Xinyue realized something was wrong once the doors shut behind them, when the hospital stopped feeling like a hospital. It's started to omit strange sensations even in the walls.
The corridor they stepped into looked ordinary enough, fluorescent lights, polished floors, the distant echo of a trolley being pushed somewhere far away. Yet the air felt like…kinda managed. Curated even, as if every sound had been measured and approved by something unknown.
Taehyun didn't slow his stride.
He walked beside her not in front, not behind but close enough that their arms nearly brushed. Too close for comfort, too deliberate to be accidental.
"Why are we taking this route?" she asked under her breath.
"It avoids cameras," he replied.
"That's doesn't mean everything is ok."
"It's not meant to be."
She shot him a menacing look. "You really need to work on that."
A faint smirk tugged at his mouth, gone just as quickly. His attention never left the hallway ahead. They passed a junction where security cameras should have been obvious. Instead, there were only dark glass domes present, but inactive.
Xinyue slow down her steps. "Those were working yesterday."
"Yes."
"And today?"
"Somone turned them off."
Her stomach tightened. "Someone like you?" she asked curiously.
He didn't answer her immediately, that was more than enough for her to understand who culprit was. "You're controlling the environment," she said quietly.
"I'm limiting the access."
"That's the same thing you jerk."
"No, he replied even though he didn't like how she called her. "The control is permanent, this is just temporary."
She topped walking. Taehyun took two more steps before he realized she wasn't beside him anymore. He turned around, eyes sharpening. "Xinyue."
"No, we're not doing this," she said firmly.
"Doing what?"
"This," she gestured around them voice low but sharp. "You deciding where I go, what I see, who can get near me."
His jaw tightened. "You're not safe, and I'm going to protect you." He stepped towards her, his presence immediately filling the space. "They erased a patient," he said. "They altered records under your name. they tested how close they could get to you inside your own workplace."
"And your solution is turning my life into a controlled zoo?"
"If it's meant to making you safe then yes." The answer was immediate and unapologetic.
"This is not protection, it's a confinement, she said."
"Say that again when you're alive in after six months," he replied to her nonchalantly. Her anger flared up by his response, "You don't get to scare me into compliance."
"I'm not scaring you, just informing you" he said.
She made a sharp and humorless laugh. "You really think it's going to make any difference? Flash news it's not."
For a moment, they just stared at each other without omitting any emotions. The tension between them coiled tight, like a wire pulled too far. Then Taehyun exhaled slowly, as if recalibrating.
"I should have explained," he said.
"Finally! You came to sense, it would have been nice," she snapped at him.
"But you wouldn't have agreed anyway."
"And you decide that for me?"
"Yes."
Her hands curled into fists. "You're unbelievable, I can't really stand you."
"And you're stubborn."
"That's not an insult, especially considering where I come from."
"I know."
Something flickered between them again, something familiar. Recognition, respect edged with frustration. "Where are we going?" she asked.
"Somewhere they can't follow."
"That's vague, hopefully it's safe."
"It's safe."
"So??? You have been saying."
They resumed walking, though every step Xinyue took felt heavier now. The hospital she'd know, trusted was slipping out from under her feet, replaced by something darker and more fragile.
They reached a restricted access door. Taehyun didn't swipe a card, just entered a code. Xinyue noticed the panel didn't even beep. "You memorized hospital security codes now?"
"I memorized this one years ago."
She stiffened. "You have been here before."
"Yes."
"As a patient?"
"Unfortunately, No."
Her pulse skipped a beat. "Then as what?"
The door sild open. "That's not a conversation we're having here," he said. They stepped into a stairwell, dimly lit and rarely used. The smell of dust and disinfectant mixed uneasily.
"Do you make a habit of embedding yourself in people's lives without permission?" she asked as they descended. "No."
"Then why me?"
He slowed his steps. "For the same reason they chose you, you're a pressure point."
She swallowed. "Because I save you," she said as a matter of facts.
"Yaa."
"And if I hadn't?"
"You'd be safer."
That hurt more than she expected. "Then why don't you walk away?" she asked. He stopped and turned around. His gaze locked onto her with some unbearable emotions. "Because you didn't."
Her breath caught at that, the stairwell felt suddenly too small and too quiet for her. They reached the lower level; a service corrido used for maintenance and emergency logistics. No windows, no signages, just concrete and humming pipes.
Taehyun guided her towards an unmarked door. "What's behind there?" she asked her curiously.
"Just a temporary solution."
"I don't like this idea of temporary solutions."
"I know," he said again.
She hesitated before following him inside. The room was small, stark, a single table, two chairs, a secured terminal mounted into the wall. Just no medical equipment, no comfort. A safe room.
"You built this?" she asked him while her eyes roaming around the room.
"Someone else did."
"And you're using it without telling anyone."
"Yaa. Why not?"
"I can't believe you and it's illegal."
"So is erasing patients," he replied calmly.
She pressed her lips together, unbale to argue against that even though she is also a victim. "You're isolating me," she said to him instead.
"I'm giving you time."
"To do what exactly."
"To decide."
She scoffed at him with derision. "Decide what?"
"How involved you want to be."
Her gaze snapped to his. "You already involved me, what is there to decide?"
"Yes," he agreed. "But you haven't chosen how far it goes."
Those words sank in slowly. "You are not asking for permission," she said.
"No."
"You're offering an illusion of choice to me." He stepped closer to her, his voice dropping with whatever idea she came up even though this was the first time his patience was tested this much. "No, I'm offering you honesty." Her heart pounded fast at that suggestion.
"If you stay," he continued, "I will protect you. Completely."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I still protect you, but from farther away."
"That's not a convincing choice."
"It is," he insisted. "You just don't like either option."
She looked away with frustration, crossing her arms and twisting her chest to other side. "You moved pieces without telling me," She said quietly. "You scared my staff. You altered security. You followed me to home."
"Yes."
"That's not care."
"No," he admitted. "It's survival."
She turned back to him, eyes sharp and enquiring without understanding how this is working. "At whose cost? Mine??"
His silence answered her. That was what tipped it. "You don't get to sacrifice my autonomy for my safety," she said to him firmly. "I didn't consent to any of these ordeals."
This time his gaze softened at her, not much but enough to tell that he will do anything to make her safe. "I know, and I'm sorry." The apology from him stunned her more than anger would have, it was something she thought she will never hear from him or he has done it ever in his life.
"But I'd do it again," he added. Of course you would she thought, way to ruin the effect of a rarest apology. Her shoulders sagged just slightly. "You're impossible."
"I have been told." He answered with a slight smirk.
She let out a shaky breath. "You stood too close earlier," she stated. He lifted an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic. "This again?"
"You didn't ask, you just decided." She said to him.
"I didn't touch you," he tries to justify his action. "That doesn't mean you didn't cross the line," she added. He considered what she said for a second and said quietly. "You didn't move away either."
"That's not consent."
"No," he agreed. "It's awareness of your surroundings."
The air shifted again, bit charged and unsteady. She stepped back deliberately, reclaiming her space. "Don't mistake adrenaline for permission you Gremlin."
He was again stunned by her name calling towards him. "I won't," he said.
---
For a second later his phone buzzed breaking the silence surrounded them. He checked it and swore under his breath. "What?" she demanded.
"They know you're not where you should be."
Her heart beat jumped at the new information. "Already?"
"Yes."
"So much for temporary." She scoffed at him. His jaw tightened at her response. "They are accelerating."
"And you? What are you doing?"
"I'm adapting."
She squared her shoulders. "Then so am I." He looked at her sharply, "you said you want answers, then stay with me. And you will accept that my protection doesn't ask first." By doing this he made sure of having an upper hand which he didn't know why.
"And what do you get?"
"Responsibility," he said. "For whatever happens next."
She searched for his face, looking for manipulation, for control, instead she found something else a burden. "Fine," she said. "But we do this my way too."
A corner of his mouth lifted. "You think there's room for negotiation?"
"There is," she said coolly. "If you want me to cooperative instead of being reckless." That earned a low huff of amusement.
"You drive a hard bargain, Doctor."
"I save lives," she replied. "Including yours."
His gaze lingered on her for a second with a complicated feeling. "Then welcome to the part you didn't consent to. Because from this moment on…"
Just then the lights flickered. Once, twice and then completely went out. The darkness swallowed room. And somewhere in the hospital above them, a door opened that should have stayed locked.