Try Me (18+)

Thirty Three

Confusion 

Ezra sat by the window in the dim light of her room, watching the rain blur the world outside. She had spent the past few hours pacing, lost in her own frustration, but exhaustion finally pinned her to the chair.

Yong kept saying he was protecting her. But that was a lie. He was her captor. There was not a single protective factor about everything he had put her through since their first encounter. Hell when it actually mattered, when that filthy excuse of a woman had humiliated her in front of all those men, he did nothing at all to protect her. 

She hated him. 

But why, then, did it feel like his approach had changed lately? Less like chains, more like something else. More like... concern. Genuine concern. 

Ezra groaned, shoving those thoughts away. It didn't matter what he felt. What mattered was getting her life back. Getting back to school, to her family and friends. 

She heard a soft knock on the door and sat up, apprehensive to the fact that there was a large possibility that it was Jude. Truth be told, she might have taken on more than she can handle when approaching Jude for her grand escape plan. She hadn't taken into account how much comfort intimicy could provide in a situation like hers, even it came from an enemy. 

She opened the door and to her slight surprise it was Yong. He always carried this energy with him, as if his presence alone filled the room, taking up too much space, stealing all the air. She hated it. She hated how her body tensed at the sound of his footsteps, not out of fear anymore—but out of something she couldn't quite place.

"What do you want, Yong?" she asked, her voice colder than ice. She didn't open the door any further, didn't invite him in.

"I just..." His throat felt tight, the words stuck. For all his power and control, standing in front of her like this, he felt small. "I wanted to check on you."

The days were blurring together, and his constant presence made it impossible to think straight. Ezra's lip curled into a bitter smirk. "To check on me? Really? After everything, now you care about how I'm doing?"

Yong sighed, stepping inside the room, closing the door softly behind him. He didn't say anything for a moment. Just stood there, like he wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands, like he was unsure of himself for the first time since she'd met him.

"You're upset." His voice was quiet, almost tentative. She did't like this, his peaceful demeanour, his gentle mannerisms and soft spoken words. He wasn't on the offensive or defensive for once and it was confusing her already confused mind even more. 

"What gave it away?" Ezra said bitterly, now facing the window.

He didn't respond, but she could feel his eyes on her, like he was studying her for cracks, trying to piece together the parts of her he couldn't understand but wanted to so desperately.

Ezra's groaned frustration, spinning around to face him. "What do you want, Yong? Why are you really here? To gloat? Remind me I'm stuck with you? And that I always will be stuck here? We've had this conversation so many times, I can quote it from memory."

He took a step closer, and she heard the slight shuffle of his shoes against the wooden floor. His voice was softer now, less controlled. "I wanted to make sure you're okay."

Ezra's eyes flashed with something he couldn't quite place—anger, resentment, maybe even exhaustion. "You don't need to do that Yong," she said, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife. "I'm not your responsibility, I'm your burden remember."