Chapter 39
“I’ve never had a single good night’sleep,“ Neil murmured. He crouched down, wrappling his arms around his karees and curling into himself like a lost child.
“Because you never know when they’ll decide to cut you open. Il 1 woke up too early, I’d overhear them discussing how to get rid of me. If I stayed up too late, I’d still hear them talking about it.
“And it wasn’t just my parents. There were so many others who wanted me dead. They all thought I was dangerous—a curse. That I should have never beenbom and shouldn’t still be alive.
my dreams, demons tipped off my skin, tore through my flesh, and could feel every second of it. Even in my dreams, the pain was suffocating
“I’m so sicketin
“Is it my fault I was bom with this gene? Haven’t already done everything I can to make up for it? Why does that mean have to die?
Around them, the amusement parkbustled withlife. Aether simply starved by Neil’s side, crouching next to him, quietly listening.
But then, something strange began to happéti
Neil’s hand was dissolving.
Yes, dissolving
Neil’s mechanical hand was fully exposed now
Aether’s expression shifted.
Was it fear? Shock? Discomfort?
One of Nell’s fingers extended and shifted into a sharp blade,
Aether’s reaction displeased Neil. That deep–seated insecurity twisted inside him, tüling him with the urge to destroy her.
“Are you afraid of me?” The blade stopped just half an inch from her throat. “You think I’m a monster too?!”
“You must be in so much pain.”
Aether reached out, hertinger brushing against the cold metal of his hand. Her touch was soft and gentle. “Your hand looks cool, but I’m worried about you. Does it hurt?”
[Nell Hubbard’s Lavorability + Current favorability: -92.)
Neil neverenied. At least, not since he killed his parents, got his revenge, and tumed cold, emotionless, and unfeeling.
But today, with Aether at the amusement park, his tearglands seemed to be working overtime
Every word Aether said made it harder for Neil to hold back. His throat tightened, and no matter how hard he tried, the tears kept falling
It was humiliating, but he couldn’t stop it.
grown man crying this much. How pathetic.
He was someone who held power over life and death. Someone who could kill without consequence and had no restraints anymore. So, what was there to be upset
It didn’t matter
None of it mattered, right?
But Nei! still wanted to speak
Yet, the more he tried, the moar his voice cracked–until every word that came out was shaky and barely understandable through his chokes
So, this was what it felt like to be wronged, to finally admit how much he had been hurting all this time
“I’m used to it.” Neil Forced out this sentence, his voice strained, “it doesn’t luit amore. They used to cut pieces of my flesh oft every single day and took them for experiments. Do il creigh times, and you stop being afraid. It’s just a piece of meat, right?”
las medianical eye flickered, revealing its true form–pine black, and void of any light. “You have no idea how they ripped my eye out. Half of my flesh was taken
“And what they carved away, they replaced will metal just enough to keep this bodying
to keep alive, like some kind of unster
“But even then, even when I agreed to cut off a piece of my flesh every day just to give them their precious samples, they still wanted to dissect me. They never
Nell flexed his mechanical band, letting its fingers shift, each one extending into a razor sharp blade. Souse spun, some elongated–deadly yet precise
He displayed them to Arther as if it meant nothing. It was as it being bald machine didn’t bother him in the slightest.
“But that’s all in the past now,” Neil said withabitter smile. “I don’t have to wake up every day wondering if this is the day they finally cut in open. I don’t have to çarve oti pieces of myself aupusie. I don’t have to endure the agony of breeing thi
“I’m not pathetic, and I don’t need pity. Because now, they’re the ones who ate attad. Everything I sultered, they have suffered too. The ones who bullied noe. The
L
“The ones who kicked me around like I was nothing, who broke my bones, drowned me, forced piss down my throat–Imade sure they paid for it. I don’t listen to my parents anymore.
Th
“I don’t make promises. I don’t beg. I don’t restrain myself just to make others feel safe. I don’t hurt myself just to stop myself from hurting WERE EVER Worth it.”
others. None of them
As Aether listened to Nell’s confession, she pinpointed the deepest wound in his heart and struck where it hurt most.
“I’m not suffering,” Neil choked out, his voice thick with motion. “Not at all
“You’ve suffered so much”
“How could you not be?” Aether murmured, her voice soft with understanding. “If it were me, I don’t think I would’ve survived. Making it this far must have been
Incredibly hard.”
he world around them was still noisy. But somehow, as Neil listened to her, everything else faded.
that moment, Aether was the only thing he could see, and the only voice he could hear.
For once, he found himself enjoying the silence. It wasn’t the kind that came with loneliness, rather, It was a quiet space where he wasn’t alone.
the amusement park to empty.
He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but it was long enough for the amu
Neil shifted the topic, unwilling to let himself sink into this wanth and forget his hatred. He had to put an end to this conversation.
“Enough of that. Tell me the third step,”
“The third step is to use your strengths or your talents to attract her.”
“Like what?”
Aether glanced at the time. “It’s already late. Let’s head back to school first.”
Neil didn’t argue. He followed Ather back to campus, where she led him to the plane room.
Luckily, the door was still open.
Aether stepped inside and sat at the plano
“Like this,” she began. “My talent is playing the piano. When you focus on what you’re best at, and when you show that side of yourself to the person you like, that’s when they start to notice your charm. And just like that, they’ll be drawn to you.”
With quiet concentration, Aether began to play.
Nell watched and listened, his gaze fixed on her slender, graceful hands as they breathed life into each note.
The melody shifted from light and playful, soft and elegant, then bold and unrestrained.
Slowly, the heaviness inside Nell lifted and was replaced by something calmer and warmer.
Arther’s sweet smile was rare, so rare it felt almost out of place in his bleak world. Blinding, yet imesistible.
it was as if having Aether meant having happiness itself.
She was sensitive, warm, and optimistic–filled with love and a quiet tenderness. Even in her timid moments, there was a softness to her- a quiet charm that
call the more endearing.
Her world, like this melody, was simple yet full of light. And Neil wanted to get closer, just a little closer.
Eventually, the tube came to an end.
Nell stood by the piano, lingering in the moment, unwilling to let it slip away.
Arther gently smiled. “My mom used to say that if you listen to warm, happy music, your heart will feel warm and happy too. So, whenever you’re upset, try Listening to something cheerful.”
Ne! stated at Artber.
For some reason, at this moment, she looked as if she was glowing-
she looked soft and lupinous, like something he wanted to reach out and hold–something he wanted to keep.
(Neil Hubbard’s favorability +5. Current favorability: -871
Before Neil even ealized what he was doing, he followed that instinct.
His right hand rose, and his fangers brushed against the side of Aether’s neck. His thumb then traced the comer of her lips.
Then, beleaned in and kissed her.
His lips pressed against hers, exploring the sweetness of her taste. He traced her every nerve, and it sent ending tipples of heat through his body
At that monent, something deep inside him stined. It urged him to pull her doser (— to melt into bet, to consume her.
“Mai” Aethersees neatly buckled. Her fingers clutched at his shirt, desperate for balance as she gasped between kisses.
It’s too deep”
