#Secure Domain Hosting

[domainoffices]

DomainOffices.com - Secure Domain Hosting - Domain Registration - Encrypted Web Hosting

Domain Offices Oversees Security Updates

Support: 24/7/365 Technical Support via Phone, Live Online Chat, and Support Ticket

DomainOffices.com is an International Domain Name Registrar Registering all Global Domain Name Extensions, including Encrypted Web Hosting, Domain Registration, Secure Domain Hosting, Register Domain Name, Secure Web Hosting, Domain Offices, Domain Renewal, DNS System, Virtual Private Server, Semi-Dedicated Server, Dedicated Server, Shared Hosting Plan, Whois Protection, Cheap Domain Hosting, Cheap Web Hosting, Free Domain Name, Reliable Website Hosting, Cloud Web Hosting,and SSL Encryption. Domain Offices offers you the opportunity to host your web sites in one of our five first-class secure data center facilities located in 1) Chicago, USA, 2) Sydney, Australia, 3) London, England, 4) Pori, Finland, and 5) Telepoint in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Steadfast, Chicago data center offers ideal conditions for hosting web sites whose visitors reside in the United States, Canada, or Latin America, and will guarantee you the fastest web page load speed feasible. The US data center facility option is available with all our shared web hosting plans, KVM and OpenVZ-powered VPS servers, semi-dedicated hosting servers and dedicated servers. Simply pick your package and then select the US data center facility from the drop-down menu on the signup form. Domain Offices works with one of the most famous data centers in Australia - SISGroup, which is situated in the Sydney central business district. The data center offers excellent Internet connectivity and perfect conditions for hosting websites whose visitors are physically located in Australia and Oceania. The Australian data center facility will guarantee you the fastest web site load speed possible. This data center option is available with all shared web hosting packages and OpenVZ-powered VPS web hosting packages of ours. Select the plan that you want on the signup form and then select the Australian data center from the pull-down list. If your web site will be targeted at users from the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe or Africa, we offer the perfect solution for you. We partner with top-class data centers situated in 1) London England, 2) Pori Finland, and 3) Telepoint in Sofia, Bulgaria, which offer the highest level of security for your web site and which will guarantee you the fastest web page loading speed possible. You can select the desired data center from the pull-down list on the signup form. This data center option is available with all shared web hosting plans, as well as with all KVM and OpenVZ-powered virtual servers offered on our website. Domain Offices has forged strong partnerships with international data-centers in the United States, Australia, Britain, Finland, and Bulgaria, to provide our clients with secure and reliable web hosting. Shared Hosting Features: -- Free Setup -- Disk Storage: Unlimited with Data Backups -- Domains Hosted: From 1 to Unlimited (Depending on Plan) -- Full Shell/ SSH/ FTP/ SFTP Users: Unlimited -- E-mail Accounts (POP/ IMAP/ Webmail): From 100 – Unlimited (Depending on Plan) -- MySQL 5 Databases: From 5 to Unlimited (Depending on Plan) -- Custom WHOIS Details and Custom DNS Records -- Programming: Perl, PHP5, Java Servlets, Python, Contrab -- One-Click Automatic Software Installers: WordPress, PrestaShop, OpenCart, Joomla, Drupal, Moodle, vTiger, Open-Realty, phpBB, and others -- Multi-lingual Control Panel -- Account Accessibility: Domain Offices Control Panel -- Five Secured Global Data Centers - With Data Backup -- Support: 24/7/365 Technical Support via Phone, Live Online Chat, and Support Ticket -- Guarantee: 99.9% Uptime Guarantee Website: DomainOffices.com Video Link: Domain Offices - Video

DomainOffices.com is an International Domain Name Registrar Registering all Global Domain Name Extensions, including Encrypted Web Hosting, Domain Registration, Secure Domain Hosting, Register Domain Name, Secure Web Hosting, Domain Offices, Domain Renewal, DNS System, Virtual Private Server, Semi-Dedicated Server, Dedicated Server, Shared Hosting Plan, Whois Protection, Cheap Domain Hosting, Cheap Web Hosting, Free Domain Name, Reliable Website Hosting, Cloud Web Hosting, and SSL Encryption.

[digischema06]

Domain hosting is a service that registers and maintains the domain name of your website, enabling online access (e.g., www.example.com).

Web hosting: Keeps the files for your website on a server so that visitors can view them online.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): A security system that ensures safe transactions and trust by encrypting data between your website and users. SSL-enabled websites utilize https:// and display a padlock icon.

[rabineastlink]

Eastlink Cloud Providing web hosting service we take words look the believable.

[wpfresher]

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Which One to Choose?

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – Which One to Choose? Should you use WordPress.com or WordPress.org? When you first decide to build a website with WordPress, you’re hit with this unexpected crucial decision. At first glance, it seems like a subtle naming issue — but make no mistake, this is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when launching your website. In this guide, we’ll break…

[foxpunk]

i havent really listened to music much in the past years just cause i don't have spotify preems and even if i did i just. don't like spotify on principle and it made listening to music less enjoyable (PLUS i've just been not doing great, less energy, etc). but now that i've got the ball rolling and have my home library set up i've been listening just coooonstantly it's been so fun and liberating and i forgot how muhc it makes me like. Move Around both up and around and while im sitting so i've been less sedentary which is better for my health and i'ts just been Better all around

anyways. download music, use a drive, save a life, et ceteruhhh <3

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Cybercriminals are abusing Google’s infrastructure, creating emails that appear to come from Google in order to persuade people into handing over their Google account credentials. This attack, first flagged by Nick Johnson, the lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), a blockchain equivalent of the popular internet naming convention known as the Domain Name System (DNS). Nick received a very official looking security alert about a subpoena allegedly issued to Google by law enforcement to information contained in Nick’s Google account. A URL in the email pointed Nick to a sites.google.com page that looked like an exact copy of the official Google support portal.

As a computer savvy person, Nick spotted that the official site should have been hosted on accounts.google.com and not sites.google.com. The difference is that anyone with a Google account can create a website on sites.google.com. And that is exactly what the cybercriminals did. Attackers increasingly use Google Sites to host phishing pages because the domain appears trustworthy to most users and can bypass many security filters. One of those filters is DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), an email authentication protocol that allows the sending server to attach a digital signature to an email. If the target clicked either “Upload additional documents” or “View case”, they were redirected to an exact copy of the Google sign-in page designed to steal their login credentials. Your Google credentials are coveted prey, because they give access to core Google services like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Maps, Google Play, and YouTube, but also any third-party apps and services you have chosen to log in with your Google account. The signs to recognize this scam are the pages hosted at sites.google.com which should have been support.google.com and accounts.google.com and the sender address in the email header. Although it was signed by accounts.google.com, it was emailed by another address. If a person had all these accounts compromised in one go, this could easily lead to identity theft.

How to avoid scams like this

Don’t follow links in unsolicited emails or on unexpected websites.

Carefully look at the email headers when you receive an unexpected mail.

Verify the legitimacy of such emails through another, independent method.

Don’t use your Google account (or Facebook for that matter) to log in at other sites and services. Instead create an account on the service itself.

Technical details Analyzing the URL used in the attack on Nick, (https://sites.google.com[/]u/17918456/d/1W4M_jFajsC8YKeRJn6tt_b1Ja9Puh6_v/edit) where /u/17918456/ is a user or account identifier and /d/1W4M_jFajsC8YKeRJn6tt_b1Ja9Puh6_v/ identifies the exact page, the /edit part stands out like a sore thumb. DKIM-signed messages keep the signature during replays as long as the body remains unchanged. So if a malicious actor gets access to a previously legitimate DKIM-signed email, they can resend that exact message at any time, and it will still pass authentication. So, what the cybercriminals did was: Set up a Gmail account starting with me@ so the visible email would look as if it was addressed to “me.” Register an OAuth app and set the app name to match the phishing link Grant the OAuth app access to their Google account which triggers a legitimate security warning from no-reply@accounts.google.com This alert has a valid DKIM signature, with the content of the phishing email embedded in the body as the app name. Forward the message untouched which keeps the DKIM signature valid. Creating the application containing the entire text of the phishing message for its name, and preparing the landing page and fake login site may seem a lot of work. But once the criminals have completed the initial work, the procedure is easy enough to repeat once a page gets reported, which is not easy on sites.google.com. Nick submitted a bug report to Google about this. Google originally closed the report as ‘Working as Intended,’ but later Google got back to him and said it had reconsidered the matter and it will fix the OAuth bug.

[theabstruseone]

I slept in and just woke up, so here's what I've been able to figure out while sipping coffee:

Twitter has officially rebranded to X just a day or two after the move was announced.

The official branding is that a tweet is now called "an X", for which there are too many jokes to make.

The official account is still @twitter because someone else owns @X and they didn't reclaim the username first.

The logo is 𝕏 which is the Unicode character Unicode U+1D54F so the logo cannot be copyrighted and it is highly likely that it cannot be protected as a trademark.

Outside the visual logo, the trademark for the use of the name "X" in social media is held by Meta/Facebook, while the trademark for "X" in finance/commerce is owned by Microsoft.

The rebranding has been stopped in Japan as the term "X Japan" is trademarked by the band X JAPAN.

Elon had workers taking down the "Twitter" name from the side of the building. He did not have any permits to do this. The building owner called the cops who stopped the crew midway through so the sign just says "er".

He still plans to call his streaming and media hosting branch of the company as "Xvideo". Nobody tell him.

This man wants you to give him control over all of your financial information.

Edit to add further developments:

Yes, this is all real. Check the notes and people have pictures. I understand the skepticism because it feels like a joke, but to the best of my knowledge, everything in the above is accurate.

Microsoft also owns the trademark on X for chatting and gaming because, y'know, X-box.

The logo came from a random podcaster who tweeted it at Musk.

The act of sending a tweet is now known as "Xeet". They even added a guide for how to Xeet.

The branding change is inconsistent. Some icons have changed, some have not, and the words "tweet" and "Twitter" are still all over the place on the site.

TweetDeck is currently unaffected and I hope it's because they forgot that it exists again. The complete negligence toward that tool and just leaving it the hell alone is the only thing that makes the site usable (and some of us are stuck on there for work).

This is likely because Musk was forced out of PayPal due to a failed credit line project and because he wanted to rename the site to "X-Paypal" and eventually just to "X".

This became a big deal behind the scenes as Musk paid over $1 million for the domain X.com and wanted to rebrand the company that already had the brand awareness people were using it as a verb to "pay online" (as in "I'll paypal you the money")

X.com is not currently owned by Musk. It is held by a domain registrar (I believe GoDaddy but I'm not entirely sure). Meaning as long as he's hung onto this idea of making X Corp a thing, he couldn't be arsed to pay the $15/year domain renewal.

Bloomberg estimates the rebranding wiped between $4 to $20 billion from the valuation of Twitter due to the loss of brand awareness.

The company was already worth less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for it in the first place, meaning this may end up a worse deal than when Yahoo bought Tumblr.

One estimation (though this is with a grain of salt) said that Twitter is three months from defaulting on its loans taken out to buy the site. Those loans were secured with Tesla stock. Meaning the bank will seize that stock and, since it won't be enough to pay the debt (since it's worth around 50-75% of what it was at the time of the loan), they can start seizing personal assets of Elon Musk including the Twitter company itself and his interest in SpaceX.

Sesame Street's official accounts mocked the rebranding.

[networkhostinggroup1]

What Does a Powerful Dedicated Server Hosting Offer?

It offers long-term security and service with its customized packages and plans, which makes it more favorable to buy domain hosting. Read more: https://milyin.com/604222/what-does-a-powerful-dedicated-server-hosting-offer/

[virtualizationhowto]

Setting Up Nginx Proxy Manager on Docker with Easy LetsEncrypt SSL

Setting Up Nginx Proxy Manager on Docker with Easy LetsEncrypt SSL #homelab #selfhosted #NginxProxyManagerGuide #EasySSLCertificateManagement #UserFriendlyProxyHostSetup #AdvancedNginxConfiguration #PortForwarding #CustomDomainForwarding #FreeSSL

There are many reverse proxy solutions that enable configuring SSL certificates, both in the home lab and production environments. Most have heard about Traefik reverse proxy that allows you to pull LetsEncrypt certificates for your domain name automatically. However, there is another solution that provides a really great GUI dashboard for managing your reverse proxy configuration and LetsEncrypt…

[anantadrive]

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[dostoyevsky-official]

The child sextortion group 764 and the global collective of loosely associated groups known as “The Com” are using tools and techniques normally used for financially motivated cybercrime tactics — such as SIM swapping, IP grabbing and social engineering — to commit violent crimes, according to exclusive law enforcement and intelligence reports reviewed by CyberScoop.  The reports offer insight into the underbelly of the global network, showing how they are using traditional cybercriminal tools to identify, target, groom, extort, and cause physical and psychological harm to victims as young as 10. They were shared with police nationwide and in some cases, with foreign-allied governments. [...] The group “appears to be situated at the nexus of communities of users who share gore material, [Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist-White Supremacist] adherents such as M.K.U. and child exploitation actors like 764.” M.K.U., it says, is a neo-Nazi group with a presence in Russia and Ukraine. [...] The groups use methods to trick children into sending sexually explicit photos of themselves, threaten to make the photos public unless they harm themselves, and kill or harm animals, among other crimes. The group’s members have coerced children into attempting suicide, harming themselves, siblings and animals. (x)

///

Wired reported this week that a 19-year-old working for Elon Musk‘s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was given access to sensitive US government systems even though his past association with cybercrime communities should have precluded him from gaining the necessary security clearances to do so. As today’s story explores, the DOGE teen is a former denizen of ‘The Com,’ an archipelago of Discord and Telegram chat channels that function as a kind of distributed cybercriminal social network for facilitating instant collaboration. [...] Internet routing records show that Coristine runs an Internet service provider called Packetware (AS400495). Also known as “DiamondCDN,” Packetware currently hosts tesla[.]sexy and diamondcdn[.]com, among other domains. DiamondCDN was advertised and claimed by someone who used the nickname “Rivage” on several Com-based Discord channels over the years. A review of chat logs from some of those channels show other members frequently referred to Rivage as “Edward.” From late 2020 to late 2024, Rivage’s conversations would show up in multiple Com chat servers that are closely monitored by security companies. In November 2022, Rivage could be seen requesting recommendations for a reliable and powerful DDoS-for-hire service. Rivage made that request in the cybercrime channel “Dstat,” a core Com hub where users could buy and sell attack services. Dstat’s website dstat[.]cc was seized in 2024 as part of “Operation PowerOFF,” an international law enforcement action against DDoS services. (x)

DOGE teen is a pedophile cybercriminal involved in a neonazi CSA-producing cybergang. and he has access to your SSN.

[wpfresher]

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Which One to Choose?

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – Which One to Choose? Should you use WordPress.com or WordPress.org? When you first decide to build a website with WordPress, you’re hit with this unexpected crucial decision. At first glance, it seems like a subtle naming issue — but make no mistake, this is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when launching your website. In this guide, we’ll break…

[stellophiliac]

you should make a website!

"my favorite social media site is shutting down!"

"the CEO of the site i use just committed another atrocity!"

"i want a webspace that's all my own!"

if any of these sound like you (and if you're on tumblr, i know at least one applies) you should make your own website!

why make a website?

incredibly customizable

you can put whatever you want on it

it's, well, your own! like a house you build with your own hands

things you'll need

a computer. you can maybe get away with doing this on a mobile device, but i have zero experience there

a code editor. i like VScodium, which is a de-microsoft-ed version of VScode.

a will to learn ;)

site hosting

neocities. everyone knows neocities. at this point i do feel like it's become a bit too centralized, but it's a good option nonetheless. do note that there are filetype restrictions for free users, but that shouldn't be a huge issue for most. what may be an issue, though, is that there's a content security policy that prevents sites made after jan 1st, 2024 to use outside scripts. also, you have to pay to use your own domain

nekoweb. similar to neocities, but there's no filetype restrictions or a content security policy. some differences are outlined in the FAQ (thinking about moving here... i am a traitor...) i'm not sure if domain support is free or paid.

github pages or codeberg pages. you'll need an understanding of git for this

pages.gay: run by besties.house, uses git

teacake: free hosting is currently closed, but paid hosting starts at 2 bucks a month.

leprd.space: i know next to nothing about this.

a web server. don't recommend this if you don't know computer stuff but it is an option (you'll likely have to provide your own domain though)

gripes & solutions (?)

i'm not comfortable maintaining pages in pure HTML / templating with JS sucks!

with a static site generator, you can write pages in markdown and they'll be converted into HTML and (if you'd like) be put into a template of your choosing. my personal choice is 11ty but there are tons of options!

static site generators can be a bit of a learning curve (and you will have to write some html for templating) but if you're making a lot of pages or blogging regularly it's something to consider

there are starters for 11ty online but i might make a more beginner-proofed starter and/or guide in the future? don't count on it

i don't want to write/maintain CSS

simpleCSS is a tiny CSS file you can use to make semantic HTML ("naked" HTML) look nice. it's got decent customization options too. it's not particularly fancy or opinionated, but it's a good starting point if you need something

i don't know what to put on my website!

small list of ideas:

weblog

art/writing/music gallery

movie/show/book tracker

place to store bookmarks/links

scary! i'm scared!

my askbox/messages/e-mail inbox/etc. are open to anyone who'd like to ask for help!

[what-eats-owls]

This info was of some surprise to folks on Bluesky, so I'm going to repeat it here in light of the sheer number of "the Internet Archive was an uncomplicated good apart from this one weird move" posts I've seen...

Are we all aware that IA has been gradually pushing the dogma that generative AI is a net public good, and has been feeding books, music, and video into AI?

This article is about how IA is actively using AI in their archives. It's an interview with Brewster Kahle, founder and Board Chair of IA. Choice quote:

This is the blog post about the comments they submitted to the US copyright office arguing against any new copyright regulations for AI. Some more choice quotes:

You can guess how I feel about framing the writers and artists whose work BUILT generative AI as "workers" who just need to be "retrained."

Last year they hosted a zoom panel called "Generative AI Meets Open Culture: Opportunities, Challenges & Ethical Considerations." Multiple visuals were AI-generated art, the panelists were asked to avoid discussing copyright. It's an hourlong panel and I couldn't find a transcript, so I skipped around to see if anyone addressed the elephant in the room. I found at ~32 minutes, a vague gesture at acknowledging it wasn't great if you tried to replicate an artist's style, but fine if you just wanted generic art.

(If anyone finds a more concrete statement in there, and/or a transcript, I'd love to know! The tenor I got was overall "look at how cool these tools are and let's talk about how they're a public good.")

At the end of January 2024, they hosted "Public Domain Day," including a panel on incorporating Generative AI in art. They invited two artists who utilize Generative AI, and a publisher whose books go immediately into the public domain. More quotes from their own writeup:

This was an event in celebration of public domain, but as far as I can tell, they've more or less avoided even acknowledging that creators are actively being harmed by Gen AI. Again, if anyone can find a clearer statement, please share it.

Another wrinkle in this is that Kahle, on behalf of the Internet Archive, sued the US Government in 2004, challenging the law that automatically granted and renewed copyright to a creator. Previously, copyright was opt-in only, had to be regularly renewed by the holder, and cost money to do so. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2007, but was dismissed. (Scroll down to Docket 07-189, Kahle v Mukasey, for court filings.)

To be clear, this is the law that means you automatically own your own work. It's not a shock that Kahle's suit failed. But if Kahle had won, artists who didn't pay to secure and maintain copyright over their work would be SOL right now in the lawsuits against generative AI image and text scrapers.

So yeah. My tiny violin for IA continues to shrink.

[xuchiya]

married to the stage || choi san || chapter 1

| genre: fluff. marriage-of-conviniece. angst. idol! san. ceo! female reader | mentions: sasaeng. scandal. SA . cursing. fake marriage. also getting a divorced.

back to masterlist || chapter 2

He was untouchable. Unstoppable. A king in his domain.

And yet, even kings had shadows lurking behind them.

San exhaled deeply, his gaze drifting over the sprawling cityscape from Mingi’s apartment window. The neon lights flickered like distant stars, the streets below alive with movement, yet his mind wandered elsewhere. Ateez’s latest comeback had taken the world by storm, and ever since the music video dropped, his name had dominated the headlines. After months of keeping the secret under wraps, the overwhelming rush of success felt like floating on cloud nine.

But that wasn’t the case of his uneasiness at this very moment. 

She was waiting for him. She always was.

She had been a ghost in his shadow for years, lurking at the edges of his world. The letters smeared with red lipstick, the eerie DMs that found their way to private accounts, the glimpses of an unfamiliar figure outside his dorm, the company building, every place he once considered safe. Security had tightened, but she was relentless. Every comeback only fueled her obsession, and latest comeback had pushed her to new extremes.

It wasn’t just about watching him anymore. She wanted more. She wanted him.

San ran a hand through his hair, tension winding tight in his shoulders as his phone buzzed beside him.

Hongjoong [10:47 PM]: You okay? Seonghwa said you haven’t come home since yesterday.

San [10:47 PM]: No and please tell Seonghwa-hyung I’ll be staying at Mingi’s for a while. 

Hongjoong [10:48 PM]: Okay, but is she still following you?

San [10:49 PM]: She’s outside again.

Hongjoong [11:05 PM]:  I told the company. We added extra bodyguards. Don’t go anywhere alone.

San [11:06 PM]: I won’t. But she won’t stop, hyung. She sent me something earlier.

He hesitated for a moment before forwarding the message.

I want to see you up close this time, San. And I will.

A few seconds later, Hongjoong’s call lit up his screen. San sighs, the heavy truth of the reality settling on his shoulder as he answers his Captain’s call. He leans against the window, gazing mindlessly.

“You’re not going back to your place,” his leader’s voice was firm, laced with concern. “Stay with one of the members tonight.”

San sighed, rubbing his temple as he paced the room. “I'm already at Mingi's and I wasn’t planning to come home tomorrow, tell Seonghwa-hyung I’m sorry.”

A soft crackle of static carried through the line before Hongjoong spoke again. “He says it’s okay and that come back home when everything has calmed down… “ There was a short silence before Hongjoong spoke again, “You need to lay low. Maybe even disappear from your usual routine for a while.”

San dropped onto the couch, staring at the ceiling. His mind drifted to the invitation he’d received from Johnny, his childhood friend. Johnny had worked his way up in a multi-media company and was hosting a party to celebrate not just the success of their new CEO but also his own promotion to COO.

“This party tomorrow—Johnny invited me,” San murmured. His situation right now could only heighten the risk of that sasaeng being near, but at the same time he had made a promise.

“Is it important?” Hongjoong asked after a pause.

San’s gaze flickered to his calendar, where he had circled the date in red. He and Johnny had been through everything together—childhood, struggles, triumphs. Through every high and low, they had promised to stand by each other. When San debuted, Johnny had been there. Now, when Johnny was achieving one of his greatest milestones, San couldn’t bear to miss it.

“I promised him, hyung. I have to go.”

A heavy sigh came from the other end. “I know how much this means to you. If you’re going, at least take security with you.”

Despite the tension coiling in his gut, San felt a wave of relief. Hongjoong wasn’t forbidding him. There was still a looming threat, but for one night, he could still be there for his friend.

“I will,” he promised, a small smile breaking through the worry that clouded his mind.

The party was in full swing by the time he arrived, the venue bathed in golden light, a soft hum of laughter and music filling the space. Time must have been so slow that San wasn’t sure how long he had been gripping his drink, but he could feel his fingers growing cold around the glass.  He should’ve been enjoying the night—celebrating Johnny’s promotion, breathing in the ease of a well-earned break. And also an excuse to be somewhere she wouldn’t expect.

San scanned the venue, taking in the lively atmosphere. A few familiar faces stood out among the crowd, but most were high-profile CEOs—polished, composed, effortlessly exchanging laughter and deals worth millions. It was a scene he knew well, yet something pressed against his chest, a weight that refused to lift.

The ice in his glass clinked softly as he set his drink down.

"Need an out?"

San turned at the familiar voice, met with Johnny’s knowing smirk. His old friend stood beside him, posture relaxed, but his eyes sharp—too sharp, like he had been watching San the whole night and had finally decided to step in.

Johnny had always been perceptive, picking up on the smallest shifts in San’s demeanor, the barely-there stiffness in his shoulders, the way his fingers toyed with the condensation on his glass instead of actually drinking from it. Even now, in the middle of his celebration, surrounded by people congratulating him on his latest milestone, he still noticed San’s unease.

Johnny’s hand came down on San’s shoulder, firm, grounding. A quiet reassurance.

San exhaled slowly. “Yeah.”

Johnny’s smirk widened as he scanned the room, “I think I just found your escape, bro.”

Before San could react, Johnny clapped him on the back with more force than necessary, making San stumble slightly. “Come on. Trust me.” San huffed out a reluctant laugh but let himself be led through the crowd. The tension in his chest eased slightly, if only because Johnny had always been good at reminding him what it was like to just breathe.

For the first time that evening, San felt something other than discomfort—relief.

The moment they reached a quieter corner of the ballroom, Johnny finally turned to him, grinning like he had just pulled off the greatest trick of the night, “Man, I can’t believe you actually showed up.” Johnny nudged San with his elbow as he handed him a glass of champagne. San knew how much alcohol he could take and this could be his last glass before he passed out. “When was the last time you willingly went to one of these things?”

San scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m not that bad.”

Johnny gave him a deadpan look.

San sighed. “Fine. Maybe I am that bad.”

Johnny laughed, shaking his head. “Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you came. It wouldn’t have felt right without you here.”

San looked at his friend, really looked at him. Johnny had worked hard for this, chasing his dream position with the same relentless determination San had seen in him since they were kids. And now, here he was—standing in the middle of a celebration thrown just for him.

San’s lips curled into a small, genuine smile, patting his friend’s shoulder. “You deserve this, man.”

Johnny grinned. “Damn right, I do.”

They clinked glasses in a silent toast, a moment of ease settling between them. For a little while, San allowed himself to get lost in the comfort of familiarity. Johnny was one of the few people who had known him before all of this—before ATEEZ, before the fame, before the pressure of living under a microscope. Here, San wasn’t an idol. He was just a friend celebrating someone’s success.

It was almost enough to make him forget about the pair of eyes still watching him from somewhere in the crowd. But almost wasn’t good enough.

Because the moment he let his guard down, fate had other plans.

San turned his head at the wrong moment—just in time to catch a glimpse of her.

His heart stuttered.

His stomach twisted.

And suddenly, the walls start closing in.

Johnny noticed the shift instantly, his eyes darting around. He knew about the situation that San is currently in and he expected his friend to decline or won’t show up on his party yet here he is, a champagne in hand.

“San?”

San’s throat tightened. “She’s here.” He felt it before he saw her. A stare, heavy and unshakable. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as his gaze swept across the room—then stopped. Near the bar, a woman stood slightly apart from the crowd. Elegantly dressed, she blended in yet somehow stood out, an unsettling contrast that sent a chill down his spine. Her lips curled into a knowing smile as she raised her glass, her eyes never leaving his.

It's her.

His blood ran cold. He knew she would go to lengths to follow him, but this—this was bolder than ever. San could feel it. The way the air in the room felt slightly off, the phantom sensation of being watched, the familiar suffocating tension pressing against his ribs. She wasn’t in the shadows anymore. She was stepping into the light, bold, fearless, and dangerous in ways that made his skin crawl. 

Johnny’s expression darkened, his grip on his glass tightening. “Where?” San wasn’t able to move nor speak and Johnny followed his gaze and cursed under his breath. “Alright,” he muttered, turning back to San. “We need to move. Now.”

San turned sharply, his mind racing for an escape plan—yet he was moving too fast, too recklessly to notice the figure in his path. The moment of impact was sudden. A collision of warmth. A sharp inhale. A startled gasp.

Time seemed to slow.

You stumbled back from the force, the world tilting—but before you could hit the ground, steady hands caught you. Strong, firm. Heat seeped through your back where his fingers curled, anchoring you.

San’s breath hitched. His gaze locked onto yours—wide, startled, unguarded. For a fleeting moment, neither of you moved, held in a strange, breathless pause.

And then, something shifted. His mind had been a storm mere seconds ago, chaotic and desperate, but now—now, it was silent. Suspended in the space between heartbeats.

The soft glow of the lights above cast a halo around you, catching in your hair, tracing your features in gold. For a fleeting second, his thoughts derailed, stolen by the way your lips parted in surprise, the way your lashes fluttered as you processed the moment.

Beautiful.

The word formed before he could stop it. A realization, unspoken yet undeniable, settling into his chest with an unfamiliar weight. His fingers flexed against your arms, as if grounding himself in the reality that you were real, that this moment was real.

Your eyes searched his, confusion flickering across your features, but before you could voice it, something in his expression shifted again—sharp, calculating. Reality snapped back into place. His grip tightened, not in discomfort, but with urgency. A silent message passed between you—something unreadable yet impossible to ignore.

Then, his next words came, low and urgent, barely above a whisper."Play along." It wasn’t just a request. It was a command wrapped in desperation, in something unspoken. Before you could question him, San moved—swift, calculated. His fingers slid from your arms to your wrist, pulling you closer, pulling you into something you didn’t understand yet.

[saywhat-politics]

The price of Donald Trump's meme coin plunged 16% hours after the president hosted a black-tie gala at his Virginia golf club for its biggest buyers.

Among the 220 attendees were crypto influencers, industry executives such as Sandy Carter of Unstoppable Domains and former NBA star Lamar Odom.

Trump delivered a brief address rehashing old crypto talking points, then left on a helicopter before taking any questions or pictures with his meme coin contest winners, an attendee said.