Soft.

Damn, this is so comfortable.

With his eyes shut tight, Youngjae flips onto his back, relishing in the comfort of his surprisingly soft bed.

Wait, soft?

Youngjae's eyes shoot open at that realization. He sits upright an surveys his unknown surroundings. It was just a simple and small room with nothing but a bed.

I was hit by the Bots wasn't I?

Youngjae groans and massages his forehead as the pounding pain crashes back into his head. He tosses the covers away, somewhat relieved that he was still wearing his own shirt and jeans.

"Let me go! I'm not staying here for another ing minute!" Youngjae batters the door repeatedly, unaware of the fact that he just woke the Lynx who brought him here.

A Bot flings open the door and drags Youngjae out by the collar of his shirt. It forces him to the ground once more, right at the feet of the Lynx.

"Why are you so eager early in the morning Youngjae?" The Lynx offers another seductive smile, his tousled hair and rumpled dress shirt just adds to the ual appeal. "What?! You knocked me out for an entire day?!" The Lynx chuckles melodiously. "I clearly couldn't, they did." The Lynx gestures to one of the guards standing by the door. His massive arms which were bigger than Youngjae's head were terrifying; furthermore he was carrying weapons of deadly destruction. Youngjae gulps worriedly as cold sweat breaks out on his forehead.

“Oh don’t worry Youngjae, they wouldn’t harm you.” Daehyun smiles back down at him, “Not without me telling them to anyway.”

With a sweeping gesture of his arm, Daehyun dismisses the Bots and guards, leaving the two of them alone in a massive room. “Aren’t you worried that I might stab you or something?” Youngjae questions him as he secretly scans the room for any form of a weapon.

Really anything just to whack him senseless.

Daehyun raises his eyebrow as if doubting Youngjae would ever dare to do that. “I will pretend I didn’t hear that. Besides, I’m sure you’re famished.” Daehyun lifts a platter of bite-sized sandwiches and hands them to Youngjae.

While eyeing them skeptically, Youngjae refuses to eat despite his growling stomach.

I would never accept food from an enemy.

All along, the idea of eating leftovers from the Lynx was simply repulsive, but he had to, to survive and make sure his family survived too.

“I don’t remember you being this stubborn though. Unless you plan to starve and die here, you should seriously eat up.” Daehyun nudges the plate towards Youngjae, his face devoid of emotions, as though he really couldn’t care less if Youngjae did die here. Youngjae snarls defensively back at him, clenching his fists at his sides, a clear sign that he wasn’t backing down.

“The food isn’t poisoned.” As if to prove his point, Daehyun munches on one sandwich while once more, offering the rest to Youngjae. “ off; I’m not eating a single you have to offer.” Youngjae sneers at him; obviously pissed that the Lynx didn’t get the idea.

Instead of screaming “Off with his head!” like Youngjae had been expecting, Daehyun quietly sighs and places the plate on a nearby table. “I know this is very hard for you to accept, but please don’t harm your body like this.” Daehyun sinks to his knees and peers into Youngjae’s cold hard eyes. “I know it was wrong of me to drag you here, but I promise to bring your family here to live with you as well, Youngjae.”

Taken aback, Youngjae watches as the Lynx slowly gets up and leaves the room.

Bring my family here? Wasn’t there a rule that only one Pearyn from each family could be taken in? Just what is he planning?!

Driven by rage and confusion, Youngjae chucks the nearby table, sending the sandwiches flying.

this wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Equilibrium will start now.”

~~~

“, this hurts so much.” Youngjae writhes on the ground while clutching his abdomen; the hunger was gnawing away at the empty walls of his stomach. He had refused to eat since yesterday, throwing away any food they had to offer and had now turned a deathly shade of white.

“Damn Daehyun, why did you get such a stubborn Rine? A useless one at that!” An unfamiliar voice rang out. “Shush Himchan, he’s just having trouble adjusting here.” Daehyun forlornly watches the sunken figure on the floor; he was so worried for Youngjae but didn’t dare go beyond the roles of a master and a Rine. “Tsk, if you ever need another Rine feel free to find me.” Himchan grumbles and shoots the shivering figure one last distasteful look before he leaves the room.

Talking as though I’m not here, how very polite.

Maybe it was stupid of me to reject food; after all I still have to get back to HyukJae and father.

I’m too weak to do anything now.

How pathetic…

~~~

“Youngjae?” A concerned voice shakes Youngjae from his slumber as he opens his awfully heavy lids. “You passed out from hunger.” It was odd to see Daehyun this concerned; a Lynx was always known to be cold and heartless, rarely showing emotions.

Youngjae forces himself off the bed, which he was miraculously placed on, hating to seem this weak in front of Daehyun. His arms trembled as he tried hard to sit up, only to collapse back onto the pillow. “Hey, stop forcing yourself. Eat up.” Daehyun places yet another bowl of porridge onto the table. “Never.” Youngjae uses his last ounce of strength to push himself away from Daehyun.

The frown on the Lynx’s face frightened Youngjae a little, thinking that maybe he had gone too far. “You’d better eat up or I might just your now.” He didn’t sound very convincing, but the menacing glare had Youngjae reluctantly reaching for the bowl.

Slowly, Youngjae sips on the porridge at first, but hunger overwhelms his pride. Soon, the bowl was empty. Daehyun immediately asks for another, never once letting Youngjae out of his sight.

Youngjae is soon gobbling up another bowl as Daehyun quietly observes him from the edge of the bed.

“Would you accept me, if we were of the same status?” It was barely audible, just like a thought spoken aloud. Daehyun looks away as if the question didn’t really matter, but it did.

It mattered a lot.

~~~

“Daehyun, why are you keeping him here like this? I’m sure you do know what the use of a Rine is, right?”

“I know, Himchan.”

“Haven’t you always been waiting for a Rine till you turned 20?  I really don’t understand you.”

“I don’t know either Himchan. I just…don’t want to hurt him.”

“Ahh Daehyun…you know relationships like these won’t work. Furthermore, you’d better not let the Monarch hear this.”

“Yeah I know… I just really love Youngjae.”

~~~

“, get me out of here!” Youngjae tosses yet another chair at the door, wishing it would fling open for him to escape. It had only been 4 days since he was taken from his home and Youngjae could literally feel his sanity dissipating. There was nothing to do, no one to talk to and nowhere to go. Worst of all, Daehyun seemed entirely immune to his violence and disrespect, which pissed him off to no end.

“Youngjae, why do you dislike this place so much? Is the room not big enough? Or is the food not to your liking?” Daehyun sighs at the mess Youngjae had created, but his tone never implied that he was getting impatient with Youngjae’s destructive behavior.

“I’m a ing farmer! What do you expect me to do in here?! Rear the ing dust balls?!” Losing his temper, Youngjae fails to notice the flitting look of melancholy before the mask comes back on, leaving nothing but an emotionless face again.

“I’m sorry; I thought you would enjoy life here.”  Youngjae scoffs at that remark, feeling incredulous that the Lynx would even think he could enjoy life. “Whatever, at least let me out of this room.” Daehyun sighs again, obviously reluctant to let Youngjae have a higher chance of escaping. “I won’t escape; I just want to explore this hole place.”

“Fine, if you’re not back here by midnight, I’m coming for your family.” With that settled, Daehyun leaves the door unlocked as he retreats to his own room.

Sometimes, it was hard to remember Daehyun was after all a Lynx, especially since he was so watchful of Youngjae’s feelings.

However, who’s to say these is all not a pretense?

“Yeah, I’ve got it, we’ll be there soon.”

~~~