“Once the medicine is applied, get some good sleep. Your wounds will heal in no time.”
“Sister… why did they kidnap me?”
“It’s okay now. It’s all in the past. I won’t let anything like this happen ever again!”
“Mm…”
Ye Jin gave a soft murmur of assent and fell silent. Even after being tucked into bed, he didn’t utter another word.
Ye Moran stared at him for a while before leaving. He didn’t know where she went, but she didn’t return for a long time.
Ye Jin hadn’t intended to sleep, but lying there without even a phone to distract him, drowsiness soon overcame him. Not long after he fell asleep, the door was pushed open softly, and Ye Moran’s silhouette stepped inside.
She looked at Ye Jin, her eyes filled with an undisguised, predatory sense of possessiveness.
As if sensing something, Ye Jin’s brow furrowed slightly in his sleep. Ye Moran placed her hand on his forehead, stroking him gently until his expression finally smoothed out.
Sitting by the bedside, she stared at the boy without blinking. Her gaze traveled from his forehead to his eyes, his nose, and finally rested on his lips.
His lips were a pale pink and looked quite thin; a gentle poke would surely leave them flushed crimson. She licked her own lips, finding it increasingly hard to restrain herself.
In his sleep, Ye Jin had been having a beautiful dream. In the dream, his parents loved him dearly, and his sister was there too, loving him as she always had. They accompanied him everywhere—to the cities he wanted to visit, to the places he wanted to play.
He was laughing happily, but suddenly, he took a wrong step and fell into water. He struggled desperately, but the more he fought, the harder it became to breathe. As he opened his mouth slightly, he felt something force its way inside!
The discomfort grew; his chest felt as if it were about to explode. His limbs thrashed about wildly in a panic!
The next moment, he snapped his eyes open. His body finally regained its sense of control, and he gasped greedily for fresh air.
His chest heaved. In the darkness, the only sound was that of his own labored breathing. Other than that, there was nothing.
Enduring the pain, he slowly propped himself up and looked around in a daze. It was pitch black, but he could just barely make out that the room was the same. He was alone…
“Was it… a dream?”
He whispered to himself. His fingers brushed against his lips, and he felt a sharp sting. His lip was split, though he didn’t know when it happened.
He turned his head toward the window. The sky outside was gloomy, making the whole world feel oppressive—just like his chest, which felt as though it were being crushed by something heavy. He panted heavily, as if trying to break free from an invisible weight.
It took him a good while to calm down. A draft of cold air blew past, making him shiver. He wrapped himself tighter in the blanket and crawled back into the warmth of the bed. He stared at the scenery outside; although it was a blurry void where nothing could be seen, he kept his eyes fixed there, as if even he didn’t know what he was looking for.
After an unknown amount of time, exhaustion finally claimed him again, and he slowly closed his eyes.
Sensing the steady breathing on the bed, a pair of hands slowly reached out from beneath the bedframe, like a demon crawling out of its cage!
Ye Moran stood by the bed, silently watching the little guy. After a moment, she turned and left.
She needed to cool down, otherwise, she really wouldn’t be able to hold back.
Entering her study, she pulled an old, dust-covered box from a hidden corner. After twisting the combination lock, the box opened slowly. Inside sat several vials of a pink liquid that looked like some kind of chemical agent. Next to them was a syringe. Other than that, the box was empty.
Her fingers trailed slowly over the bottles. She remembered buying these when she was sixteen. Several years had passed now; the potency had likely faded.
The reason she had bought them back then was because Ye Jin had argued with her. That was the first time she had ever fought with him. He was usually such a good boy, but he had been incredibly stubborn, insisting on going out in the middle of the night to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
But that day had been her birthday too!
To forget his sister’s birthday but remember someone else’s—she had been furious. She had slapped him in a fit of rage. Though she regretted it immediately, the anger remained.
The little guy wasn’t being good. He wasn’t being obedient. At the time, only one thought filled her mind: she wanted to make him well-behaved. She wanted him to be obedient. She wanted him to belong to her and her alone.
So she bought this—a substance designed to make a person obedient. Fortunately, she discovered the next day that the reason he went out was that there was no friend. Or rather, the only person having a birthday was her. Ye Jin had gone out to prepare a surprise for her. She had been overjoyed then, feeling that the little guy wasn’t as disobedient as she had imagined.
The substance was never used and had remained sealed away until now.
But things were different now. Although the little guy was obedient, it wasn’t enough.
He had to belong to her alone. Whether it was his body or his mind, he had to be hers. No one else was allowed to lay a finger on him. No one.
When Ye Jin woke up again, it was still the middle of the night. His sleep was restless. The surroundings seemed even darker than before.
He was afraid. This house gave him a profound sense of insecurity, as if some ancient, monstrous beast was lurking within the walls, watching him every second.
Inevitably, he thought of what he had said during the day. He suddenly didn’t want to stay here anymore. But remembering that he had just agreed to stay for a while, he didn’t know how to bring it up.
He curled up under the covers, but his eyes refused to close. He stayed awake like that until dawn.
Creak—
The door was pushed open with a crisp sound.
Ye Jin turned his head and saw Ye Moran walking in, carrying a bowl of porridge.
“Sister…”
“Hmm?”
“What’s wrong? You look so haggard, as if you didn’t sleep all night. Come, drink this porridge.”
Ye Jin opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, he didn’t get the chance. Spoonful after spoonful of porridge was fed to him, leaving him no time to say a word.
Only after finishing the bowl did he get a moment to catch his breath.
“Alright, get some rest. We’ll talk about everything else once your injuries are healed.”
“Mm…”
Ye Jin gave a soft response and watched his sister leave. Once she was gone, his gaze involuntarily fell upon the wounds on his wrists.
Forget it. With these injuries, I couldn’t go far anyway. I’ll wait until I’m better.
Thinking this, he finally closed his eyes. The exhaustion from staying awake through the latter half of the night finally came crashing down, and he fell asleep in no time.
Outside the room, Ye Moran stood by the door, clutching the empty bowl so hard her knuckles turned white.
She hadn’t moved. Because, in Ye Jin’s eyes, she had seen a flash of fear.
She didn’t know if that fear was directed at her or something else. But to her, regardless of the source, it was not a good sign.
She had to act sooner. However, the new medicine wouldn’t arrive for another three days. Even with express shipping, it would take a day or two.
But she didn’t want to wait even another day.