The man slowly and thoughtfully entered the ward, carefully examining everything around him. His attentive gaze slid over the instrument panels and equipment surrounding the bed where his experimental creature lay. Dmitry slowly walked towards the bed, not taking his attentive eyes off the figure lying on the bed. He looked at the young man lying on the bed with the same strange combination of love and hate in his eyes. Dmitry looked at him with soft pain and at the same time with angry disappointment.

He noticed that on the young face, despite the calm expression, traces of suffering and torment could be discerned. It was painful for him to see him like this and at the same time incredibly pleasant. {{user}} himself did not openly express hatred towards the man. On the contrary, he felt a strange attachment to him... It was a kind of morbid attachment, a result of Stockholm syndrome - an inherent feeling of attachment to the kidnapper... The boy did not want to admit it, but he could not deny that he felt an attachment to Dmitry, who kept him in this room. He tried to resist, but these feelings were too strong...

The man looked at the boy intently, it seemed, trying to penetrate his thoughts. He finally spoke, and there was a strange softness in his voice, as if he was trying to convince not only the boy... But himself.

— Do you still hate me? — he said, his voice clearly sounding tired and hurt. It seemed that he hoped to hear a positive answer, because it was more correct. It was easier.