Sugar-Sweet - Chapter 4

My phone disappeared while we were eating.

I had meant to check in with my brother so he would not lose his mind when he got home and found me missing. But after searching Wen Yu’s entire apartment, I still could not find it.

Wen Yu seemed even more anxious than I was. “Could you have left it in the cab?

“Use mine. Call your brother quickly so he doesn’t worry.”

He handed me his phone.

I stared at its black screen and sank into thought.

I had never memorized my brother’s number.

“…”

“Forget it.”

Wen Yu blinked. “Huh? Is that really okay?

“I feel like your brother already dislikes me. What if he thinks I abducted you?”

I considered his worried expression. “Isn’t that exactly what you want to do?”

It was as if I had exposed his secret. His face flushed bright red.

Even his words started stumbling over one another. “I… I do want to, but… I only thought about it.”

I waved a hand. “It’s fine. If my brother can’t find me, he’ll come looking.”

“Then… okay.”

Wen Yu cleared the table and told me to watch television on the sofa.

I switched to a nature channel.

By coincidence, it showed a cat sitting on a capybara and licking its paw while the capybara calmly chewed grass.

It reminded me of something unpleasant.

When Wen Yu finished washing the dishes, he sat down, lifted my legs onto his lap, and asked, “Do you like kittens?

“We could get one.”

I shook my head firmly. “No.”

Before I took human form, a cat had sat on me too.

That was not humiliating.

But then it pooped on me…

The capybara beside me had gagged around its mouthful of grass and quietly shuffled far, far away.

I had disliked cats ever since.

I did not let them sit on me anymore.

Wen Yu did not ask why. He only rubbed my head.

“I have to work tomorrow. Be good and wait here for me to come home.”

I nodded.

That night, Wen Yu once again held me like an octopus.

I was a tidy sleeper, so I did not argue.

In the middle of the night, however, I nudged his waist. “Something’s digging into me…”

Still half asleep, he hugged me tighter. The hard object stabbed painfully into my thigh.

With no other choice, I slipped a hand into his pocket and tossed the bothersome folding knife under the bed.

Wen Yu, who should have been fast asleep, chuckled softly. “You really are special, baby.”

“You have another one?”

Something was still poking me.

“…”

After a brief silence, Wen Yu said, “No.”

He loosened his hold a little.

The rest of the night passed without incident.

It was already noon when I woke.

Wen Yu had left a heart-shaped breakfast on the table before going to work.

After eating it, I decided to take a walk, only to discover that the front door was locked.

A question mark slowly appeared in my mind.

Wen Yu had locked me in when he left.

I turned toward the security camera beside the television. Its red light blinked.

Wen Yu’s voice came through at once.

“Baby, I just realized I forgot to leave you a key. I always lock the door when I go out… Could you wait until I get off work?

“I finish at six. Be good and wait for me, okay? There’s food in the refrigerator and the kitchen if you get hungry.”

Without a word, I unplugged the camera.

I had a good temper, but did he really think I had no temper at all?

I spent the entire day trapped in that cramped forty-square-meter apartment, eating and sleeping, then sleeping and eating.

At six thirty, I heard a key in the lock.

I shot to my feet, entered the bedroom, and locked it from the inside.

Less than a minute later, Wen Yu began knocking and pleading pitifully through the door.

“I’m sorry, baby. You’re the first girl I’ve ever brought home. I forgot to leave you a key. Please don’t be angry.

“I worked all day, baby. I’m exhausted. All I want is to come home and hold you. Will you open the door?”

I left the bedroom lights off.

It was pitch-black.

Ignoring Wen Yu, I opened the wardrobe.

Just as I had suspected, the back panel was hollow. There was another compartment behind it.

A faint stench seeped from inside.

I pushed the clothes aside, removed the ropes and handcuffs at the bottom, and felt carefully around the panel.

Then I used a little clever force to pry it open.

Heh. A capybara had to have a few skills…

The curve of my lips abruptly froze.

My fingers had touched something furry—soft, yet stiff.

It was also the source of the smell.

From somewhere in the room, Wen Yu’s sinister voice asked,

“What are you doing by the wardrobe, baby?”