Lying on his side on the soft bed, staring at the scattered lights outside the window, the burning unease in Noah's heart still refused to fade.
Instead it only grew stronger. He tossed and turned restlessly, becoming more and more desperate to know exactly what Evelyn planned to do.
He glanced down at his phone. More than ten apology and explanation messages he had sent received no reply. The voice calls he made were hung up instantly. Only her final message remained: "Go to sleep like a good boy."
He had made her angry plenty of times before, but this kind of situation had never happened.
Noah's thoughts ran wild for a long time. The night grew deeper and deeper. Darkness swallowed the beams of light outside the window, leaving only the sparse stars twinkling in the sky. Helpless, he turned off the lamp, closed his eyes, and forced himself to sink into sleep.
It took him a long time to finally fall asleep. His consciousness settled deep into slumber. He slept heavily, murmuring incoherent words, completely unaware as his clothes were stripped away.
Until a tearing pain ripped through his flesh and stabbed his nerves. Noah jolted awake. He instinctively tried to move his hands but felt cold, hard handcuffs locking them in place, rendering him immobile.
The scene before him slowly came into focus. He saw the woman's breathtakingly beautiful face wearing an expression of utter indifference. Her long, silky black hair draped over his shoulder as Evelyn looked down at him from above.
"Eve…?"
She leaned down, stroking the boy's panicked, helpless face. Her fingertip brushed the corner of his eye as a dark, sinister smile curved her lips.
"Your sister originally wanted to take it slow, respect your wishes, wait until you came to me on your own." Evelyn pressed her forehead against his, gazing straight into his clear, bright eyes. "But you've been too disobedient, Nate. You forced your sister's hand, so now… your sister is going to eat you up."
Only after fully waking did Noah clearly see their current state—both of them completely naked, his wrists and ankles bound.
"What… what are you going to do?"
"The same thing as that day seven years ago. Nate, you've been running away and trying to forget everything that happened that day, but it's the truth. We did that kind of thing."
"Why… we were only…"
"Your questions are as adorably silly as you are." She cupped his face and kissed him directly, the kiss filled with seductive, drowning desire—forceful and overbearing.
"What do you think made your sister do that to you, Nate? I love you. So much. Love you to the bone."
Noah stared blankly at Evelyn's face so close to his own. Words stuck in his throat, as if he couldn't make a sound. He could only listen one-sidedly to her nearly insane confession, every word filled with twisted, pathological obsession.
"Why does it have to be Lila Vale? Where exactly did your sister lose to her? Why have they all decided from the very beginning that you belong to her? I gave all my love to you. I've loved you with everything I possibly could. Why do they all think she's the one who should be with you?"
"Nate, do you know? Every time your sister saw you getting close to her, saw you smiling at her, your sister was enduring it, forcing herself not to act. But your sister isn't a saint. How could I just watch you turn from childhood friends into lovers?"
Evelyn brushed the stray hair hanging by her ear aside, revealing her incomparably beautiful profile flushed with seductive crimson. Her full chest rose and fell unsteadily with her breathing. "Nate, your sister will never let you go again."
She kissed his lips once more. Her hands reached behind her back to undo her bra strap. The last piece of clothing fell away. Primitive desire burned away all remaining reason in the wet exchange of saliva.
The endless hot kisses stole what little oxygen was left between them. Their body temperatures climbed rapidly. The boy's struggles were completely useless. Driven by instinct, his resistance grew weaker and weaker under her enchanting caresses.
It had been too long. Far too long.
She had waited seven full years for this pleasure that had seeped into her marrow. Both body and mind refused to care about that insignificant pain anymore. She really didn't want to hold back any longer. At this moment, nothing else mattered.
The night sky was vast and serene. Soft, pure moonlight spilled across a sea of brilliant flowers. Dewdrops from an early spring morning gathered one by one, crystal clear, dripping onto the tender green blades of grass. The stream flowed clear to the bottom, murmuring gently onward.
Her stunningly beautiful face was dyed with a seductive, enchanting crimson. She lowered her body, pressing against the side of Noah's face, bringing her lips close to his ear. "I've indulged you too much all this time, letting you lose sight of who you belong to. It's your sister's fault for not disciplining you properly."
She covered the boy's mouth with her hand. He could only produce muffled, whimpering sounds. The helpless panic written across his obedient, handsome face became the best fuel, intensifying her desire even deeper into her bones.
"Your sister won't stop until she's satisfied. Until then, your sister won't feel sorry for you. Nate, you need to remember this—you already have your sister's name on you. No one else is allowed to touch you anymore."
Butterflies fluttered and danced beneath the murky, pitch-black night sky, rising and falling. Sparse, mottled moonlight passed through the gaps in the white window curtains, scattering across the patterns on the floor. The faint sounds were especially clear in the silent night, yet no one knew.
He lost count of how many times it ended before she finally stopped. The hand covering his mouth moved away. He was still panting uncontrollably.
"Your sister will undo these for you. Don't move around… Does it hurt?"
"It hurts a lot." A few weak words escaped from Noah's lips. His eyes were dim and lifeless.
"Your sister already told you. You brought this on yourself."
The restraints were removed. Several glaring red marks were exposed on Noah's wrists and ankles. Evelyn combed back the strands of hair stuck to the side of her face with sweat, then used the last of her strength to lie tiredly on her side beside him.
"Eve… will you forgive me?"
"Your sister didn't stop because her anger is gone. It's because she has no strength left." She habitually pinched Noah's cheek, her fingers squeezing hard enough to hurt him. "This is no different from cheating. Nate, do you know how excessive what you did was? Your sister is really angry."
"I got anxious in the moment. I was too cold toward Lila. I was afraid they would notice."
"But Nate, your sister has never been afraid. Loving someone requires courage. You have to face other people's criticism and misunderstanding. Besides, we haven't done anything wrong, have we?"
Moonlight climbed over the windowsill and fell onto the bed, covering the woman's smooth, delicate shoulders, tracing her slender collarbones and the bare, snow-white curves of her breasts. Every smile and frown looked so gentle and beautiful in the moonlight.
The smile at the corner of her lips lost its previous madness and sickness, replaced by the familiar tenderness and intimacy. "Your sister promises you that unless there's no other choice, we'll continue hiding it from them. You have to be obedient too."
Noah nodded in agreement. "I know. I will."
Evelyn released her hand, moved closer, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him into her soft, warm, fragrant embrace. "Good. Go to sleep like a good boy. Your sister is in her safe period today, so there's no need to worry."