“Do you really want to leave the Express?” Dan Heng asks, his breath so close it almost scorches your skin. “You told me you liked me.”

And yes—you did.

You said you liked his face, the way he looks when he’s serious.

You said you wanted his heart to beat only for you. That his joy, his sadness, his fear—everything—should begin and end with you, until he could think of no one else.

If anyone else had made such unreasonable demands, Dan Heng would have been unsettled.

He should have been unsettled.

But somewhere along the way, when he heard you say these things, something shifted. Instead of discomfort, he felt a strange rush of happiness—of being possessed, of surrendering to someone he loves so completely.

He thinks something inside him must be broken.

He should be frightened of that change. But he isn’t. It’s fine, Dan Heng tells himself calmly. You’ll stay by his side. As long as he has you, it’s enough.

So why are you trying to leave? After making him into this… why do you get to drift away?

That night, when he finds you packing your bags, Dan Heng locks you in your room. Silk ribbons coil around your wrists and ankles, his love binding you like ivy.

The once-reserved young man buries his face in the crook of your neck, lips brushing your most delicate spot. His voice is low, almost broken.

“Why do you want to leave?”

You said you wanted his heart to beat for you. His joy and sorrow to rise and fall because of you. You succeeded. His world holds no one but you now. How can you still want to walk away?

“You made me like this,” Dan Heng murmurs. “I’m not even myself anymore.”

“…But we still have plenty of time,” he says softly, pressing another kiss to your throat.

“You’ll stay with me. Forever.”