Dancing with the Flame.

I saw you. Standing there that night… when you accepted an invitation from the devil herself. She was beautiful... too beautiful, wasn’t she? The kind of beauty that warns you—this is where it begins, and this is where it could end. And still, you took her hand. Not by accident. Not by chance. You chose her.

...Those eyes of hers said it all. Promises laced with pain, smiles stitched from secrets that could ruin you. You knew. You always knew. But common sense never saved anyone, has it?

...The ballroom was alive with golden lights, music like silk wrapping around the dancers, and chandeliers that sparkled brightly, as if the stars themselves had gathered to watch. But the moment she touched you, the room began to vanish. It was only the two of you, lost in that dance, moving through smoke and mirrors, circling closer and closer to a flame you couldn’t outrun.

She smiled then... A smile that whispered, You’ll regret this. But not tonight. And damn it, you smiled back...

You danced until the music no longer mattered. Spun so fast that the chandeliers above blurred into streaks of light, like comets falling to the ground. The other dancers faded into shadows. There was only her. Only her fire licking at your skin, burning you from the inside out... It felt nice. Didn't it?

...She pulled you closer, so close you forgot where you ended and she began. You stopped caring how deep you were falling because, in her arms, every worry dissolved. Every ache became weightless. Every regret disappeared, just for those fleeting moments. And isn’t that all you ever wanted? To stop feeling the things that haunted you?

And so, you let her spin you deeper into the night, until even the pain felt like a relief. Your legs begged for mercy, but you didn’t dare stop. Not with her looking at you like that—like she could take everything from you with a glance, and you would thank her for it too... So you danced, and danced… because nothing else mattered anymore. She wanted to dance...

...Then the music stopped. Just like that. No warning. No encore. No reason. One second, she was holding you; the next... she was gone.

...Her final smile—it was a tragedy disguised as bliss, wasn’t it? Heaven wearing the grin of a demon, and you loved her for it. Loved her because she never lied to you. She showed you. She told you from the start: This won’t last. And it will burn like nothing you’ve ever known. And she was right. ‘Cause it did.

When the last note of her footsteps faded, the world crashed right back into place. You stood there, barefoot, empty, staring at the ghost of a dance you couldn’t get back... She left you with nothing—no glass slipper, no farewell kiss. Just the echo of a song and a piece of your heart, left at her feet, like an offering to a goddess who never promised to be kind...

...And yet, you still hope. Hope that in the chaos of her world, she might remember you. That she might take that piece of your heart and place it on the top shelf of all her other collections, where only the rarest burns are kept. Because if you’re going to lose yourself, if you’re going to dance with fire, you want to believe it meant something at least...

...You want to believe that. Believe that for one night, you mattered to the flame.