You Interest Me

Smile

You worry about your assignments, how long is that man going to keep you here? What day is it? What time is it? Are you able to finish your thesis on time?

So many things race through your mind, you didn't notice he came out of the kitchen, blood-free.

He sets down two bowls of cooked, instant noodles on the small dining table.

"(Y/n)." You turned your head to face him.

"It's... eating time." He pointed at your bowl. You got up and warily approached him.

He pulled a chair out for you to sit on. You muttered thanks and a fearful, nervous smile made its way up to your face.

You looked into your bowl, from the smell of it, its chicken flavoured. You could identify some shredded chicken breasts in the broth.

"You... like real chicken in chicken noodles. Yes?" He asked. You nodded and let out an anxious giggle. Tears are threatening to fall from your eyes when you saw there is an eyeball in his bowl.

"Do you want human meat?" His voice turned hoarse again. He cleared his throat.

"W-what..?" You were hoping that you heard him wrongly.

"Human meat." He repeated, slower this time. Your lower lip trembled.

"N-no... t-thanks...?" You have a hard time controlling your breathing.

"I will not eat you." He tried to assure you, but his austere facial expression and tone gave you the opposite idea. Tears started falling again, you sobbed uncontrollably.

"I will not eat you." He repeated, his hand reach out to gently rub your arm. His touch made you tense up.

"P-please, I want to go home..." you choked out in between sobs.

"This is home." He replied.

"N-no, I mean my—"

"This. is. home." His sudden change in intonation made you shut your mouth. You froze and watch him through your blurred eyes. He continued staring.

"Please eat." He started to pick up some noodles with his fork. Not wanting to push his patience further, you did so too.

Both of you ate in silence. The male has a tendency to slurp on his food.

"W-what's your name?" You meekly asked. He was about to put the edge of the bowl to his lips, but stopped when he heard your question.

"I am Helen." He then quickly proceed to drink the broth from the bowl. You were surprised that he has such a feminine name.

"Okay H-Helen, u-um..." you have so many questions, but you felt like something is jammed in your head, making you unable to voice it out.

"I am your husband." He wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. You timidly nodded.

"You are my wife." He continued, setting the empty bowl down. "I will not eat you." He tried reassuring you again. Maybe his first language isn't English? He seems to have a very limited vocabulary.

"O-okay, That's already b-been established. Umm, t-tell me more about yourself...!" It's best that you don't get into his bad side.

"I am Helen, I am your husband. I am thirty-seven years old." Thirty seven! He is sixteen years older than you! Helen pushes the bowl away from him.

"So um... what... what do you do for a living?" He furrowed his eyebrows and ponder.

"I... live? I live for a living?" It seems like he doesn't understand your question.

"I mean, what do you work as?" You took another bite of your noodles.

"People give me money to kill other people." You bit your inner cheek and widened your eyes.

"The man I killed, you saw? He wants me to kill you." For once, he frowned.

"Oh, and—"

"I don't want you to die because you are my wife. So I killed him." You covered your mouth in shock. Although your situation is incredibly bizarre and terrifying, you couldn't help it but feel a bit flattered that he took a liking to you.

"Who is he?" Who wanted you dead?

"He is (most hated teacher name)." Ah, that explains it. A week ago, he tried to get you to do some sexual acts for him. Of course, you refused no matter how much money he offered. Most likely (most hated teacher's name) went to Helen after his ego was crushed.

"W-why did you choose me as your wife?"

Almost immediately, he replied: "You interest me." He smiled, well, tried to. It looked painful for him to do so.

You thought that maybe he has some disability, mental and physical that makes him act this way. You could probably use that to your advantage and trick him later.

"Thanks? So um, what are your interests— other than me, I mean." You continued your line of questions. He scratched his stubble and thought about it for a while.

"Whatever interests (y/n), interests me." He attempted to grin again, probably trying to assure you that he's harmless.

"Helen, does it hurt if you try to smile?" His lips turned back into a straight line, Helen nodded.

"I want to smile. People like smiling because it feels good. But it is painful." He brought a hand up to massage his jaw.
You pitied him, but you pity yourself more.

"So um, do you like movies? You seem to have like, an impressive collection!"

"I want to be interested in movies, but I cannot. I don't know why. The more I watch, the more I'm uninterested." You nervously giggled.

"Helen, you can't...force yourself to be interested in something. It has to come naturally."

Meanwhile, Tam cartoonishly flattened Jennie with a clothes iron in the background. Helen saw the scene on his bulky TV.

"Are you interested in cartoons?" He innocently asked.

"Well, yeah. I guess you can say that. They're funny." His hazel eyes remained on the TV screen.

Jennie smashed Tam's face with a hammer. It was done in such an exaggerated way that it made you chuckle a bit.

Helen took notice of that.

"I am interested in cartoons." He muttered.