Boy Meets Beast

✧ 11 ✧

It has been hours, maybe minutes, since that werewolf showed up in his dreams. Ilya wasn't sure about it. All he knew was that he almost took a ride home but passed out and had a nightmare or two.

A throbbing pain at the back of his head disturbed his sleep. Ilya groaned and moved his arm with a weak motion toward the painful spot. He felt a piece of clothing or something wrapped around his head. Underneath that was a tender bump that felt like his head was split open.

"Ow," a faint whine slipped through his pouty lips.

Then the lights started bothering him.

He fluttered his eyes awake, but the light of that chandelier on the ceiling was too bright. He squeezed his eyes shut one last time and tried again. This time, something was blocking the lights that helped his eyes to open.

At first, the image in front of him was blurry. Then, it became clearer the more he blinked. He was greeted by Charlie's face inches away from him.

"Oh, good." He showed his white teeth with a smile. "You're awake."

"Ahhh!" Ilya screamed and tried to crawl away.

"No, no." Charlie raised his palms in peace. "You're alright. I saved you."

Huddling in the corner of the couch, Ilya shrieked, "Stay the fuck away from me!"

Shocked, Charlie quickly stepped off the couch. A hurtful expression replaced his overly joyful one as he backed away.

Ilya removed his hands from his ears and clutched his heaving chest. A few gulps between his wheezing gasps helped him recover after that fright. He looked around to find himself back in that nasty house, laying on that same moldy couch.

"I-I was only trying to help," Charlie said, his voice was low and trembling. "You were heading the wrong way. You were about to go to the labs, and trust me you don't want to go there."

Ilya summoned up the courage to look at Charlie again, the man who deprived him of his freedom, the man who kept him here for God knows what reason.

When their eyes met, Ilya didn't see malice in Charlie's eyes. He saw sadness and guilt—human emotions. Those couldn't be the eyes of an evil monster, but perhaps a sad crazy man who really just lacked social skills from living here alone all this time.

But sad crazy people are still capable of doing harm even if they don't mean it, Ilya reminded himself. I gotta be careful.

"And I'm sorry about yer head." Charlie took a small step closer. "I didn't mean to hurt you." He shrugged. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength."

"It's OK." Ilya forced a smile and waved to Charlie. "You-you just startled me. That's all." He laid back and pretended to be comfortable on the couch. "Thanks for saving me."

That act brought a smile back to Charlie's lips.

"Ye're welcome!"

There, Ilya thought, suppressing his fear. That wasn't so bad.

That thought passed when he remembered that Charlie was on top of him a second ago. It made his skin crawl knowing that a grown man was intimately close to him like that. Then Ilya noticed something off about his clothes—They weren't his!

A pair of royal blue sweatpants and a matching hoodie. They were thick and comfy, definitely warmer than his old clothes in this freezing weather. And most importantly, they were spotless clean.

"Umm. Charlie." Ilya raised his arms to check his new clothes with furrowed brows. "What the hell am I wearing?"

"You like them?" Charlie said excitedly as he sat at the far edge of the table. "They're just your size, eh?"

"Did you—" Ilya interrupted his own speech with a sigh then rubbed his head. "Did you take my clothes off while I was passed out?"

"I did." He smiled cluelessly. "I wanted to help. And don't worry." He waved his palms. "I didn't touch you inappropriately or anything like that. I know people have boundaries."

Apparently, you don't, Ilya wanted to say.

This was too much for Ilya, but he had to keep acting. Even when the thought of Charlie dressing him up like a Ken doll while he was unconscious made him sick. He had to keep it to himself.

"Umm... Thank you."

Ilya tried to bring his Oscar-winning smile back, but he was too disgusted to perform well. It felt forced, but Charlie was gullible enough to buy it.

"No worries." Charlie smiled. "And would you look at that!" He pointed at the windows. "It's nighttime already!"

Ilya glanced at the darkness outside, then checked the time on his watch; it was 9 O'clock. He glimpsed the other number on the screen. The last time he checked, it was below 60. Now, it showed the number 118, which made him wonder how his condition improved so much.

Maybe it had something to do with the green drink.

"Which means," Charlie continued, "It's safe to take you to the train station, as promised!"

Ilya smiled for real this time.

"But first!" Charlie got up, lifting his index finger in an aha moment. "Dinner!"

Ilya's smile fell.

It's just dinner. Then hopefully Charlie will keep his promise and let the poor kid go 👀

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