Cupids: The Wrong Kind of Spark

Chapter 2 The Sins of the Past

"Nurse! For the love of all the copper wires in Sector 7, get off me! I swear, I haven't showered in three days, I smell like a straight-up dead fish!"

Reyhan screamed his head off, trying his best to push Nurse Sarah's face away, which was now stuck to his shoulder like super-powered cyber-glue. The woman's fingers were gripping Reyhan's hospital gown with a level of strength that was honestly ridiculous for a skinny nurse.

"Chill out, my vessel! Why you gotta be scared of a little wild affection?" Aeros' laughter echoed with total satisfaction, crawling through the corners of Reyhan's brain. "Back in my Red Dynasty days, women hugging the emperor with the energy of a hungry tiger was just a regular Tuesday!"

"That was your dynasty, you prick! The problem is we're in a hospital, and if a doctor walks in, I'm gonna get busted for spiritual harassment!" Reyhan cursed in his heart, his face turning bright red from both the physical struggle and the pure embarrassment.

"Reyhan, babe... your breath is so warm... I'm just gonna quit today, let's go get hitched at the chapel behind the hospital, okay? That way I can take care of your IV for the rest of our lives..." Sarah rambled with a blank stare, her dilated pupils looking like they were literally beaming pink heart emojis.

Just as Reyhan was trying to figure out the most polite way to trip Nurse Sarah without catching a lawsuit, the ward door was suddenly slammed open.

WHAM!

"Sarah! What on earth are you—"

The words from Dr. Bram, the head doctor on the night shift, got stuck right in his throat. Behind him, two buff male nurses—the ones usually stationed in the psych ward—were also standing there with their jaws on the floor. Right in front of them, a skinny patient who looked pretty average and had just been struck by lightning was being hugged like some kind of holy idol by the meanest nurse in the whole hospital.

"Doc! Help me, doc! This nurse is possessed by a yandere ghost!" Reyhan yelled in desperation, throwing his hands up like he was asking for political asylum.

Dr. Bram frowned, nervously adjusting his glasses. "Sarah? Do you realize what you're doing? He's a patient!"

"Don't be noisy, Dr. Bram!" Sarah snapped without taking her obsessive eyes off Reyhan's face. "My guiding god has found his home! Don't you dare try to split us up unless you want me to spike your coffee with sedatives tomorrow morning!"

Hearing that savage threat from his employee who was usually as cold as a double-door fridge, Dr. Bram literally shivered. "You two! Secure Sarah right now! Looks like that weird lightning radiation from yesterday is airborne!" he ordered in a panic.

The two buff nurses rushed forward. An epic struggle broke out that was zero percent aesthetic. Sarah was screaming her lungs out like she was being separated from her soulmate at the gates of death. Her fingernails even managed to scratch the ceramic floor, making a heart-wrenching screeching sound before she was finally hauled out of the room by the two beefy nurses.

"Reyhaaaann! Don't leave me! I'll learn how to cook that coconut stew you love so much!" Sarah howled from the end of the hallway before her voice faded away, drowned out by the panicked echoes of the other hospital staff.

The room suddenly went dead quiet. Dr. Bram looked at Reyhan with a mix of pure horror and deep respect. He cleared his throat softly, fixing his messy white coat.

"Dude... what kind of charm are you wearing? Or is it... some kind of tribal love potion?" Dr. Bram whispered, dying of curiosity. "Sarah is colder than an iceberg at the North Pole. She even shot down the foundation chairman last week without blinking."

Reyhan sighed deeply, leaning his throbbing head back against the pillow. "Maybe I just set up free wifi in her dreams, Doc. Please, I really need some rest."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. Get some sleep. We'll make sure Sarah gets... an emergency psych eval." Dr. Bram quickly scurried out, locking the door tight like he was scared the craziness in that room might jump out and bite him.

Once he was sure the door was locked, Reyhan closed his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs in his mind. "AEROS! Explain yourself right now before I hang myself with this IV tube!"

The reflection in his mind immediately showed a man in ancient emperor robes, casually checking his nails with a cocky attitude that made you want to slap him.

"You're so loud, Kid," Aeros answered casually. "You should be thanking me. If it wasn't for my absolute charm flowing through your dry-ass soul, that nurse wouldn't even have bothered to touch your crusty toenails."

"I need an explanation, not a crazy cosmic matchmaker service!" Reyhan cut him off sharply. "What's a Cupid? And why are you in my head with the title 'accused war emperor'?"

Aeros sighed, his expression turning a bit serious, even though some ancient arrogance still lingered in his tilted chin.

"Alright, listen up, because your dull mortal memory probably won't be able to handle all these facts at once. Humans call us 'charisma batteries,' but in reality, we are Exiled Cupids. Spirits from past civilizations punished by the heavenly order to be the entities that determine attraction."

"Punished? For what?" Reyhan asked skeptically.

"For great sins," Aeros replied coldly, his golden eyes dimming for a moment. "Me, for example. I once used my absolute charisma to move millions of soldiers, burning neighboring kingdoms to the ground just to feed my ego. In the eyes of the heavenly rulers, I was a dangerous glitch that messed up their destiny flow. Because of that, my soul was sealed, my power was tamed, and I was dumped into your empty soul to act as a passive engine."

Aeros folded his arms across his broad chest. "Normally, there's a total barrier called The Veil—a Metaphysical Curtain. Humans aren't supposed to know we exist. Our energy only leaks out a little bit as a vibe of confidence, some vague good looks, or social luck."

"But yesterday, that lightning strike..." Reyhan muttered.

"Bingo! That weird lightning on the Sector 7 antenna had leftovers of a dimension-tearing energy storm. It hit your head and ripped that protective veil into tiny pieces. Now, we're not separated anymore. We can hear each other, swap thoughts, and the worst part..." Aeros stared directly into Reyhan's consciousness. "We can perform Synchronization."

"Meaning?"

"You can use my full power on purpose. You can bend the free will of any human around you instantly with just three seconds of eye contact or physical touch. Like that nurse—her soul immediately bowed down to my tyrannical command. This is... the Greatest Sin in the eyes of the heavenly protectors."

Reyhan swallowed hard, his throat feeling like sandpaper. "Any side effects?"

"Simple enough," Aeros' smirk widened, but it was totally cold. "The gatekeepers of destiny called 'The Wardens'—flawless-faced angels of doom who clean up civilizations—will soon detect the rip in our Veil. They won't show up with a warning ticket, Reyhan. They'll come to delete your existence from the universe until your last cell doesn't even leave behind ash."

The sound of Reyhan's teeth chattering filled the quiet room. "So, what you're saying is... my already trash life now has the added bonus of being hunted by God's hit squad?"

"Exactly! Pretty fantastic, right? Luckily, with me around, you won't die easily—wait..." Aeros suddenly straightened his spiritual back. His golden pupils narrowed wildly. "My vessel! Hold your breath. A big predator just entered our territory!"

Before Reyhan could process that emergency warning, the ward's door handle turned with a cold click.

Click.

The vibe in the room suddenly took a total 180. The hospital AC, which was just lukewarm a second ago, now felt like it was pumping out straight-up arctic air that froze the puddles on the floor. The air got super heavy, like the gravity in the room doubled in a heartbeat. Reyhan's chest felt tight, like someone dropped a massive, invisible rock right on his ribs.

Then, this woman walks in through the door, and it's like she hijacked all the light in the room just by standing there.

She was rocking a charcoal black designer suit that fit her sharp, elegant frame perfectly. Her jet-black hair was tied back tight, showing off a killer jawline and eyes as blue and cold as the deep ocean. Every click of her sharp heels on the floor sounded like a beat that was literally bossing around everyone's heartbeat.

That's Isabella Vance. The big boss of the biggest financial dynasty around, basically pulling the strings on a third of the whole city's economy.

"Isabella... Vance?" Reyhan muttered, his voice shaking as he tried to catch his breath. To a regular guy like him, her name was always plastered all over those top-tier business mags. Why the hell was a powerhouse like her in some average hospital room?

Behind her, there was this thing floating—a ghostly entity shaped like an ancient iron crown, covered in this crazy dominant black-and-gold aura. It stood there looking all grand with its arms crossed, looking down at Reyhan like he was just some random roach she accidentally stepped on with her expensive shoes.

"Her Cupid..." Aeros whispered inside Reyhan's head, sounding super on edge and full of low-key hate. "...has the destiny of a total king-level leader. Stay sharp, Reyhan. This woman is definitely not your average human!"

Isabella Vance stood right at the foot of Reyhan's bed. She tossed a thick folder with the Vance Tech logo onto his blanket with a casual move that was honestly pretty insulting.

"Reyhan," Isabella said, her voice smooth as velvet but enough to kill anyone's confidence. "We're short on time. I'm here to buy your silence about what went down at the Sector 7 antenna tower last night. And you... well, you don't really get to say no."