When the Storm Falls Silent

Sometimes, amid the noise, there’s a silence so profound that only the heart can hear it.

While ears ring and a thousand images flash before your eyes, a single glance, a single breath, a single name...
It can consume your entire being.
That was exactly where I was.
Lyra — no, Lyola — was in my arms. Her body felt light. Maybe just because she was smaller than me, but...

Right now, she felt like the weight of the entire world.
Because... I was afraid of losing her. And that fear was crushing.
She was looking at me.

In her eyes, there was surprise, fear, and... a kind of recognition.
As if... she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
Lyra slowly reached out and touched my face.

“Yuta…”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
But it echoed inside me like a scream.

“Are you okay?” I asked, breathless.
My knees were shaking. My left leg was aching.
But her voice rose above it all.
That’s when I noticed someone running toward us in the distance.
Behind them were security guards and a few panicked stagehands.
She shouted first, then ran closer.

“Lyra?! Oh my God! Who are you?!”
The woman — probably her manager — was coming straight at me.
Her eyes were full of both rage and panic.

“Hurry! Get her in the car! We can’t stay here!” she shouted to security.

“But—” I didn’t even finish the word before a guard grabbed my arm.

“He’s injured. We need to take him too,” someone said.

The manager looked at me again.
Her eyes scanned me.
Blood on my face, the condition of my leg is obvious.
But her fear seemed to lie elsewhere.

“I don’t know who you are, but don’t talk too much. Into the car. Now!”

At that moment, Lyra spoke, as if freezing time.
“I know him.”

The manager paused.
“…Fine. In the car. Now!”

She turned around and started relaying information through her walkie-talkie.
As we headed toward the vehicle, another girl was running up to us.
She looked familiar.
Her voice was full of panic and worry:
“Lyra... are you okay?”

Noa?
I turned, stunned.
That girl...
Yes. It was Noa.
When Noa reached Lyra, she immediately saw me behind her.

“Y-Yuta?!”

38 – 2

We had all gotten into the manager’s black car — the one she used for daily errands. Outside, sirens from police and fire trucks had already started wailing. People were everywhere, and so were their shouts.

Noa, sitting in the front seat, pulled a tissue from her bag and handed it to me.
“Th-thanks,” I said, taking it and pressing it against my bleeding wound. It wasn’t too serious, but it definitely needed some basic treatment. At most, I’d need a tetanus shot. Nothing to make a big deal of.

When I turned my head, I saw Lyra watching both me and the wound with deep fear and concern.

“Are you okay, Yuta? I’m so sorry I…” Lyra had started sobbing uncontrollably beside me.
Her sudden tears sent me into a mild panic.

Not knowing what to do, I gently touched her shoulder with my right hand.
“I’m okay, Lyra. Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious,” I said with a smile. Even after all that had happened, she was still worried about me.

“But you…” She was struggling even to form a sentence.
God, I was never good at calming someone down when they were crying.
With the same hand, I pulled Lyra closer. Our shoulders gently touched.

“It’s okay.” My voice was barely a whisper. Lyra didn’t resist. The car was mostly quiet. I could hear her breathing gradually slowing down.

And just like that, without another word, we arrived at the hospital.
They attended to me first. Since Lyra’s identity being exposed was a major risk, everyone was tense.

After treating my leg, I got the shot. I’d have to return for three more.
Of course, the speed at which news spreads was like the speed of light. This massive accident was already snowballing into a crisis.

At least the one good thing was that no one seemed to be against Lyola — I mean Lyra. In fact, people were rallying behind her.

When I left the room, Noa was waiting for me outside. She looked up as I came out.
“Any trouble?” she asked, curious.

“No, they just patched me up and gave me a shot.”

“Good, I’m glad.” Her voice was flat and expressionless. A certain gloom still lingered on her face.

I paused. I couldn’t help wondering how Noa was so comfortable around the manager.
“Noa, are you… Lyra’s…?” I trailed off, letting my eyes finish the question.

“I’m the manager’s daughter,” she replied, catching on.

“Y-you’re her daughter?” I stared at her, stunned.

“Yeah, actually, I met Lyra much earlier than you did.”

So that’s why they seemed so close, despite claiming to have just met at the café on New Year’s…
A bunch of strange questions filled my head.
Had we been watching all this time?
Both Lyra and I?
And was this all to protect Lyra’s secret identity?

“I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions in your head, but we’ll talk later. First, let’s go meet Lyra and my mom — the manager.”

“O-okay.”

We then met the manager, and I had to defend myself for a good half hour. She seemed to have heard of me vaguely, but didn’t really know who I was. With her rectangular glasses, blazer, and hair in a bun, she studied me from head to toe with a stern gaze.
I can’t even begin to describe how tense it was.
She handed me a contract. In short, it stated that if I revealed Lyola’s identity, I’d face serious legal consequences.

“No way! Yuta would never do that! Didn’t you see what he did at the concert? What kind of malicious person would do something like that?”
While I was inclined to sign it, Lyra strongly objected.

“Did he even know it was you when he saved you?” the manager shot back harshly.
Now all three heads turned to me.
I let out a deep breath.

“Just seconds before the accident, I realized it. Lyola — I mean, Lyra’s mic was still on, and I heard her mention ‘Noa’ and ‘sister.’”

A brief silence filled the room.
The manager sighed deeply.

“Well, whatever. From now on, the responsibility is yours, Lyra.” She stood up. “There’s chaos outside that I need to fix. God, and that company that built the concert hall — I’ll have their blood!”

She stormed out, practically fuming through her nose. Honestly, leaving the rest to her seemed like the wisest choice.
Now it was just the three of us in the room.
And once again, there was an awkward silence. Honestly, I didn’t want to bother Lyra. She had just gone through a major trauma. Maybe it was best to leave things be.

But over an hour had passed since the incident, and no one had come.
No one who knew her had even shown concern enough to come.
That sparked a doubt in me. Why wasn’t anyone coming?

“We’ve kept so much from you for so long. You must have a million questions, right?” It was Noa who finally broke the silence. Lyra and I both turned to her.

“I mean, yeah, but… is now really the time?”

“Well, I think it’s the perfect time to unwind and get to know each other better,” Noa said, heading for the door.

Her words made me feel oddly embarrassed and out of place. Still, just as Noa was about to open the door, a question that had always bugged me, specifically about her, came to mind.

“Noa?”

“Yes?”

She stopped and looked back at me.
“There’s something I need to ask you.”;

“What is it?”

“On New Year’s Day… why did you kind of… ‘take’ me?”

I mean, I knew it had something to do with Lyra’s supposed boyfriend. But why hadn’t that “boyfriend” shown up even now?

“Oh, that? I was checking if you were a decent guy for Lyra.”

Her words hit me like a bucket of ice water. And she delivered them with a cold, detached tone.
“A d-decent guy?” I asked.

“Exactly what you heard. Though, later, you said you were Lyra’s boyfriend. So I confronted her and asked. She told me you invited her to the concert and the only thing she could think of to say no was that excuse.” Noa spoke as if her words did not weigh at all.

“Huh?” This was massive, and I looked at her in shock.

“Like I said, it was all made up.”

“M-made up? S-so she doesn’t have a boyfriend?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Nope, she doesn’t.” With that, Noa glanced at Lyra one last time, opened the door, and walked out.

I stared at Lyra in disbelief.
An odd silence settled between us.
In her eyes were two conflicting emotions:
Shame and fear.
I let out a long sigh.

Just how much of what I thought I knew… was a lie?