Episode 28 – "Where Fire Starts, Smoke Stays"

Episode 28 – "Where Fire Starts, Smoke Stays"
“Puihh… Kenny! Did you just put salt instead of sugar?”

Rae frowned as she looked at the cup of coffee she had just sipped. Her eyes moved to Kenny, who was standing awkwardly at the small kitchen counter of the guest house, checking the sachet package.

“What? Seriously?” Kenny muttered, then shrugged. “They look the same. Same shape, same color. They should label them better—”

“Haha! You’re a CEO, not a barista,” Rae cut in, and for the first time in who-knows-how-long, she let out a small laugh. Not a big laugh, but enough to ease something heavy inside her chest.

Kenny gave a faint smile. He pulled out a chair and sat down, not right next to Rae, but close enough for her to feel he was there. He crossed his arms on the table and stared at his own cup for a moment before finally saying,

“I thought I was making progress… turns out I made sea coffee, lol”
“Haha… Well, at least you didn’t use tomato sauce,” Rae replied, her tone light, almost teasing.

She looked at him for a second, then took another sip of the salty coffee anyway. “You admitted your mistake.... That’s already rare for someone like you.”
Kenny chuckled. “Admitted my mistake? Rae, I wasn’t even sure if I should offer you this coffee. Half of me thought you’d throw the cup at my face.”

“Ohh.... Depends on how bad it tastes,” Rae answered with an exaggerated nod. “But… you passed.”

They laughed softly. Not loud, but enough to warm the room.
That morning wasn’t about plans. It wasn’t about pain. Just two people who, for a moment, didn’t have to protect themselves from each other.


On the other side of the city, near the Blackwood Dreamland project site, a small clash broke out between construction barriers and a group of residents. 
Vina stood in front of an excavator, her arms stretched wide. Nathan was beside her, shouting at the security guards. Some local people followed behind them.

“This is our land! You don’t have the right to evict us without a proper meeting!”

But their voices were barely heard over the sound of machines and the dust in the air. Some people just stood from a distance, watching. The spirit they once had seemed to fade. 

Without Rae, their strength had lost its leading voice. The media stayed silent too, maybe already paid off. This issue wasn’t “hot” anymore....

Several houses were already empty. The people had given up and accepted Blackwood Holdings’ offers. Selling at prices not even half of what their land was really worth.

The protest failed again. Three people were arrested. Nathan clenched his fists, frustrated.

“Nathan, we need Rae,” Vina whispered, her eyes red from dust and anger. “Without her, we’re just… noise waiting to be silenced.”
“I know, Vina. I just don’t know how to make Rae realize and come back here.”

“You should try talking to her again... I hope this time, she listens. If not, maybe we really have lost, Nate.”
“Sigh... We’ll talk more at the base later, Vina. You’re right. We need Rae.”


Meanwhile, back at the guest house, everything was quiet. But not empty. Kenny sat on the porch wearing a dark blue sweater, going through old documents he had brought with him last night.

Rae sat a few meters away on a small garden bench, sketching something on a blank sheet of paper.

“Is that a house?” Kenny asked without looking up.
“My childhood home,” Rae replied softly. She kept drawing.

Kenny looked back down at his papers. A moment passed, then Rae spoke again.

“Why are you still here?”
Kenny raised his head briefly. “Sometimes… a person needs to see what they’ve broken. Up close.”

He didn’t look at Rae when he said it. But Rae could feel it.... that something was changing in the man who used to scare half the city, 'The Land Mafia Don'.

Time moved slowly in that place. Rae read the thin book Kenny had sent her earlier. Maybe as a gift, or maybe as a trick. But now she read it freely. 
Sometimes she scribbled notes in the margins, sentences that made her smile, or touched a part of her she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Evening came quietly. The sky turned a pale copper. Kenny was fixing a loose window, a small hammer in hand. No one asked him to...
Rae watched from inside the house. There was something in that simple act that made her pause longer than she meant to.

“Goshh... What am I letting grow inside me?” she whispered in her heart.


Night came.

Dinner was simple: toast, instant soup, and tea. The only sound was the clinking of spoons. Not much was said. But the silence wasn’t awkward, just the kind that comes when two people are tired of fighting.

Rae stared out the window. The sky was dark. Thick clouds hung above.

“If every place can burn... is there any place that’s truly safe?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
Kenny didn’t answer right away. His eyes stayed on the bowl in front of him.

“A safe place isn’t somewhere that doesn’t burn,” he said quietly. “It’s where you’re not alone when the fire comes.”

Rae looked at him. For a long time.
“I used to think a safe place was a location,” she said. “Now… I think it might be a person.”

Kenny didn’t say anything. He only held his cup of tea a little tighter.

“I used to imagine a home,” Rae continued. “A calm one. No yelling. No cracks in the walls. But the older I got, the more that image faded. Now... I’m not even sure I know what it looks like.”

Kenny put down his spoon.
“If you don’t know what it looks like... maybe you’re still building it right now.”

Silence followed. But not the cold kind. It was the kind that made room for air, for thought, for healing.

After dinner, Kenny sat by the small fireplace. Rae went into her room. Fifteen minutes later, Kenny peeked in. Rae was already asleep. Her breathing was slow. A book lay open beside her pillow.

He stood at the doorway. Quiet. Rae’s face looked peaceful. Different than usual.
In his mind, he thought without speaking:

“I don’t know how to fix someone who’s broken. But maybe... I don’t have to fix anything. Maybe I just need to stay near you, Rae. Even though... I’m still not whole either.”

Then he grabbed his jacket and headed back to his luxury, 'empty' house.
The night was cold, but calm.


In her sleep, Rae dreamed.

She was standing in the hallway of her childhood home. But something felt wrong. Everything looked old, faded, yet still familiar. She called out for her mother. Her voice echoed, but no answer came.

From the kitchen, an orange light appeared. Fire. It spread fast, climbing the walls, the floor, even the family photo in the living room. Rae panicked and ran to the front door. But it was gone. Only a small window remained.

Through the window, someone was looking in.

Was it Kenny?
Or... was it herself?

The fire got closer. Her breath turned short.
“Don’t let me burn alone…” she whispered.


Rae woke up. Her breathing was heavy, her back soaked in cold sweat. She sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the ceiling, dimly lit by the bedside lamp. The night was still. She could hear only the ticking clock and a faint wind passing through the vent.

Her hand reached for the drawing she’d made earlier. Her childhood home. But... one corner of the paper was burnt. Blackened.

Rae frowned. She was sure she hadn’t used fire. The drawing should’ve been fine. But now, it carried a scar. Like a truth that had slipped in through the dream.

In her mind, a quiet voice echoed:
“Is this a safe place... or just a slower kind of fire?”


Elsewhere in the city, Kenny stood on the balcony of his house. Luxury house surrounded by gardens, huge land in the middle of the city. This city never really slept. But tonight... it felt quiet.

He looked at the glass of wine he hadn’t touched.
His mind was still back at the guest house. With Rae. With all the words they didn’t say, but somehow both heard.

A thought slipped into him:
“Am I changing Rae... or is she the one changing me??”

The city lights blinked in the distance. And Kenny knew, the answer, like everything else, was burning quietly in the dark.