𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄 │𝗸𝘁𝗵 ✅

61│ The Night Changed

She gasped as her eyes snapped open, as if she had been ripped out of a nightmare. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her lungs desperate for air as sweat clung to her skin. For a moment she thought it had only been a dream. But then she saw him.

There he was, draped in shadow, lounging lazily on a throne carved from black stone, his gaze fixed on her as if he had been waiting. His eyes burned into her, dark and unblinking, sending a cold shiver down her spine. Her breath caught in her throat. Him. The predator.

She tried to move, to push herself away, to do anything, but her limbs felt impossibly heavy, as if the weight of the moment had turned them into stone.

"Did you miss me, babygirl?"

His voice was low, smooth, almost gentle, yet the venom hidden within it was unmistakable.

She swallowed hard, her heart hammering painfully against her ribs. Jongsuk chuckled softly, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees as he studied her reaction. Slowly, deliberately, he licked his bottom lip, clearly amused by the way she flinched under his gaze.

"You tremble so beautifully," he murmured. "Do it again."

Her fists tightened around the sheets beneath her, anger rising alongside the fear twisting inside her chest. He stood then, slowly and deliberately, every movement controlled, every step calculated like a predator closing in on prey. Yn instinctively shook her head and stepped back, but the space behind her was already gone.

"Stop."

Her voice cut through the silence. It wasn't loud, but it carried a firmness that surprised even her.

Jongsuk heard it. More importantly, he felt it. Beneath the boldness in her tone were the faint cracks she was trying desperately to hide. The tremble. The strain. She was breaking, and he could see every piece of it.

He tilted his head slightly, intrigued.

Yn's eyes shifted to the contract resting on the table nearby. The sight of it made her chest tighten. It looked simple. Just paper and ink. But it carried a weight far heavier than either.

"This is what you wanted, right?" she asked quietly, resentment dripping from every word as she looked at him again.

Jongsuk didn't answer. He didn't need to. The slow smirk forming on his lips told her everything she needed to know.

Yes.

This was exactly what he wanted.

Without another word, Yn stepped forward, grabbed the pen, and signed her name. The ink spread across the page in a slow stroke, marking the end of the last resistance she had left.

A low chuckle escaped Jongsuk's lips.

"Bravo, babygirl," he said softly as he stepped closer, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "You just chose your path... and it leads straight to me."

Yn kept her gaze down. She couldn't look at him. If she did, she knew he would see the last fragile pieces of her composure crumble.

Tears burned behind her eyes, but she forced them back. She wouldn't cry. Not here. Not in front of him. That wasn't who she was.

Even though everything inside her felt like it was collapsing, she refused to let him see it.

Still, deep down, she admitted a truth she hated.

She was weak in front of him.

And she despised that feeling.

Jongsuk had taken everything from her—her freedom, her strength, even her voice. Everything except one thing.