Chapter 10: Flickers of freedom
Rong Ye didn’t understand.
He didn’t understand why Eun-woo acted as if the most brutal defensive instinct on record wasn’t in his blood. And Rhys, with his damned calm, simply stood still, as if his mere presence was enough to stem the storm that every specialist in the regime knew was brewing inside Eun-woo.
Why did they look at each other as if they could trust each other?
As if they needed each other.
Rong Ye felt a burning in his throat. It wasn’t hatred. It was something dirtier, more visceral. Because he’d been there from the beginning. He’d memorized every clinical finding, every episode of dissociation, every pattern of trauma. He’d prepared himself to understand Eun-woo, to contain him, to protect him.
So why was Rhys getting what he was forbidden to?
Eun-woo clung to Rhys’s body as if his life depended on it. As if he sought him out of instinct. That touch, that connection, shouldn’t have existed... But there it was.
Rong Ye needed to do something to separate them.
And the only way he could think of was to call the guards at the Research Center. He spotted the help button on the nearest wall and made a move to run toward it.
But he didn’t reach it.
A figure intercepted him before he reached the wall. A man in a dark gray uniform appeared out of nowhere, like a ghost. His reaction was swift, and before he could dodge, Rong Ye felt the weight of a forearm closing against his neck.