Evelyn Carter thought "Toward the Light" was just a game.

Just a lonely boy hidden inside a screen.

A damaged child she comforted with soft words, midnight conversations, and fleeting moments of affection.

But Adrian Vale was never fictional.

While Evelyn treated the game like a small part of her life, Adrian built his entire world around her.

Every second she stayed.

He remembered all of it.

And when she disappeared, he waited.

Patiently.

Obsessively.

For years.

Then one day… Adrian crossed into her reality.

Now the fragile boy she once saved has become a dangerously powerful man living right beside her door.

A man who watches her through the peephole at midnight.

Who memorizes the sound of her footsteps.

Who grows jealous when she smiles at someone else.

To Evelyn, he is only the charming new neighbor.

But to Adrian—

she is his god, his obsession, the only light he has ever known.

And after waiting for her for so long…

he will never let her belong to anyone else again.

Chapter 1

Main Characters in This Batch

Evelyn Carter

Adrian Vale

Sunny

It was happening again...

That unsettling sensation of being watched.

The streetlights below flickered dimly, and even though Evelyn Carter was the only person on the sidewalk, a cold shiver ran down her spine, as if a pair of hidden eyes were fixed intensely on her back.

I must be exhausted, she thought. Too many late nights at the studio are finally playing tricks on my mind.

It was indeed getting late, and she still had a deadline looming. Quickening her pace, she hurried into the lobby and took the elevator home.

Evelyn was a shoujo manga artist. She had started freelancing during college, and after finding significant success, she turned her passion into a full-time career upon graduation.

Her fingers flew across the digital tablet, the stylus moving with practiced precision. As she drew the final stroke, she let out a long, weary breath.

The clock in the corner of her screen read 23:58. She had managed to hit 'send' on the latest chapter to her editor's inbox just two minutes before the deadline.

"Finally done," she whispered to herself, leaning back into her chair and rubbing the stiff muscles in her neck that were aching from the long hours.

At her feet, something soft and furry nudged her ankle. Sunny, her golden retriever, let out a small whine and rested his heavy head on her lap, his tail thumping rhythmically against the floor.

Evelyn smiled, the lingering tension from the walk home finally beginning to melt away. She reached down to scratch Sunny behind the ears, his warm presence grounding her in reality.

"Good boy, Sunny. Thank you for staying up with me so late." Her voice was slightly hoarse from exhaustion, but it remained gentle.

After tidying up her drawing tools, Evelyn collapsed onto her soft single bed. The sheets were adorned with a delicate floral pattern, matching the warm and cozy aesthetic of the entire room.

She reached for her phone on the nightstand, and the screen lit up, reflecting her vibrant and beautiful face. Her fingers drifted across the icons before stopping on an app called Toward the Light.

This game had appeared two years ago. At the time, she was struggling with a major creative block, staring at a blank canvas with no inspiration. Then, without warning, this game appeared on her phone screen.

She originally thought it was a piece of adware downloaded by mistake, but after accidentally clicking on it, Evelyn was captivated by the sheer detail of the opening animation.

A seven-year-old boy stood in a luxurious but hollow and cold room. He had a refined face, but his eyes were so empty they broke her heart.

The animation used a watercolor manga style to tell the backstory of this child named Adrian Vale: a once wealthy and happy family torn apart by his father's infidelity. His mother suffered from postpartum depression and eventually took her own life right in front of him.

As a result, the boy suffered from severe PTSD and refused to communicate with anyone. His father remarried, and while his new stepmother appeared gentle on the surface, she secretly sabotaged the boy at every turn now that he had lost his mother's protection.

Once the CG finished loading, the screen showed Adrian curled up alone in the corner of a room.

Evelyn felt a pang of pity and instinctively tapped the small figure on the screen. To her surprise, a speech bubble with a question mark appeared above the boy's head.

"This game is interactive?" she murmured to herself.

The interface then prompted: "Player, please level up as soon as possible to unlock more features."

Below was a list of tasks: clean the room, buy food, interact with the character...

Evelyn found herself irresistibly drawn to the game. The exquisite art style and smooth animation might even help her find creative inspiration.

She ended up playing for two years. Now, the Adrian in the game had grown from a schoolboy into a high school student.

By completing tasks, Evelyn unlocked more ways to play. The once-closed-off little boy slowly opened his heart to her and began to act like a normal person.

The sense of accomplishment in raising a pitiable child into a brilliant young man brought Evelyn immense satisfaction.

Sunny was now quietly asleep in his little bed.

The game finished loading. Adrian was sitting by a classroom window, sunlight spilling across his profile and outlining his handsome features. Several girls passed by, blushing as they stole glances at him, but he was completely oblivious, focused entirely on the competition problems on his desk.

Evelyn couldn't help but smile, tapping the teenager on the screen.

Sensing the sudden touch on his face, Adrian knew immediately it was her. His cold expression softened, and the corners of his lips lifted into a subtle arc, like ice beginning to melt.

He wrote a line on his scratch paper: "You're here. How was your day?"

Seeing the bubble above the character, Evelyn typed her reply: "Great! I was full of inspiration today!"

This intelligent and emotional AI response was one of the reasons she kept playing. The interaction felt so human, as if Adrian really existed in reality.

Watching the handwriting appear out of thin air, the smile in Adrian's eyes deepened. His fingertips gently brushed over the words, as if he could feel her warmth through them.

"That's good," he wrote.

For Evelyn, she checked in on him almost every day, but for Adrian, her arrivals were entirely unpredictable. Sometimes she came every few days; sometimes she didn't appear for a month. Each visit varied in length.

Because of this, he cherished every single second she stayed by his side.

How long will Evelyn stay with me today? A flicker of anticipation crossed Adrian's eyes.

New words slowly appeared on the paper: "You're going to university soon. Why not try making some friends? Being alone all the time is too lonely."

Adrian's gaze instantly darkened.

How could I be lonely? I have you, and that's enough.

Why mention this again? Is Evelyn tired of me? Is she trying to push me away to someone else?

These thoughts grew like wild vines, tightening around his chest until it was hard to breathe.

Evelyn saw a dark cloud appear over Adrian's head, indicating his displeasure.

She sighed. Even though he had stepped out of the shadows of his past, why was Adrian still so unwilling to make friends? He was so wonderful; as long as he was willing to socialize, many people would care about him.

Adrian carefully hid his dark thoughts, loosening his clenched fists, which left shallow nail marks in his palms.

"I only need you. You are enough," he replied, the light in his eyes dimming. A trace of morbid possessiveness was hidden beneath his gentle facade. "If there were others, you would have less time for me, wouldn't you?"

What he really wanted to say was: I only want you, and you should only look at me. That way, neither of us will ever be 'lonely' again, right?

But he couldn't. He wouldn't get her pity that way. He had to pretend to be normal to extract even a little bit of "love" from her.

Seeing his reluctance, Evelyn decided to try a different approach. "Do you want to learn volleyball? I'll teach you. It requires teamwork, and maybe you'll find true friendship through it."

Evelyn is going to teach me herself? This meant she would be with him for a long time today. Adrian's mood brightened at the possibility, and the shadows in his eyes lifted slightly.

"Okay."

The school bell rang. Adrian grabbed his bag and walked out of the school gates, where a chauffeur respectfully opened the car door for him.

"To the private sports club," Adrian said, leaning back in the seat. As he watched the city scenery of Ravenfall blur past the window, he could no longer feel Evelyn's presence. A familiar sense of anxiety began to spread.

She always left without a sound, leaving him alone to drown in the fading echoes of her tenderness.