet you properly," Dayoon replied before Cassian could even answer.
The evening passed far more loudly than his previous meetings with Emily's social circle. Dayoon enjoyed talking, not in an overwhelming way, simply openly and naturally. She seemed capable of finding something interesting in almost any topic and possessed the rare ability to make conversations feel effortless. By the time dinner ended, Cassian felt as though he had known her far longer than a single evening.
---
A few days later, his phone vibrated unexpectedly. The sender's name surprised him: Dayoon.
Her message was short.
Hey. Emily is busy again and Kyeongtae is buried in work. Do you want to go somewhere together this weekend?
Cassian couldn't help but smile.
Emily's schedule had indeed become increasingly chaotic recently. Whenever she wasn't working, she seemed occupied with a dozen other responsibilities she never fully explained. And unlike most people, she genuinely preferred spending her free time indoors.
Dayoon, on the other hand, appeared incapable of staying inside for too long.
Sure, Cassian replied.
I'd like that.
The response arrived almost immediately.
Perfect 😊
As the days passed, Cassian slowly began understanding something he had overlooked before. Emily had never been trying to introduce him to a relationship. She had been introducing him to people. To connections. To an entire network of lives intertwined in ways he had never experienced himself.
Growing up, relationships had always appeared simple.
Two people. One bond. One future.
Now he found himself surrounded by friendships, partnerships and emotional connections that seemed to overlap without replacing one another. Strangely enough, it no longer felt confusing. It simply felt new.
One evening, while sitting alone on the upper balcony of his house, Cassian watched the lights of Dowon flicker against the darkening sky. The winter air had begun fading into spring. The city felt alive. For the first time in a long while, so did he. And somewhere between Emily's quiet certainty, Kyeongtae's steady presence and Dayoon's effortless warmth, Cassian realized something.
Emily had kept her promise. She was showing him her world. To his own surprise, he wanted to see more.
🔵 To read the full Cassian story from the beginning, click here.
Cassian stared at the screen for a few seconds longer than necessary, as if the signal might correct itself if he simply waited. The small symbol remained unchanged. No delivery. No response. A quiet unease grew in his chest.
He lowered the phone slowly, then exhaled, though the breath felt shallow. Something about it did not sit right. It was too still. Too immediate.
A cold shiver ran down his spine. His lips had gone dry without him noticing, and after a moment, he turned and walked toward the kitchen. The movement felt automatic, something to do with his hands, his body, anything to avoid standing still with the thought forming in his mind.
He reached for a glass and filled it with water. Then he saw it.
The photo lay on the kitchen island, placed carefully, as if it had been meant to be found. Beneath it, a folded note.
Cassian did not move at first.
The image was familiar. One of the last selfies they had taken together. They stood close, both smiling without thinking about the moment, the kind of picture that existed simply because it felt natural to capture it.
He stepped closer. His hand hovered above the note for a second before he picked it up and unfolded it. The words were short.
She was sorry.
She said she could not do this anymore.
She said she did not want to pull him into something he did not deserve.
She told him he deserved something simpler. Something real.
That was all.
Cassian read the note again. And again.
The letters did not change.
For a moment, everything around him remained exactly the same. The light still fell through the windows, the house still held its shape and somewhere outside, the city continued as if nothing had changed.
But something inside him did.
The glass in his hand trembled slightly, though he did not realize it until water spilled over the edge and onto the floor. He did not react. He only stood there, the note still in his other hand, the image beneath it anchoring something that was already slipping away.
He tried to make sense of it. There was no argument. No sign. No moment he could return to and reframe.
Only absence. The house felt different now. Not empty. But wrong.
---
The days that followed blurred together. Cassian spent most of his time alone, moving through the house without direction. Rooms that had once felt shared now carried a heavy weight. He avoided certain places at first, then returned to them anyway, as if repetition might dull the edge of it.
It did not.
Sometimes he stayed in bed longer than he intended, staring at nothing in particular. Time passed without leaving much behind.
Siyeon came by. More than once.
She rang the doorbell until he answered, patient in a way that left him little room to refuse. When he finally let her in, she stayed for a while, sitting with him, talking when he responded, staying silent when he did not. She did not try to fix anything. She simply remained. It helped, though not in ways that could be measured. It would take time.
---
Nearly three months passed before Cassian reached out to Emily.
Octavia’s belongings were still there. Small things at first. Books, clothes, objects that had once blended into the space without drawing attention. Now each of them stood out. Each of them carried a memory he had not chosen to revisit. He could not leave them there any longer.
Emily responded quickly. She sounded different than he remembered. Softer, more attentive. In the days leading up to their meeting, she checked in more often than expected, asking how he was doing in a way that did not feel forced. Cassian did not always answer in detail. But he did answer.
Almost four months after Octavia had left, Emily arrived.
Cassian stood in the hallway for a moment before opening the door. He had put on one of the two suits hanging in his closet, both slightly neglected, the fabric no longer as sharp as it once had been. It was the only thing that felt appropriate, though he could not explain why.
Emily stood outside, dressed as she always was. Dark tones, precise, composed. It suited her. It always had. They greeted each other quietly before moving inside.
The process was simple. They carried boxes from room to room, gathering what remained of Octavia’s presence and placing it carefully into Emily’s car. The movement gave structure to something that had otherwise felt uncontained.
At some point, they began to talk. Emily told him that Octavia was alright. That she was safe, but that she did not want to speak with him.
Cassian nodded once.
He told her that the way Octavia had left had pulled him out of his life without warning. That there had been no moment to understand, no chance to respond. The words came slowly, but they came.
Emily listened. There was a pause before she answered.
She said that things did not always unfold the way people planned them. Or hoped they would. And that sometimes, even when both sides meant well, the outcome still hurt. Her tone remained calm, but there was something beneath it. Something she did not fully reveal.
“People don’t always see the reasons behind someone else’s choices,” she added quietly.
Cassian looked at her. For a moment, it felt like there was more in that sentence than the words themselves allowed. But he did not press further.
By the time the last box was placed into the car, the sun had already begun to lower. They stood there for a moment longer than necessary.
Cassian realized then that it had been months since he had spoken to someone outside of his family like this. The conversation had not solved anything. It had not changed what had happened. But something about it felt different. Not lighter, but less closed.
As Emily prepared to leave, Cassian stepped back, watching as she settled into the driver’s seat. The car started without hesitation.
He remained where he was until it disappeared from view. Then he turned back toward the house. For the first time in a long while, the silence did not feel as absolute as before.
🔵 To read the full Cassian story from the beginning, click here.
(Sua Sponte = latin; "of one's own accord" / "voluntarily")
Luca had taken the entire week off. For the first time in months, no deadlines waited on his computer, no customers needed technical support and no unfinished projects occupied the back of his mind.
Meanwhile, Siyeon continued her usual routine at Adam Entertainment, spending her days between recording sessions, rehearsals and meetings that had long become part of her daily life.
On the second morning of his vacation, Luca received a short message. It came from Emily.
Harang River Park. 11:00.
Nothing more. He smiled to himself, then sighed.
Every member of the Martin family knew that someone was always paying attention to where everyone else was. It was simply part of growing up in their household. But this... this hardly felt like coincidence anymore. Emily had somehow known he would finally have time.
She was already waiting when Luca arrived. As soon as they spotted each other, both of them smiled. Luca walked over and embraced his older sister without hesitation. It had been far too long since they had seen each other outside of family obligations.
"How are you?" Emily asked.
"I'm good."
"You look rested."
"I finally slept more than six hours."
A faint smile crossed Emily's face.
"Good."
The conversation could have continued. With anyone else, it probably would have. With Emily, it didn't. She had never cared much for small talk.
"So," she began calmly, "we should probably talk."
Luca nodded. He had expected as much.
"As the second child," she said, "and the eldest son of the Martin family..."
Emily folded her hands in front of her.
"...you'll eventually hold an important position."
Luca remained quiet.
"And before that day arrives, we need to understand how you intend to involve Siyeon."
A brief pause.
"And your future children."
The words landed softly, but they carried considerable weight. Luca lowered his eyes for a moment before answering.
"I've already told several of Father's advisors."
Emily nodded.
"I know."
"I don't want anything to do with the family's business."
Silence.
"I never have."
He looked back at her.
"I chose a different life. A quieter one."
Emily's expression barely changed, but something inside her seemed to sink.
"You think I don't understand that?" she asked quietly.
Luca didn't answer. She looked out across the river before speaking again.
"The family has already taken enough from us."
Her voice remained calm, but for someone who knew Emily well, there was unmistakable sadness beneath it.
"It pushed Octavia away."
She paused.
"I don't want it to push you away too."
For the first time since sitting down, Luca saw something that Emily almost never allowed anyone else to witness. Fear. Not for herself. For him.
Luca remained silent for several seconds. Then he looked directly at his sister.
"Sua Sponte."
The two Latin words hung quietly between them. Emily closed her eyes for the briefest moment. Then nodded. She understood exactly what he meant.
"So be it," she replied softly.
"You can have time."
Another pause.
"But remember one thing."
She met his gaze once more.
"You can ask for time."
"But leaving..."
Her voice became firm again.
"...has only ever been all or nothing."
Luca slowly nodded. That had always been the rule.
Emily stood first. Without another word, the two embraced once more. This time, the silence between them carried far more meaning than anything either of them could have said.
When they finally stepped apart, a black sedan rolled quietly to the curb. A chauffeur stepped out and opened the rear door. Emily gave her brother one final look, then disappeared into the waiting car. Within moments, it blended back into the traffic along the river.
Luca remained in the park. He wasn't ready to go home yet. The conversation had left his thoughts far too restless. Instead, he wandered toward the outdoor fitness area overlooking the river. He stretched first. Then practiced yoga beneath the mild afternoon sun. Later, he picked up a pair of light dumbbells, allowing the repetitive movements to quiet his mind.
Normally, exercise cleared his thoughts. Today, it barely made a difference. Emily's words echoed again and again.
You can have time.
Leaving has only ever been all or nothing.
Luca looked across the water. For years, he had believed that building a life with Siyeon had been enough to leave the Martin family behind. Now he understood something he had spent a long time trying not to acknowledge. No matter how far a Martin walked... part of the family always walked with them.
🔵 To read the full Siyeon story from the beginning, click here.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Three weeks had passed. Not dramatic weeks, just the strange kind that moved forward while somehow feeling suspended at the same time.
Cassian had thought about messaging Emily almost every day.
Sometimes while sitting on the upper balcony. Sometimes while lying awake late at night. Sometimes while staring absentmindedly at his phone while a movie played in the background without holding any of his attention.
More than once, he opened their chat and typed. Entire paragraphs. Questions. Thoughts. Things he wanted to tell her. Things he wanted to ask. Then he deleted all of it. Every single time.
Emily herself had reached out occasionally during those weeks, but always briefly. Simple messages, more like short check-ins. Questions asking if he was alright, whether he was sleeping enough, whether things were getting easier. Never much more. Never less. And somehow, that made the silence in between feel even louder.
Three weeks later, Cassian woke unusually early.
Morning light stretched across the room, painting familiar shapes against the walls while the city slowly stirred outside. He stared at the ceiling for several minutes.
Then finally sat up. Without allowing himself time to reconsider, he grabbed his phone. This time he typed quickly. Not because he suddenly knew what to say, but because stopping meant overthinking.
Hey Emily. I hope you're doing well. I miss our evenings together. Please come by sometime soon. I wanted to talk about our last conversation.
Cassian stared at the message. Then pressed send before courage could leave him.
Immediately afterward, regret arrived. Followed by panic. Followed by staring at the screen far longer than necessary.
Then his phone vibrated.
He blinked. The reply contained only four words: I'm coming over.
A second message followed immediately after: Today. 4 PM.
Cassian stared at the screen. Then smiled for the first time in days.
Emily arrived early. Of course she did. Her car pulled up outside his house nearly ten minutes ahead of time, stopping with the same precise confidence she seemed to apply to everything else in life.
Cassian looked through the window and immediately felt something shift inside him. Not relief. Not exactly. Something lighter.
When he stepped outside and saw her standing beside the car, he caught himself smiling again.
Emily looked exactly the same. Dark clothes, composed expression, perfect posture. No visible reaction whatsoever.
Cassian almost laughed, because he knew better now. Emily did not wear emotions in public. Not at the side of streets. Not beneath open skies. Not where people could see. And somehow, knowing that made him strangely happy, because it meant he knew something about her others did not.
He invited her inside. The moment the front door closed behind them, Cassian turned toward her. And immediately realized he did not want to lose his nerve. Not this time.
"I thought about it," he said.
Emily looked at him quietly. Cassian swallowed, then continued.
"I thought about everything."
About her, about what she said, about polyamory, about all of it.
Emily remained silent. Watching. Waiting. Then Cassian stepped closer.
"I want to be part of your life."
No reaction.
"I love you."
Still nothing.
"And don't try to hide it behind that poker face."
A pause.
Then: "I know you."
Emily blinked. Only once. Quickly and almost invisible, but he noticed. Cassian smiled slightly.
"There it is."
For the first time since arriving, Emily looked away, just briefly. Almost thoughtfully. When she finally spoke, her voice sounded strangely careful.
"I don't want a relationship with you."
Cassian frowned and Emily crossed her arms.
"You don't know what you're walking into."
The sentence carried weight. More than the words themselves explained, but Cassian barely hesitated.
"Then show me."
Emily looked up.
"Show me your life."
Silence, but Cassian stepped closer.
"If I hate it, I can still decide to leave later."
Emily stared at him. No mask or distance. Just uncertainty. For a moment, she looked younger somehow. Smaller. And when she spoke again, her voice sounded quieter than he had ever heard it before.
"...And what if it's too late then?"
Silence. No city noise, no movement. Nothing.
Cassian looked at her, then slowly reached for her hand. Pulled her closer and kissed her. Not like two people testing a possibility, rather like two people who had spent weeks standing on the edge of something and finally stopped pretending they could stay there forever.
For the first time in what felt like years, Emily Martin forgot to hide what she felt.
🔵 To read the full Cassian story from the beginning, click here.
🔵② Siyeon - Chapter 5: The Day He Came to Collect Something
Every morning began with the same ritual. Before Luca left the loft for work, he sat down at the piano and played a few pieces he had known since childhood. It had not been his choice back then. His parents had insisted on it, guiding him through lessons he had once found unnecessary, even embarrassing. Over time the resistance had faded though. The melodies stayed with him and what once felt forced had become familiar.
Siyeon woke to those sounds and totally loved it. The notes carried gently through the open space of the loft, filling the rooms before the day properly began. There was something steady about it, something that made waking feel less abrupt. She rarely moved at first, simply listening as the music unfolded and settled.
By the time Luca finished and joined her in the kitchen, the morning had already begun.
They met there briefly before he left for work, sharing a few quiet moments between routine and departure. That day, Siyeon invited him to join her in the evening. Her family planned to meet at Central Park, nothing formal, just time spent together. Luca agreed without hesitation. He had come to feel comfortable among the Scotts, in a way he never quite had within his own family. With them, things felt lighter and definitely less complicated.
Their workdays passed without interruption. Luca moved through his tasks with ease, solving minor issues and refining code without the pressure of urgent problems. Siyeon’s day followed a similar rhythm. The studio remained calm, allowing her to record vocals and practice new choreography without the usual sense of competition pressing in from all sides. It was the kind of day that went by almost unnoticed, defined more by consistency than by events.
In the early evening, they met at the subway exit near Central Park. The air carried the last warmth of the day and the park felt open and unhurried. They found a bench where the sunlight still reached and sat close together, their hands resting naturally in each other’s.
After a while, Luca stood up and offered to get drinks from a stand across the park. Siyeon nodded and watched him walk away before settling back into the comfortable silence.
She did not expect to see Octavia.
The familiar figure approached from the path, and for a moment, the encounter felt almost out of place. They greeted each other with a brief embrace before Octavia sat down beside her. Their conversation remained light, shaped by the kind of details that filled ordinary days. Nothing seemed unusual. Nothing demanded any attention.
Then both of them looked up at the same time. Across the grass, Luca stood with Henry. Beside them, another figure had joined - David Martin.
Within moments, more people gathered. What began as coincidence shifted into something larger, a convergence neither planned nor avoided. Members of both families stood together on the open field, forming a small circle. At first, the atmosphere remained easy. Conversations overlapped and laughter followed the occasional joke. Even Henry and David seemed to find common ground, exchanging remarks that drew smiles from those around them.
Siyeon stayed closer to Yujin, observing more than speaking. Nearby, Luca remained engaged in conversation with the others, adjusting naturally to the shifting dynamic.
David’s attention eventually turned toward Siyeon. He spoke about her music, mentioning that he had recently heard some of her songs on the radio and had been pleasantly surprised. His tone carried approval, measured but genuine. He also thanked Henry and Yujin for taking care of Octavia during a difficult time. As he spoke, his gaze lingered briefly on his daughter. The dark lenses of his sunglasses hid his expression, but something in the angle of his head made the moment feel heavier than his words suggested.
The conversation continued for a while longer, but its tone had shifted slightly, almost imperceptibly.
After about forty-five minutes, David excused himself. He mentioned a business appointment that could not be delayed and moved through the group with composed efficiency, shaking hands with each of them before stepping away. Octavia followed him without hesitation.
Siyeon watched them go.
There was nothing in the scene that stood out clearly. No raised voices. No visible tension. And yet, as she observed their figures disappear along the path, an odd unease settled somewhere she could not quite reach.
She could not explain it, but it stayed with her.
🔵 To read the full Siyeon story from the beginning, click here.
🔵② Cassian - Chapter 4: When Love Refused a Single Name
After Emily had picked up the last of Octavia’s belongings weeks earlier, she never fully disappeared from Cassian’s life again.
At first, the visits seemed incidental. A short stop after work. A conversation that lasted longer than expected. Shared dinners that began casually and ended hours later without either of them noticing how much time had passed.
But eventually, her presence became routine. Emily appeared at his house several times a week now, sometimes carrying takeout containers, sometimes arriving empty-handed and simply occupying the silence beside him as if she had always belonged there.
Strangely enough, whenever she was around, Cassian’s thoughts stopped drifting backward. For the first time in months, his mind remained in the present.
Not with Octavia. Not with the empty spaces she had left behind. Just… here. With Emily.
The two of them understood each other almost instinctively. Conversations rarely needed much explanation. One sentence often became enough for the other to understand the rest. Even their silences felt unusually complete.
Cassian found himself looking forward to the sound of her arriving. That realization alone unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
Months passed that way. Quietly.
One evening, they sat together at Cassian’s dining table after finishing the food Emily had brought over from a small restaurant somewhere deeper within Dowon’s nightlife district. Empty containers remained scattered across the table, neither of them motivated enough to clean up immediately.
The room glowed softly beneath the warm kitchen lights. Emily leaned back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other, lazily turning a glass between her fingers while Cassian watched her without fully realizing he was doing it again. Or perhaps he did realize it.
This time, Emily noticed too clearly to ignore it.
“You keep doing that,” she said.
Cassian blinked. “Doing what?”
“Looking at me like you’re trying to solve something.”
A faint smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.
“Maybe I am.”
Emily exhaled a quiet laugh, though it faded quickly into something more thoughtful.
“You should know something before this becomes confusing,” she said calmly.
Cassian straightened slightly, his attention sharpening immediately. Emily’s expression remained composed, almost practiced.
“I’m not interested in monogamy,” she explained. “Not really. I never have been.”
The words landed gently, but directly. Cassian stayed quiet for a moment. Emily continued before he could misunderstand her silence.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re attractive,” she added honestly. “You are. Very much, actually.”
That caught him slightly off guard.
“But I prefer polyamory.”
Cassian tilted his head faintly.
“Why?”
Emily’s gaze drifted briefly toward the city lights beyond the windows.
“Because life’s too short to share it with only one incredible person.”
The sentence settled heavily into the room. Not dramatic. Not provocative. Just sincere.
Cassian found himself unexpectedly curious instead of resistant. The idea itself felt unfamiliar, almost distant from everything he had known growing up. His parents. Siyeon and Luca. Every stable relationship around him had always followed the same shape. One person. One love. One future.
Emily seemed to exist outside of that entirely. Before he could ask more, she stood.
“I should go,” she said.
Cassian looked up. “Already?”
Emily smiled faintly.
“You need time to think about what I said,” she replied. “And I’d rather you actually think about it than just react to me sitting here.”
She grabbed her coat, then paused near the doorway.
“And don’t over-romanticize it in your head,” she added with a small grin. “It’s still complicated.”
Then she left and for once, Cassian did not immediately feel abandoned by a closing door. Only thoughtful.
The following days passed slowly. Cassian spent much of his time on the upper balcony, stretched out across one of the loungers while the cold evening air moved softly through the neighborhood around him.
Again and again, his thoughts returned to the same sentence: Life’s too short to share it with only one incredible person.
At first, the idea felt almost impossible to place inside himself. Everything he knew about love had been singular. Focused. Exclusive. But the more he thought about it, the less impossible it seemed. Maybe love did not lose value simply because it existed more than once. Maybe different forms of closeness could coexist without replacing each other. Maybe people simply loved differently. And maybe that was alright.
Eventually, curiosity overcame hesitation. One evening, while sitting alone beneath the dim balcony light, Cassian picked up his phone and sent Emily a message.
He told her he wanted to understand it better. That he wanted to learn more.
Her response came only a few minutes later.
Don’t start thinking this was an invitation.
A laughing emoji followed immediately after.
Cassian stared at the message for a second before quietly laughing to himself for the first time in what felt like months. Then he leaned back against the lounger again, the cold air brushing against his face while the city lights flickered endlessly in the distance. Somewhere along the way, without fully noticing it, the world had started moving forward again.
🔵 To read the full Cassian story from the beginning, click here.
