𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐓𝐄𝐃

XXII - in the name of love

It was nearly impossible to get any sleep that night. For one thing, you were starving, and the rumbling of your stomach was as distracting as it was painful. You were also dehydrated. Knowing that you weren't allowed to have any water just made you think of it that much more, and you couldn't help but swallow involuntarily every couple of seconds.

But the main reason it was so difficult to fall asleep was because you were scared. What had happened with Ryu earlier was the perfect reminder that no matter how much his treatment of you seemed to improve, at the end of the day, you were nothing more than a prisoner. You had perhaps gotten a bit too comfortable with all his praises and shows of affection. All of that was superficial. If you didn't behave the way he wanted you to, he wouldn't hesitate to cast you aside.

You hated him, possibly more than anyone else in the world, but you needed him. You couldn't survive if he lost his patience with you. You'd made a mistake, and now you were paying the price.

Countless hours passed like that, with you clutching onto your blankets in the dark and stifling the occasional whimper, doing your best to fall asleep. There were a few moments when your memory was fuzzy-you'd probably managed to pass out a bit then-but it was no longer than for a few minutes at a time. You were exhausted, starving, thirsty, and you desperately needed to use the bathroom, but you weren't so shameless as to relieve yourself in your underwear, so you crossed your legs and mentally willed your bladder to hold on.

You had no idea when Ryu would let you out of here. According to your regular schedule, you had a shift at the office in the morning, but he could very well keep you trapped in here for days on end. Without water, you probably wouldn't survive any longer than three more days. That would be a horrible way to go. Slow, torturous, forced to count down the minutes until your body ceased functioning.

You certainly wouldn't put it past someone like Ryu to torment you like that.

Even though you felt like crying, your body wasn't even strong enough to muster up the tears. You swallowed again, grimacing at the sensation of your dry throat clenching around itself. Fucking Ryu. He had everything he could ever want. Money, power, influence. So, why did he need to do this to you? Was there really no limit to his greed? When was it ever enough? When would he ever have his fill of tormenting a weak, innocent girl?

Over and over again, you cursed him in your head. You weren't proud of it, but you began imagining all sorts of scenarios where he would die slow, painful deaths right in front of your eyes. You felt sick, but you couldn't help it. You'd never known it was possible to hate someone this much.

You weren't sure when exactly, but sometime amidst your silent blaspheming, the door to your room slowly slid open. Instinctively, you flinched, afraid that Ryu had come to punish you again. It was still fairly dark in the room, but some light had begun to trickle inside. Dawn had probably just broken.

Except it wasn't Ryu. It was Masahi.

"Here," he whispered, carefully creeping in. He was balancing a platter of rice balls and other small snacks on his arm. "You must be hungry. Eat something. Ryu is asleep now, so as long as we're quiet, we should be fine. Once you're done, I'll sneak you out so that you can use the washroom."

He slid a water bottle over towards you, and you nearly shed tears of relief from the sight alone. You uncapped it without wasting a breath, tilting your head so far back that water trickled down your neck and dampened the front of your shirt.

Masahi passed you one of the rice balls. His expression was sympathetic. "Ryu told me what happened. That Tatsumi bastard just doesn't know when to stop overstepping. I'm sorry that things turned out this way."