Zee comes back home after running a few errands and buying more groceries than he usually does since he'll be having an uninvited guest in his house for quite a while. He comes in and plans to put the things he bought in the kitchen first before going to check on Nunew but his plans changed when his eyes catches the sight of his bedroom door, where he kept Nunew in, is slightly ajar. His eyes bulges as his fingers loosen and drops the plastic bag he's holding, scattering everything around the floor. He sprints toward his bedroom and barges in through the door and to his expectation the room is empty.
"Shit!" He runs over toward the window but when he checks it's locked from the inside so he thought Nunew must've gone through the front door. His mond floods with a lot of possible scenarios that could happen. Nunew might already be at the police station to report him and the person who wants him dead will know that he's still alive and will probably threaten him again and Max will be in danger again. He balls up his fists as anger and frustration starts creeping up on him.
He hurries back to his bedroom door and is about to cross the threshold when he hears the sound of a toilet flush coming from the toilet in his bedroom. He turns his head and sees Nunew casually walks out of the bathroom, fixing his pants. Nunew looks up to find Zee staring at him with a twisted face.
Nunew knits his brows together. "What's with the face?" He walks over and sits at the edge of the bed.
Zee's eyes never left Nunew. With the anger still in him, he clenches his jaw, closes the door behind him and locks it. Without a word, Zee approaches Nunew like a predator striding toward his prey, again with his menacing eyes.
"W-what are you doing?" Nunew trembles, looking at Zee's stern expression. Everything happens in a fleeting second. Zee pushes Nunew on the bed so that he's lying on his back, grabs both of his still bandaged wrists and pin them on each side of his head. Nunew tries to wriggle out of Zee's grip but Zee only strengthen his hold and brings his face down closer to Nunew. Nunew's heartbeat drums again his chest, heaving up and down as he looks at Zee's intimidating expression.
'What did I do wrong? I didn't run away but why does he look mad.' Nunew speaks in his mind.
"Why?" Zee growls, startling Nunew with his deep voice that seems to come from his chest. Their faces are so close Nunew could feel Zee's breath on his face when he speaks. "You had the chance to escape, why didn't you?"
"W-why does it matter?" Nunew stutters. "I'm still here, isn't that what you want?" He squirms under Zee's hold and tries to push him off but Zee is way too strong for him and Zee doesn't even budge.
Zee searches Nunew's eyes for an answer. Any captive would've run for their life even with the slightest chance of escape but Zee can't fathom why Nunew didn't. He can't seem to comprehend why Nunew had stayed instead of running back home to his safe place. Not that he wants him to, he's more than relief to find Nunew still there after thinking that he's escaped but the question remains the same. Why?
"You're hurting me." Nunew whispers, wriggling his wrist with what little movement he can muster. Zee doesn't realize that his grips gets tighter as he keeps staring into Nunew's trembling eyes. His eyes lingers over to Nunew's bandaged wrists and he immediately loosens his hold and pushes himself off the bed.
Zee didn't mean to imply more pain to Nunew's already bruised wrists but his emotions had somehow taken control over him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Zee rakes his fingers through his hair, feeling remorse over his action. Nunew can see that he really didn't mean it but he doesn't understand why Zee is so mad. He pushes himself up into a sitting position and Zee moves forward to help him but Nunew flinches away in response out of reflex. It is as if his body has a mind of its own. Zee pulls his hands back slowly, understanding that Nunew is still probably scared of him especially after just now so he turns around and starts to leave.
"I saw your paintings." Nunew suddenly speaks out, stopping Zee from leaving. His hand is already on the doorknob. "In your painting room. They're beautiful." When Zee doesn't turn around or respond, Nunew continues. "I don't know what you do for a living or your true motive of keeping me here but I do know one thing. I can feel that you're not a bad guy."
Zee turns around slowly and his eyes land on Nunew. He can see how Nunew meant what he said but he doesn't know how to respond to it. Aside from Max, no one has ever seen his paintings let alone say anything about it. But Nunew did and he could tell right away what kind of person he is just by looking at it. Zee averts his gaze and notices that the congee he made this morning is still there where he left it, untouched.
"You haven't eaten." Zee said changing the topic as he juts out his chin to the food on the tray.
"I'm about to." Nunew responds and proceed to take the tray, putting it on his lap. He takes a spoonful of congee and feeds himself and then looks at Zee. "It's good. Thank you."
Zee nods at the compliment. "Eat up. I'll be outside if you need anything." He turns and walks out of the bedroom, closing the door but this time leaving it unlocked. As Zee picks up the things that he accidentally drops and left scattered all over the floor, he can't help but think about Nunew's sudden change of behavior.
'He was trying so hard to escape just the night before and now he's willing to stay because of the paintings he saw?' Zee thought. He's debating with himself whether he should believe what Nunew said but then makes a mental note to still keep an eye on him just in case Nunew has something else up his sleeve.
Nunew comes out of the bedroom with the tray of food that now looks as clean as new. He had gobbled up everything that was in the bowl, not realizing how hungry he was. To his surprise, Zee's cooking isn't that bad after all.
He walks into the kitchen and sees Zee moving around organising things into the top cabinet and fridge. Nunew hesitantly walks toward the sink when Zee notices him and he immediately comes over.
"It's okay, I'll clean it up." Zee says, taking the tray off Nunew's hands and places it in the sink. Nunew wanted to resist and insists on cleaning it up himself but then he doesn't want to get his bandages wet so he just gives in. Zee then continues where he had left off as Nunew stands there watching him.
"I'm bored. Can I go watch the TV?" Nunew questions as he leans against the kitchen counter.
Zee looks at him and tilts his head towards the living room. "Make yourself at home." Then he watches as the boy saunters over to where the TV is, taking a sit on the sofa in front of it.
Nunew settles himself down and turns on the TV with the remote, switching through channels to find something interesting to watch when he lands on a news report with a picture of a boy at the bottom right corner of the screen with the word missing written at the bottom of it.
It's a picture of him.
"...was reported missing around 11pm last Thursday. According to one of his family member, he was out for a walk that night and never came back. Police urges everyone to keep on the look out and contact them immediately if anyone has seen him or has any related information to help with the investigation." The woman on the news reports. The news then changes onto a video showing reporters interviewing his mother and upon seeing her, his heart just breaks into pieces. Her eyes are swollen and her face looks as pale as snow. He had never seen his mother in such a condition before. She had always looks so lively and is always smiling but her face is now stained with streaks of tears.
"I'm begging to anyone out there, if you've seen my child, please, please call us or the police I'm begging you." His mother pleads, voice cracking and tears running down his face. James is there too, standing by his mother's side with his arm wraps around her, calming her down. "Nhu honey, if you're watching this and if you're somewhere safe out there, please come back son. Mama miss you so much." And with that his mother crumbles into tears and sobbings as James hugs her.
"Mama," he whispers as tears run down his cheeks along with his mother. Zee takes the remote from him and turns off the TV but Nunew is already bawling his eyes out. He brings his hand up to his mouth to muffle his sobs. Zee takes a sit by his side. His heart breaks seeing Nunew cries uncontrollably knowing he's the reason why Nunew is in this exact situation. But then again if it isn't because of him Nunew would probably already be a corpse rotting in a forest somewhere right now.
"Can't I just go home?" Nunew asks between his sobbings, looking up at Zee with pleading eyes, his eyelashes wet with tears. "I promise I won't tell anyone about this"
"You know that's not the problem." Zee prompts sternly. "You can't go out there because they'll know. Whoever it is out there that wants you dead will know that you're still alive and they'll come for you and maybe even hire a different person to kill you now that they know I'm no use. And it's better that nobody knows you're still alive right now and keep it as it is. It's safer this way."
Nunew let his gaze falters to the ground, his whole body shaking with every tear. Zee fishes out a small handkerchief out of his pocket and hands it over to him. Nunew takes it and wipes off his runny nose and tear stained cheeks, eyes still fixated on the floor.
"I don't understand. Why would anyone wants to kill me? What have I ever done wrong?" Nunew's voice cracks and his eyes begin to well up with tears again.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to find out." Zee tells him. He is trying so hard to resist the urge to just pull Nunew in and wraps him in his embrace, giving him the comfort he needs right now but he knows well that he is in no position to do that. He wants to reach out to him and tell him that it's going to be okay when he himself isn't sure of what's going to happen but he knows he can't. He can only sits there and watch but there is one thing that he can do and will do. He'll get to the bottom of this and finds out the devil behind all this.
..........
Nunew wakes up with a jolt from a nightmare, breathing heavily and sweat prickles his forehead. Ever since he's been taken he's been haunted by nightmares of a person wearing all black, chasing him and keep saying he wants to kill him but they aren't as bad as the ones he used to have when he was a child. Nunew props himself up in bed and takes a minute to steady his breathing. Once his heartbeat has gone back to the normal rate he starts to get off the bed when he notices a small white piece of paper on the bedside table.
He takes it and it reads, 'I'm going out for a while but I've prepared some breakfast for you and there's some snacks as well in the top cabinet.'
"Going out again? Why is he out so often?" Nunew sighs, dropping his hands on his lap. He flops back on his bed when his stomach grumbles, asking to be fed. "Lucky he left me some food." He pushes himself off the bed and is about to head out of the bedroom to fill his empty stomach when he hears the front door opens and closes.
"Back already?" Nunew frowns as he opens the door. "I thought you'll be out for quite a..." Nunew questions as he walks out of the room but his words are cut short when he's surprised to see that the person who just enters the house and turns around to look at him isn't Zee but someone he's very much familiar with. And he's pretty sure that the person recognises him pretty well too.
"Mr. Kornthas?!"
"Nunew?!"
They scream at each other at the same time, eyes wide and both wondering why the hell is the other doing at Zee's place but one thing is for sure. When Zee comes back, he has a lot of explaining to do.