Captain tightened his hold around my wrist, not enough to hurt me the way it felt in the original moment, but firm enough that I felt the sharp tension running through him. His voice came low, steady, and terrifyingly controlled, like heat trapped under ice. "Who allowed you to go out shopping?"
A thin layer of cold sweat clung to my back, though I tried to keep my expression calm. "But… Director Anderson never said I wasn't allowed to go out," I murmured.
He let out a soft, mocking laugh, his eyes filled with sarcasm so sharp it felt as if it sliced straight through me. My heartbeat stumbled. Even without violence, his anger was overwhelming, like a winter storm pressing against my chest, threatening to crush the air out of me.
"Who did you go with?" he asked again, his gaze locking onto mine.
I stayed still, letting him hold me, choosing honesty as my only shield. "With Hezze."
He laughed once more quiet, cold, carrying meanings I didn't understand. The sound made the back of my neck prickle. Then he spoke a single name, each syllable falling with deliberate weight: "Halley."
My breath stopped. My eyes flew wide, and when I looked up, I met the dark, stormy glare in his. A chill ran down my spine. How did he know that name? Did he know that besides Hezze, Halley had also been there during lunch? Did he…
Did he have someone watching me?
The thought sent a wave of coldness from the top of my head all the way down to my toes. My lips trembled as I forced out a breath. "Director Anderson… did you have someone follow me?" My voice came out as a small, bitter laugh, my face pale. I must have looked like a ghost accusing its captor.
Captain frowned, lifting my chin with his fingers, not harshly, but with a cold precision that made my pulse jump. "I'm asking you," he said softly, "whether you really had lunch with another man."
I bit my lip and pushed his hand away with a burst of instinctive strength. "Yes. I ate with Halley and Hezze. So what? What's wrong with having lunch with classmates?"
His expression darkened. I could feel his frustration, not explosive but simmering and intense, like a fire trapped behind steel bars. He knew my personality too well, how I acted sweet and compliant until the moment he pushed too far. Then I pushed back harder, regardless of consequences.
"So that's it?" His voice dropped even further. "You're that desperate for male company?"
He didn't throw me; instead he guided me down onto the sofa, caging me in with his presence, not his strength. His shadow covered me as he leaned in, eyes burning with something closer to wounded jealousy than cruelty.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," I whispered, my voice trembling. "It was just a meal with classmates. Please… don't do this."
His body hovered above mine without touching, his breath warm against my cheek. The proximity made my heart pound painfully fast. "I was waiting for you to come home," he said, voice low, almost strained. "And you were out eating with another man. Tell me, how am I supposed to feel?"
I blinked, stunned. He… waited for me?
Before I could respond, he gave a dark, humorless laugh. "If you really need attention that badly, should I be the one to give it to you?"
"Director Anderson, what are you trying to do?" I felt the danger in the air, not the physical kind, but the emotional kind intense, overwhelming, consuming.
He didn't answer. He lowered his head, and suddenly warm, stormy kisses brushed my cheek, my temple nothing forceful, but each touch was too heated, too desperate. My body trembled, panic tightening my chest.
"Captain… let me go. Please, not like this…" My voice cracked, frustration mixing with fear. I had only gone out for lunch. How had coming home turned into this suffocating whirlwind?
My eyes stung, tears gathering but refusing to fall. I must have looked like a frightened little rabbit, wide-eyed and trembling. Unfortunately, that only made things worse, his gaze darkened, hunger and hurt flashing in it, twisting together.
In the original moment, it should have turned violent.
Here, it didn't.
He froze.
His breath hitched as he stared at my face at my shaking lashes, at my bitten lip, at the fear I couldn't hide. His body tensed as if he'd hit a wall inside himself.
"…Rosy." His voice turned rough, not with anger, but something closer to regret. "You think I'd hurt you?"
I swallowed hard, unable to answer.
Then his hand, instead of tearing fabric, brushed against my shoulder, gentle, trembling slightly, as if he was restraining himself with everything he had. His forehead pressed to mine, his breathing uneven.
"You drive me insane," he whispered. "But I'm not going to touch you without your consent."
The tension broke like glass.
My lungs finally expanded.
But then, things escalated again, though differently.
When he pulled back, I noticed a glint of metal on the coffee table. Before I realized it, my panic surged. In the original story, it would have been a knife.
Here, it was only a fruit peeler, harmless, dull-edged, but in my frantic state it terrified me.
When he reached toward me only to steady himself, I panicked and shoved it away. The peeler clattered to the floor with a sharp metallic sound. I gasped, staring at it, suddenly shaking all over.
Captain froze again, eyes widening, not with pain, not with rage but with shock.
"Rosy… hey." His voice softened instantly. "Look at me. You didn't hurt me."
I stared at my trembling hands, breath coming in small gasps.
"I thought I..."
"You didn't." His hand cupped my cheek, warm and steady. "I'd never let you hurt yourself because of me."
The peeler lay harmlessly on the ground, untouched, unbloodied.
I wasn't a murderer.
I hadn't stabbed him.
But the fear of that possibility left me shaking.
He sighed, pulled me into his arms, not forcefully, but firmly, grounding me. "Rosy, for God's sake… just stay by my side. Don't scare me like that again."
My mind was blank. My chest hurt.
I had no strength left to resist.
All I could think was... I hadn't meant to push him this far, and he hadn't meant to break me.
And somehow, in the middle of all this chaos, we both ended up trembling.