Chapter 287: Clinging
"Anouk Sinclair." He could never remember whether he had repeated them in his mind or if he had said them out loud. So absorbed in Malik he had been, that he could barely do anything that day that was not Malik.
"Anouk. I like it."
The youth did not imitate any other conversation, he just leaned back on his palm and closed his eyes.
It was the first time that Anouk felt like his heart was being squeezed, he had just met this person and he felt spellbound. It was not love...it was more. Anouk could not understand it yet there was no fluctuation in the face of the youth.
Like he was just a stone on the road. Not worthy of being looked at twice.
For some reason, that particular analogy hurt him.
The next day, he had returned from a raid when he saw Malik standing in front of the building. The youth was so thin, his school uniform loose around him, a black blindfold covered his eyes and he held a silver cane. His appearance was like a lost sheep, like a poor, pitiful bird that he needed to protect.
He could remember how happy he had been when he invited Malik to his office, serving him banana milk and macaroons. The youth had drunk it without any expression and then looked up at him.
"You arrested Lestin, Your team has not transported him to the Heroes Association, right? I need you to release him." His voice had been gentle and soft, like he was not asking one of the top-ranked Heroes in the county to release a wanted criminal. Malik had stood up and walked to the door, pausing to leave behind a parting sentence.
"If you do it for me, then I will talk to you again."
Anouk felt that either he was crazy or he was going crazy. But no matter the neurologists, the psychiatrists, or even the healers he visited, they all told him that he was either under a mind control spell or had any kind of traumatic brain injury.