Can You See This?

12 | sentimental syndrome exists

The clicking of keys stopped. Seven must have been considering what you were saying.

"But if you were to get hurt because I wasn't good enough, I just—"

"Stop it," you interjected quickly, and sternly. "You're trying this hard to make sure I'm not harmed, and you're working extra hard to make sure the other members are safe too. Stop worrying so much, please. Everyone is thankful that you're doing your best, and we all understand that you're only one person with a lot of responsibility. Don't worry."

"You can say that because you don't know much about me."

"Then let me know more about you. Please, Seven, I'd love to get to know you, all of you."

You were looking at the camera, imagining yourself staring directly into Seven's golden eyes. From the sound of his voice, you knew he was sad and feeling downcast, overcome with guilt and stress. You'd do anything to take that feeling away from him. You even wished you knew how to hack and have the skills to understand hacking so you could half his workload.

"I haven't told you much about myself, or anyone really, because of how dark the work is at the agency. To be honest, I only wanted to show you and everyone else my fun and bright side, because the work I do is so... dark and filthy." Seven spat out those last words, and you physically flinched at the venom in his voice.

"But now that this is all happening I feel like... maybe I should talk about it a little bit, because if anything bad happens then you and everyone else are just going to be so shocked..."

"Seven... nothing bad is going to happen. I trust you. I really trust you." You sighed softly. "I'm happy for you to tell me what it is that you do, the type of work you've been involved in. I won't judge you for any of it."

"[Name], the place I work for is a complete shit hole. Even a mindless joke can get you killed. Saying that 'nothing bad will happen' is just naive."

You opened your mouth to respond, but Seven was quick to cut you off.

"Nothing good will come out of knowing what it is that I do. I'm not a clean and bright person. At all. You can be put in extreme danger because of me, so... we need to..."

Now it sounded like he was struggling to speak, like his next words were physically painful for him to get out. Seven stopped and went silent, and you could only hear him breathing slightly, an almost heavy pant.

"Seven?" You whispered, softly encouraging him to continue. "Are you okay?"

"No. We need to keep our distance. I need to keep my distance from you. If we get any closer, it'll just make your life dangerous and that can't happen."

"But, Seven, I—"

"I shouldn't have even phoned you. This was stupid. This was a stupid idea."

You scooted closer to the edge of the bed, moving nearer to the hidden camera in a way to feel closer to Seven. You dangled your legs over the edge of the bed and leaned close, staring into the lense. You could feel yourself getting emotional, tearing up slightly at the despair in Seven's voice.

"No, it wasn't stupid of you to call me at all. Seven, don't ever think that talking to me is stupid. I want you to call me every time you ever feel like this."

"... you're so kind. You really are such a good person." Seven let out a dry laugh, which sounded surprised and relieved all at the same time. "When you first entered the chatroom and I threatened you to stay... I should never have done that. I should have told V that making you stay was wrong. You would never have gotten involved in any of this, and you wouldn't be under my surveillance right now. You could have been free to dance to your music in your room and avoid doing college work at home. You would have been free from all of this."