The unlocked door cracked open, the trembling figure was slowly looking inside. Once again, it looked behind, only to see a much taller person blocking his way, strictly staring down at him. The boy gulped, and turned his head forward in fear, quickly.

He stepped into the house of terror again. Into the house of who knows how many souls have died, left our earth, how many cries have been unheard, how many have begged to survive as their last words have been breathed in traumatised agony.

There, he could already see someone at the dining table with two chairs, waiting for him. The eyes of a hunter, directly fixating his guest. Prepared food rested on the table on both sides, untouched, with a glas of red wine at V's side.

The door behind him closed sharply, startling him a little. But he did not dare to look back. Did not dare to cut the eye contact with the psychopath. Only god knows what would happen.

"Welcome back, Jeongguk." his deep voice resounded, hands being calm on the table. With one, he motioned him to come over. "Sit down. I've been waiting for you."

By the sound of his voice, that slight, hidden irritation and exposed dominance, Jeongguk could tell something was bugging him. And if he didn't listen, he feared he'd get into immense trouble. Thus, Jeongguk obeyed, and walked to the chair, the sound of his steps on the wooden floor resembling the beat of his thumping heart. Slow, loud, nervous.

He let himself down on the chair, staring down at the food. Suddenly, he frowned.

The plate was empty.

What? he thought, utterly confused. I just saw food on here? He tried to explain this bizarre occurrence by pretending V has moved in the meantime, and exchanged plates with an empty one, something like that. Yet in reality, none of it ever happened. As if it was an illusion. He rubbed his eyes.

"This," V finally spoke up, breaking the tensed silence in the room. As he spoke, Jeongguk felt absolutely obligated to look at him, show him he's not ignoring him, but listening. As their conversation started building up, the tension was rising more and more, about to choke Jeongguk's throat sadistically.

"This, is how you could have satisfied me." he said, pointing at his own plate which was, unlike his, fully of food. Some protein, some starch. Jeongguk didn't bother to note what exactly it was. Instead, his eyes averted from the food to stare at V, quite obediently. Watching his every step, as if to prepare himself for a possible defense of an attack. His body was tense and on high alert.

"Instead," V continued, having a blank expression as he slowly pointed at Jeongguk's plate. "This is how much you actually did." Again, he stared at the empty plate, nothing on it. The metaphor was clear. He disappointed him. Meaning he knows exactly what has happened just before. It was all perfectly planned up, he thought. His hands on his lap started shaking.

"But of course, I'm not a monster, I won't just let you starve." V laughed, while Jeongguk believed it was meant sarcastically. His body flinched when he saw the blonde, tall guy standing up, picking up his own plate. Then, he walked over to Jeongguk, and with each step he came closer, the more the victim started panting, sweating.

Before V did what he planned to, he stopped in motion. Staring at him. Saw how he trembled, again, the same expression as before, in the bath. Scared, hopeless, submissive. And weirdly enough- suddenly V didn't find it as enjoyable as before. He frowned.

Pushing that small thought aside, V finally approached the scared-to-death boy, and slowly exchanged their plates, meaning that Jeongguk was now having the plate of food, the other taking the empty one. While he fulfilled that act, their eyes remained locked at all cost. While V found it quite intriguing, the other prayed.

The prayers of Jeongguk seemed to have been heard as the creep was finally turning around, moving back to his place. Then, he sat down again, and the conversation started anew, with the empty plate in front of him, taking a short sip of his wine.

"Eat up." he said calmly, and Jeongguk did, immediately. Somewhere, his anxiety whispered to him that it's poisoned. But was it, really? He couldn't know. He wouldn't ask. And the thought of eating something that could possibly kill you, made him feel like throwing up. But would it make sense? He didn't know. He didn't know what V was thinking, how his mind worked. What his true goal was with him.

While eating as if he never ate before, the emptiness of his stomach simply screaming for some kind of food that would not be shoved into one's mouth (like all the meals he had here before) but eaten by themselves, V eyed him thoroughly.

"You've seen through it by now. Haven't you?" he asked, his finger on the table having a nervous kick as it kept tapping it, slowly, in a certain pace. His other hand was resting against his jaw, supporting the effect of his intensive stare at his victim.

However Jeongguk didn't listen. The food was good, tasty, in a way. He didn't know when would be the next time he'd eat properly like this again. Who knew, after all? Thus, he ignored him.

Silence. The tapping stopped.

"You think it's a good idea to ignore me?" V whispered raspily, tilting his head down seriously, eyes never leaving his prey. There was so much sudden anger in his voice, Jeongguk's insides forced a stop to his actions. Then, he looked up, eyes small and scared.

"No- I'm just h-hungry-"

"I fed you everyday. And you, being the ungrateful brat you are, didn't want to eat at all. It's your fault." he sounded as if he would complain, twisting Jeongguk's insides entirely, this much he felt the need to apologize.

"I'm... I-I'm sorry-" he choked out in a sobbing manner, yet he did not cry. His nerves were breaking at this point. He could not stand this. Freedom is what he wanted. Go back to his old life. Anything was better than this mental torture right here, not knowing whether he will live or die. Not knowing if this was his last meal, his last words.

It scared him. Jeongguk had the will to fight, absolutely. But at the same time, he was incredibly sensitive, not ready for things like this. Actually, who would ever be mentally ready for something like this, anyways?

Now, Jeongguk couldn't bare it anymore. His fears got the better of him as the tears arised, making his vision blurry. He put the fork he has been using all the time, aside. "I-I know you only have been tasting my loyalty," he choked out, voice breaking. V watched quite expressionlessly as the watery substance was rolling down his cheeks.

"I k-know you o-only wanted t-to figure out w-whether I will r-run away, o-or not. I know t-that-" he spoke, voice wavery, body shaking. He couldn't help but to hug his trembling self anxiously. Punishment was something he was expecting after being caught. "I can't s-stand this. I d-don't know how long I w-will be a-able-"

"To survive?" V finished for him, and the panting boy nodded quickly, staring right back at him. Finally, he felt as if he was looking his biggest fears in the eye, properly.

"I see. You're scared whether or not I will end your life?" the psychopath concluded, even though it was rather obvious, and... for the first time, at least since Jeongguk's fuzzy mind remembers, his voice- was not angered. It was not... tensed, nor evil-sounding. It was soft, cozy, somehow. As if he'd try to console him. Crazy, he thought, shaking.

Jeongguk did certainly not need to answer. Slowly, V stood up from his chair again, which only caused the anxiety on the other side to rise. "Don't- don't hurt me-" he begged, also standing up, even though he wasn't allowed to. Truthfully, he didn't know if he was. Right now, he knew nothing but the fear of death, which was overweighting his fighting spirit heavily at that very moment.

V said nothing, but walked to him. As he received no answer, Jeongguk understood that as a false sign, and suddenly started screaming. "GO AWAY!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, legs visibly unstable. And as if V listened, at least somewhere in his order, he stopped. Furthermore, a knowing voice, right in front of the house's front door, wavered at the shouting sound.

It only took a blink. One, single blink. And the next thing Jeongguk saw, was the blank eyes of the other, right in front of him.

The first instinct was to scream once more. But a hand on his lips, pressed firmly against it, and another hand wrapped around his waist, being pulled closer, has made his mind and himself freeze, and think anew.

Out of nowhere, they've found themselves to be in a rather intimate position. His waist bumped against the one of the psycho, and due to the hand around it, was forced to stay like that. But Jeongguk, weirdly, didn't find it logical to fight back and instead, watched him with wide eyes, completely shutting up.

"Don't scream." He whispered, rather calmly. Again, the sound of silence, before Jeongguk nodded, submitting to his order. They stared at each other for a little. Yet V did not intend to let go. Suddenly, they both found themselves staring, and checking out each other's facial features. For no reason, really.

Finally, after only seconds, Jeongguk's tremble has calmed down as V put down his hand. It was rather illogical that it happened, since he was in the arms of an actual murderer. But somehow, in that intimate moment, he seemed to have let that information slip his mind.

V wanted to say something. There was a reason of why he walked up to him when he wasn't screaming in the first place. But right now, he seemed to have forgotten whatever it was. His focus has been shifted onto the boy in front of him, sometime landing on his lips.

On the other side, Jeongguk felt weird. Weird in his stomach. Why was he composed? Where was his worry? How was that even possible? It wasn't, he thought. He just must have gotten sick, gotten crazy. Crazy to the point there was no explanation as to why he got calm by the touch of V.

Awkwardly, the tension between them rose, and the hand which previously held Jeongguk's mouth close, now loosingly hanging, was raising up again to his nape, grabbing it.

And before Jeongguk knew it, he had lost his first, precious kiss to a strange murderer, who has suddenly pulled him in into a kiss on the lips, closing his eyes. The other, however, has opened them widely completely, trying to comprehend of what was happening, of what was escalating.

The kiss was soft at first, yet with each passing second, Jeongguk's mind was trying to become clearer, thus, his resistance built up, trying to push him away. As a result and answer, V's kiss against the soft, cotton lips of Jeongguk have become rougher, more demanding, clearly not wanting him to resist. Even though Jeongguk had muscles, he found no strength in them when trying to push the other away by his chest.

And that was fine, in a way. Since before he even knew it, he stopped pushing, letting the murderer push instead. Into the direction of the sofa, in front of the fireplace.

That's where they fell down onto, with V tackling him down in captivity, now biting on his lower lip, which led a tender, In a need of breath- gasp to escape between the lips of Jeongguk. Soon enough, V invaded his mouth with his tongue. His senses became cloudy, couldn't think straight. It made him close his eyes as he mewled lewdly. Hearing these sounds, V grunted quietly in satisfaction, and kept on sucking onto his plump bottom lip.

Shortly, he detached his lips of the other who has placed his hands on each side of V's shoulders, only to make him inhale strongly before the next demanding attack, touching his cheek to support their heated make-out session.

Right now, there were only two things that scared Jeongguk. His responsiveness. His lack of resistance.

Devouring the lips of the sweet boy, Jeongguk has found himself kissing back a tad bit, letting out a lot of whines and whimpers when trying to gasp for air. But V was merciless, got too addictive, he did not give him breaks long enough, making him suffocate a little. He did not see any valid reason in stopping of what he was doing right now. Especially when noticing that the boy gave in, accepted it, even if he didn't want to believe, or admit it.

Eventually, V leaned back. Both were now panting aggressively out of breath, staring into each other's eyes. Jeongguk's ones, watery before, were now dry and red, yet also glossy. "W-whah... hah..." he panted. "W-was that?"

"What?" V responded, panting less now. He was still having him trapped between his arms, staring down on him. "You're mine. You shouldn't be questioning that."

"I'm no—" as if sensing what he was about to say, V grabbed his jaw tightly, holding the the skin a little too harshly.

"What?" he hissed through gritted teeth, still staring kind of blankly in a strict manner. And as if it worked, Jeongguk's eyes softened a little. "N-nothing," he corrected himself, as much to V's liking. "I-I said nothing."

After a moment of silence, V smiled. Yes, smiled.

"Good boy." the husky voice complemented, leaning down to his forehead as he gave it a tender kiss, letting go of his jaw. Most probably, he wanted to continue their kissing session, judging by how he was slowly leaning back to his lips.

However, a typical ringing sound in the pockets of V's trousers resounded, stopping him in motion.

Jeongguk stared at him curiously, and then to his pockets. So did V. With an irritated sigh, he leaned back, sitting up, yet having a hand on Jeongguk's thigh, as if telling him to stay. And so he did.

He fished out his phone, and checked who was dialling him. Then, he hesitated, but stood up nevertheless. "I need to pick that up. Stay here," V warned, clearly advising him against the thought of another mere try of fleeing.

Being intimidated by that, Jeongguk nodded submissively as he still laid on the couch. He watched the other walk away to one of the doors, opening it and disappearing behind it with the phone.

His mind was a fuzzy mess as he exhaled deeply, processing everything that has happened. He just kissed- no, made out a psychopath. The same psychopath that keeps him locked up here against his will, keeps him anxious of his own life. The same psychopath he didn't want near himself just minutes ago.

And yet here he was, finding it this intriguing and inviting that he could not resist. He found himself... having developed a liking to it. Most certainly did he have no idea of what to think of this exactly. It was all just too sudden.

Yep, Jeongguk thought eventually, staring up at the ceiling with his confused, glossy eyes. I'm definitely going crazy.

***

Hey!

I was so happy that after such a long time, there are still so many people liking and reading this book despite my super late updates! I felt obligated to update as quickly as I could, as a thank you! It motivated me a LOT bcs of y'all's sweet comments💜
thanks again!🌸

The next update should be up probably next weekend? And with that, I want to have a weekly update schedule, but please forgive me if it won't always work. But I will definitely try my best to make it work!

+ what are your thoughts on this chapter? I love listening to them! It's always so exciting to read about my readers point of views and how they felt about it uwu but please don't be mad if I don't respond, I just don't want to spoil/debunk/give hints or anything like that when you guys make theories ! Hehe

Also, if you're interested, you can follow me on twt at @mirakookz ! I'd love to engage with u guys 'n talk 'n stuff like that uwu (I will also tweet when a new chapter of a book in general is out)

Thank you for reading this and stay healthy!

Love,
Mira 🌸