My heart was pounding against my chest so fast I could feel it in my throat. Every beat sent sharp, frantic pulses through my body, and it felt like it might explode. I was bound to the chair, the ropes digging into my skin, another failed attempt at running away from him. I had tried to escape before—too many times—and each time, he’d found me. But this time, there was no more hope, no more courage. Just fear. A deep, suffocating fear that gripped me as tight as the ropes around my wrists.

He hadn’t said a word this time, and that scared me more than anything else. The last time he was silent, he killed my brother. The memory of his lifeless eyes still haunted me. But now, with no one left for him to kill, I couldn't help but wonder: who had he hurt this time? Who would be next?

The sound of his footsteps echoed through the corridor, slow and deliberate. Each step made my heart race faster, the sound vibrating in my chest as if it were an omen. I tried to calm myself, to steady my breathing, but it was useless. My hands clenched involuntarily around the edges of the chair, desperately trying to hold myself together. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I just had to endure.

I heard the soft click of the door unlocking, the sound that seemed to freeze my blood. And then, the door opened.

He stepped inside, and I froze. My pulse skipped. He was smiling.

That twisted, unsettling smile. The one that always made my skin crawl. He didn’t say anything—didn’t need to. His silence spoke louder than words ever could.

But this time... this time, I didn’t have anyone to protect me. No brother, no family, no one. I was completely alone.

He walked towards me, his eyes dark and intense. The kind of look that sent a shiver down my spine, like he could see straight through me. I tried to avert my gaze, but it didn’t matter. His presence was suffocating, overwhelming. He always knew how to make me feel so small, so helpless.

Without a word, he grabbed a chair from nearby and sat in front of me. His gaze never left me, his eyes never flickering away for even a second. He pulled my chair closer to him, spreading his legs wide, making me move even closer to him. My heart lurched in my chest, and I instinctively recoiled, trying to pull away. But the ropes held me in place, trapping me like prey.

He leaned forward, and I turned my face away from him, unable to meet his gaze. His smile only grew wider, more sinister.

“Why are you scared, Ru?” His voice was low, almost mocking. “You weren’t scared when you escaped me. Why’d you forget, huh?”

I didn’t respond. What was there to say? He knew everything. He always knew everything.

“I asked something, Ru,” he continued, his voice dangerously calm.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry, but I had to ask.

“Who did you kill?” I asked, almost desperate for an answer. I didn’t want to know, but at the same time, I had to know. What had he done this time? Who had he hurt? Who was next?

He didn’t answer immediately. The only sound I could hear was a quiet chuckle, dark and knowing, like he was savoring the moment.

“See, Ru,” he said, his voice carrying a twisted sense of satisfaction. “Our connection... you know me well now. The real me.”

I dared to turn my head slightly and lock eyes with him. He was staring at me, his gaze intense, unwavering, as if he could see through every wall I’d built, through every defense I’d tried to put up. There was no escape, not from him, not from what I had become in his eyes.

“Tell me,” I repeated, my voice a whisper, a tremble that betrayed the calm I was trying to hold on to.

“My so-called friend,” he answered with a chilling finality. His lips curled into a smirk. “Who else?”

My breath hitched, and my heart dropped.

“What did you think, Ru?” he asked, his voice lowering, almost taunting. “That I wouldn’t know? That I wouldn’t figure out what you two were planning behind my back?” He leaned closer, and I could feel his breath on my skin. “I always knew about your little hidden plans, your little chit-chat.”

I felt the world spin around me, everything blurring together in a haze of confusion and fear. How had he known? How was he always one step ahead of me? Every time I thought I was safe, every time I thought I had a chance to escape, he was there, waiting, watching.

“Then why did you...?” I started, but the words caught in my throat.

He already knew what I was going to ask, and the smirk on his face told me that he was enjoying this—enjoying my fear, my confusion, the helplessness that was consuming me.

“Because, Ru,” he said, his voice almost too calm, too collected, “I wanted to see how far you could go to escape me. And more than that... I wanted to prove to you that no matter how much you run, no matter what you do...”

His hands moved slowly to the ropes binding me to the chair. I tensed, my body reacting before my mind could catch up. But it was too late. The ropes loosened, and before I could even try to move, he grabbed my wrist with a vice-like grip, pushing me back against the chair.

I gasped, the air leaving my lungs in a rush. He was too strong, too fast. I couldn’t fight him.

His eyes locked onto mine, and for a split second, I saw something dark, something twisted in them. Something that made my blood run cold.

“You will never get away from me,” he whispered, leaning in closer, his lips brushing against my ear.

“Ru,” he murmured, his voice almost tender, “you are mine. And there is no escaping that.”

The words sent a shiver down my spine, and I felt the weight of his obsession pressing down on me, suffocating me.

Before I could process it, his lips were on my neck, soft at first, then harder, more urgent, as though he was marking me, claiming me in some twisted way. I closed my eyes, shutting out the world, shutting out the fear, the panic, the overwhelming terror that I was too far gone to escape.

Was he right? I thought, as his lips moved over my skin, as his hands roamed freely over my body. Was there  no way out of this hell? His obsession had become my prison, and I was trapped inside it.

In that moment, I realized just how deep the darkness ran. And I wondered, if I would ever truly escape it.

I could feel the tears prickling at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

“I hate you,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, the words barely escaping through the cracks of my fear.

He leaned in slowly, his lips brushing my cheek, and then, as if to prove his dominance over me, he kissed the tear that had finally fallen from my eye.

“I love you too, Ru,” he murmured.