A loud crash woke me up from my sleep of death. I sat up like a zombie craving to pick someone's brains: preferably Haoyu's. I ignored the mild pain shooting from multiple points in my back and walked towards the kitchen: the source of the crash.
I found Junjun standing next to a broken plate, staring at it blankly.

"What happened here?" I asked, avoiding looking at anything but his lips... face. Whatever.

He had apparently found the bathroom and my wardrobe. Unfortunately, it looked like he had also located certain things he should not have.

His eyes locked on mine. They were back to their inky black self.

I was glad...Honestly.

"Who are you?" He strode over to me and held out a few of my fake IDs in front of my face. "Who are you for real?"

I smiled tightly and looked out the window. "That's not important," I said dismissively and gestured for the boy to join me in the kitchen.

He obliged. "If that's not important, what is?"

"Your first question should be if I want you dead or alive."

"Fine." My pissed-off client huffed, "Let's lead with that!"

"If I wanted you dead, you would be. And since you are not-" I shrugged, "Then I must want you alive, right?" I didn't know why I was behaving like this. All I wanted was to sit him down and tell him everything that had transpired the day before.

Well, not everything.

"Ok. So, what do you want from me?"
"To protect you."

"By bringing me here? In the middle of nowhere!?"

"Yes. Our earlier location was compromised."

"Oh." Junjun's mouth fell open. His lower lip looked only slightly swollen, as opposed to how it should have looked: like someone had punched him. I should know. I was the one who gave it to him.

He must have already seen himself in the mirror in the morning, right!?

Damn it!

His earlier tough-guy act ebbed away without him realizing it. His brows creased, "Did I get into a fight?"

"I am not sure," I replied truthfully.
He worried his lips and narrowed his eyes.

I was sure that I looked like I had had a rough night in more ways than one.
"So, you got into a fight." He guessed; I shook my head, "Not exactly. I just couldn't get away fast enough."

The boy buried his face in his hands. "I don't remember anything. I feel like I did something I shouldn't have. Did I?" he searched my eyes. A split second later, his eyes widen as if shocked, "I did. I did something bad, and I got you involved too." His eyes started darting across the room before becoming unfocused. His hand moved to his chest, and he sucked in a breath like he was struggling with it.

A panic attack! Hell no.

I went to him immediately and cupped his cheeks, "Breathe, Junjun. Trust me, you didn't do anything that can't be undone."

That was a fucking lie. Since the time I had (reluctantly) kissed Junjun back, I couldn't help thinking about doing it again.

Fuck.

Anyway, now was not the time to concentrate on that. Therefore, putting that thought away, I lied with ease. What was one more lie in an already growing pile of lies, am I right?

"You are lying." He bit out but didn't make any move to shrug my hands off. "Zhao ge, I feel like my mind is broken. I saw flashes..." color rose to his cheeks.

"Listen, I need you to calm down, alright?" I commanded, cupping his cheeks harder. It made his lips pucker up deliciously, and I couldn't look away.

The events from the night before invaded my mind, and blood pooled under my belly.

Nope. I couldn't accept that.
I snatched my hands back, and fleeing into my room, I slammed the door shut.

Everything else could wait, but the hard-on in my pants couldn't. I had deprived it of its release long enough and realized that if I didn't take care of it right now, sooner or later, I would embarrass myself in front of my client.

'Yes. That's right. Junjun is just your client. Keep repeating it. And maybe one day you will start believing it too.' The Bastard had been having a field day in my mind since the night before. I was too tired to entertain him now.

Having taken care of the immediate problem, I started piecing together the information surrounding Junjun.
What I knew for sure was that:

1. The intruder from the night before (I had spotted him leaving the premises from the backyard while going over the surveillance footage) was definitely working with Bunny. I didn't have proof, but I was sure of it nonetheless.

2. Whatever he had injected the boy with had triggered something in him.

3. Junjun couldn't remember anything. So he was probably roofied.

Then there were things I was totally in the dark about:

1. What the fuck kind of drug could change someone's eye color and make them horny at the same time? Also, muscles and nails. What the hell was up with that!?

2. After magnifying the footage and playing around with lighting, I had concluded that it was Junjun who had broken Jiejie's window and ran off into the dark. Why had he done that?

3. What had made Haoyu desperate enough to go against me and tail us?

4. How the hell did boss-man know that something was wrong with Jiejie. More importantly, what was their relationship? Did she know who I really was? Was our friendship a lie?

5. Junjun's twenty-first birthday was somehow of significance.

6. Lastly, there was the beast. What was it, and where was it now? This, I figured, could wait. From how it looked, I doubted that it would leave the reserve any time soon.

I needed to get my act together; I was running out of time. I thought back to the conversation I had just had with the boy. Why was I beating around the bush!? Why didn't I tell him the truth?

'You like him and don't want him to hate you, which you know he will once you tell him who you are.' The Bastard replied, mocking my predicament.

I stood under the shower, wasting water and electricity for a minute more before thanking them for their service and walking out.

I didn't expect the youngster to be waiting for me and thus, got caught in my birthday suit.

Junjun's eyes widened. He started, unblinking.

I was fighting fit and proud of it.
The only unfortunate part was that I had unknowingly sullied Junjun's eyes.

But if I was to counterargue, I felt like I owed it to him. After all, I had seen him naked too.

"Like what you see?" I wiggled my brows shamelessly, wrapping my towel around my waist.

"I-I didn't mean to. I will leave." He said, averting his eyes but making no attempt to step out.

The tips of his ears turned scarlet; he bounced from foot to foot. Confused. Speechless.

"Relax. We are both men." I turned, threw on a T-shirt, and congratulated myself on sounding casual and opposed to how I was feeling: not-casual-at-all.

I heard Jun gasp. "What happened to your back?" He asked worriedly.

'Do it. Tell the boy the truth.' There he was again, the Bastard, urging me to come clean.

I took a deep breath. "There are things I have hidden from you." I started with my back turned to him.

So what!? I am weak. Alright!

"I knew it. You have a girlfriend."

What!?

"Nooooo!" I shook my head and faced him.

"So, you don't have a girlfriend?" He demanded, more than curious, with a ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

I couldn't do this in my bedroom. I walked to the kitchen, and my charge followed.

"Just listen; don't interrupt. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

I steadied my heart, "I am not Bunny. I work for your brother. The man you were in touch with, the real Bunny, is more than just an asshole. We have reason to believe that he is not working alone." As I spoke, I kept a watch on Jun's reactions. I was surprised to see that he was more or less calm.

"I figured that Bunny knew Haoyu. I instructed your brother not to interfere. I could sense that you just needed some time to relax and rejuvenate. I wanted to believe that Bunny wouldn't be able to trace you if your brother was out of the picture. I thought that I would be enough to protect you." I felt a headache come on.

"Fuck." I muttered under my breath.

"Are you done?" The idol asked matter-of-factly.

"No."

"Alright then." He shrugged and fell silent, cueing me to continue.

I braced myself for any reaction he might throw at me and told him everything (except what had happened after I had found that needle prick) that had transpired since reaching home the night before.

My heart was speeding like a bullet train as I finished filling him in. I placed my hand on my knee to keep my foot from giving my nerves away. "That's everything," I said, searching his eyes, hoping to get a read on him, but they were determined to give away nothing.

The silence, as we stared at each other, was defending.

Finally, the dam holding my emotions in place broke; I took Junjun's hand in mine, "I know you are upset, and you have every right to be, but I thought that it was best-"

He pulled his hand away, "That's not everything. Nothing you have told me explains why there are marks on your back or why it looks like we were in a fight."

Why couldn't he concentrate on crucial details, damn it!?

"That's not important."

"It is important to me. If you refuse to tell me, I will walk out of here now!"

"Only a fool would do that," I challenged; folding my arms over my chest, I added, "You are not a fool, are you?"

"Maybe I am." He retorted and walked away with determination in every step he took.

Fuck!

"Wait," I called. "I will tell you, but I am afraid that you will either not believe me or accuse me."
Junjun returned to his seat. "Just tell me."

"The prick was not the only thing I noticed. Last night, your body was different…muscular. Your eyes turned golden." I glanced at him like earlier and saw disbelief in the inky orbs.

"After that, it was like you were possessed. You…"

Nope, I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell Junjun that he had tried to have his way with me. It would hurt him. Maybe it was better to let him hate me. After all, I had failed to protect him.

I shook my head, "You know what, just leave. Better yet, I will drive you to your brother because you promised him to get there by the 26th. He will be glad to have you back a day earlier."

Without letting him speak, I grabbed the keys from the fruit bowl on the kitchen island and headed to the basement.

[Chapter word count: 1899;
Word count so far: 23315]