TIED TO YOU

He woke to the sound of breathing.
Not his own.

It was soft. Steady. Too calm for the weight pressing down on his chest.

Something scratched against the wooden floor as he blinked himself into the dim room-slow, dragging, like claws or fingers or something worse. The air tasted like dust and old metal. His throat burned when he tried to speak.

Then he moved.

Or tried to.

His wrists didn't come with him.

The realization came all at once:
He was tied.
Wrists behind the chair. Ankles bound to the legs.
The rope was thick and frayed and burned when he struggled.
This wasn't a prank.

It wasn't a dream either.

"Hyunjin," a voice whispered.
Too familiar.
Too close.

Felix stepped into view from the corner of the room, barefoot and smiling like they were still in their dorm room, like nothing was wrong. But his hoodie was stained. His hands were red. And his eyes-God, his eyes-were too bright for someone so quiet.

"You're awake," Felix said softly, as if he hadn't been waiting hours for this moment. "I was starting to think you wouldn't open your eyes for me."

Hyunjin couldn't speak.

Not because he didn't know what to say.
But because something in Felix's voice told him that if he made a sound, it would all come crashing down.

"Do you know how hard it was?" Felix asked, sitting across from him like this was a normal conversation. "To get you here. To keep you here. To make sure no one else got to you first?"

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, still smiling.

"I did all of it for you."

Hyunjin's breath caught in his throat.

The rope cut deeper.

And Felix, still calm, still smiling, tilted his head and whispered:

"You said you'd never leave me, remember?
So I made sure you never could."