---
heeseung stirred in his bed, feeling the sweat on his forehead. he tried to ignore the persistent knocking on the door, hoping it would stop. but it didn’t. it grew louder and more insistent until he could no longer pretend to sleep.
he groaned and dragged himself out of the bed, rubbing his eyes. he shuffled towards the front door, but he didn’t open it right away. "who's there?" he asked instead.
"it's me, heeseung. you can't just disappear for two weeks and not say anything." jake's voice sent a shiver down heeseung's spine. he clenched his fists and cleared his throat.
"glad to see you, jaeyun!" he said sarcastically while opening the door.
jake was about to say something, but heeseung didn't give him any chance to. he grabbed jake by the collar of his shirt, pulling him in the room and slamming him against the wall. heeseung glared at him with anger and hurt.
"i have a very strong urge to punch you right now so don't you dare say anything." heeseung said, still holding jake's collar tightly.
jake gulped, watching heeseung confused. "i don't underst–"
"shut up!" heeseung yelled. "shut up already! i am tired of all the bullshit that comes out of your mouth!"
heeseung's eyes started tearing up. "did you have fun all those years?"
jake slightly frowned. "what?" his voice cracked.
"am i your little science project? hm, jaeyun?" heeseung was getting quieter, his eyes filled with tears.
jake placed his hands on heeseung's, trying to free himself from the latter's hold. but heeseung only clenched his fists harder.
"i'm going to kill you..." heeseung whispered. "and it's going to be for real."
in that moment, jake's face turned cold. something inside him shifted. he used all his strength and shoved heeseung aside.
he stood tall, his eyes steely and his jaw set. "am i allowed to talk now?"
heeseung glared at him, without giving him any answer.
"fine. if you don't show up to work today, you'll be fired." jake said sternly. "i'll leave before you lose your mind even more. feel free to talk to me when you calm yourself down and can explain what's going on." he added before stepping out.
heeseung stood alone in silence. he started thinking about this encounter, about the past two weeks.
and what if what sooha told him wasn't true?
but she wouldn't lie to him. or was she lying this whole time?
heeseung shook his head, brushing off this thought.
he ran his hand through his hair. jake knew everything. all the things he was telling sooha eventually reached jake. why would he do that? why would he hide?
all these questions were bothering him.
he was playing with me.
---
"what are you doing here?"
"i need to speak to you, heeseung. something bad is happening to you." sooha said, heeseung noticing how worried she looks.
"what happened?" he asked, making space for her to enter the house.
"i lied to you. " she started tearing up, hiding her face in her hands. "i wish you could forgive me."
heeseung grabbed her hands gently, trying to look at her face. "sooha, calm down. what's the matter?"
sooha was sobbing, burrying her head in heeseung's chest. "it was jake." she said, looking up at heeseung.
"what?" he asked, confused.
"he made sure that you couldn't find any therapist besides me." she wiped away her tears. "he is the one i am married to."
heeseung took a step back. "what do you mean?"
a beat.
"sooha!"
"he used me to control you. all this time. i... i didn't have a choice, heeseung. believe me, please!"
heeseung stared at her, without saying anything.
"he threatened me. jake has so much power, so i have to do whatever he asks me. but i can't hide it anymore from you. it's not fair. you trusted me."
---
