The afternoon sun hangs heavy and gold over the park, casting long shadows across the grass. Runners move past in a rhythmic blur of neon fabric and steady breathing. Schoolchildren follow, spilling onto the path in a chaotic wave of laughter, chasing one another with backpacks bouncing against their spines. I watch them, the sound of their joy cutting through me like a serrated blade.

"What are you looking at, Brother?"

A girl steps into my line of sight, her silhouette indistinguishable from the students she once belonged to. She offers a cone of chocolate ice cream, the sweetness cloying in the humid air. I stare at her, my pulse thrumming a frantic rhythm against my ribs.

"She didn't run away ... not this time either," I whispered in my mind.

I force a breath, my lungs feeling like they are filled with dry ash. "Nothing. Just enjoying the warmth."

She giggles, sinking onto the bench beside me and pressing her shoulder firmly against mine. She leans her weight into me, taking a slow bite of her ice cream. I stare at the horizon, letting out a long, heavy exhale before glancing down at her.

"Hey ... do you ever miss your home?"

The air around us freezes. Asyifa stiffens, the warmth draining from her face as her eyes turn into two shards of dark, jagged glass. Her fingers clamp around my sleeve, pulling me closer with a sudden, rough force.

"Are you planning to throw me away?" her voice drops to a jagged whisper. "After everything I’ve done for you?"

"No ... I was just thinking for a second," I stammer.

"You aren't thinking of leaving me, right?" The darkness in her gaze swallows the sunlight.

"I’m not. I swear."

The tension snaps. The angelic smile returns to her lips as if it had never left. She settles back, her voice chirping brightly about the street food nearby.

I force a smile, nodding as I listen to her cheerful rambling. Beneath the facade, a heavy, sickening sorrow crushes my chest.

Five years. It has been five years since I kidnapped her, dragging her into a nightmare of abuse and terror. Yet ... she clings to me. I orchestrated dozens of scenarios for her to run away. I sent her out of my sight to buy things, manufactured blind spots, left the path to freedom wide open. In the end, she always comes right back here, anchoring herself to my side.

Damn it. A bitter curse burns the back of my throat, tasting like rust and bile. What a wretched scumbag I was. I ripped away a little girl's childhood, warping her mind and forcing her to become something she doesn't even realize.

All of this traces back to my own pathetic, sickening obsession ... the delusion that I could sculpt a human being into the ideal companion just for myself.

Genre

DramaMaturePsychologicalRomance

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