Chapter 71. Find Out Yourself

Chapter 71: Chapter 71. Find Out Yourself

Chapter 71. Find Out Yourself

The large palm clamped around her mouth was strong, insistent, and overwhelmingly powerful, holding her fast as if it had no intention of ever letting go. It felt driven by a single, dark purpose—to end her. Raw, sharp panic seized her instantly. She flinched under the crushing intensity of the grip, her body reacting out of pure survival instinct as she began to struggle wildly.

What the heck? she thought, her mind racing.

She groaned and mumbled uselessly against the heavy palm obstructing her mouth. The stranger’s thumb pressed hard against her nostrils, blocking her airway entirely. It became increasingly difficult to breathe beneath the torrential rain that continued to pour down, soaking her to the skin. She wriggled and thrashing against the restraint, but the figure holding her from behind was impossibly strong, an unyielding force determined not to let her slip away.

She groaned again, the air starving in her lungs.

"Be calm," a voice echoed right into her ear from behind.

It was deep, rumbling, and achingly familiar—annoying and familiar in a way that made her want to spin around and plant a fist straight into his face.

"Riri," the voice murmured against the rain. "Calm down."

She froze instantly.

Riri? What the hell? Why did that name sound so intensely, unnervingly familiar? She blinked rapidly against the stinging water.

But I am not Riri.

Slowly, the man loosened his grip, releasing her mouth and her nostrils. The moment the pressure gave way, she pulled away from him as quickly as she could in sheer desperation. She stumbled forward, nearly losing her footing on the slick ground, but managed to catch herself at the last second. Staggering across the wet pavement of the estate, she whirled around, her drenched hair whipping violently across her face. Rain seeped deep into her bones, icy and relentless, but the cold was the last thing on her mind.

When her eyes finally landed on the figure standing before her, her breath hitched completely. She froze, taking a step or two back in pure shock.

"Tim," she murmured.

A dark, slow smile expanded across his lips as he stared back at her. He bent his head, angling it in a way that cast his face in a chilling, wicked light. His hair was completely plastered against his skin by the downpour, heavy strands falling across eyes that looked demonic, wildly insane, and maniacal all at once.

She stood there, panting hard, having an extraordinarily difficult time trying to pull her scattered brain back together.

"Oh my God," she groaned, pressing her palm forcefully against her forehead in sheer frustration. She lifted her head to glare at him again.

"Did you miss me?" he called out, his voice cutting clearly through the roar of the storm.

She grounded her feet against the pavement. "You again?" she asked, her voice shaking violently as she struggled to catch her breath under the heavy cascade of rain.

He chuckled, extending his arms wide apart. "Isn’t this fun?" he called out, the sound blurring slightly against the unrelenting patter of water pounding the wet pavement.

She closed her eyes, exhaling a ragged breath as she wiped strands of wet hair and torrents of rain from her face. The water stung her lashes, and a sharp gust of wind cut through the air, sending sudden chills straight to her core.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" she demanded, her voice trembling.

He chuckled again—a slow, mocking sound that made it abundantly clear he was thoroughly enjoying her frustration.

"Did you miss me?" he repeated.

She ground her teeth together, shaking her head in utter disbelief as she ran her fingers through her hair to shove it back from her forehead. "Fuck you," she spat.

His laughter boomed out loud, a sharp, wide grin breaking across his face, though the heavy torrents of rain muffled the sound just enough to keep it from echoing too far.

"I’m confused," she said, her voice dropping.

He stopped laughing after a moment, observing her with a look of pure amusement.

"Just what is the deal with you?" she demanded.

He frowned slightly, staring at her as if contemplating the question. "I’m afraid I do not understand what that means," he replied, taking a deliberate step toward her.

She immediately took a step back. "Don’t you even think about coming close to me."

He smiled, completely unbothered. "Why not?"

It was obvious he was enjoying her distress. She scoffed in complete disbelief, staring at the strange, erratic man before her.

"What exactly are you?" she asked suddenly.

He frowned, tilting his head as if the question itself were genuinely baffling. "I don’t understand what that means."

She completely ignored his response, the realization crystallizing in her mind. "Are you even human?"

He tilted his head further to the side, raising an eyebrow at her question. "Okay, that’s actually a very funny, special kind of question. But why are you suddenly asking that?" He gestured broadly toward himself, the mockery never leaving his expression. "Look at me. What do I look like to you? A Grimoire?" he asked, his smile widening into something sarcastic and sharp. "Or do I look like a wicked beast? Tell me," he taunted, tapping his chin thoughtfully, "do I look like a dragon?"

She scoffed, looking away in complete disbelief. "Did you come here just to do this? To play games? To make fun of me?" she snapped.

He frowned, taking a step back as he observed her guarded posture.

"What have you been doing to me?" she asked, her brows furrowed in deep frustration. When he just raised an eyebrow, she pushed further. "I haven’t been myself ever since I met you! You’ve been doing these weird manipulations, popping out of nowhere, making me feel like I’m going crazy! Manipulating things and just making everything feel so completely out of my control! What the hell are you doing to me?"

Her voice rose over the sound of the rain. Before her eyes, she saw him jerk slightly, his breath hitching as if he were trying with all his might to hold back a burst of laughter. His shoulders began to shake, a soft, helpless laugh erupting from his chest.

She frowned, her stomach twisting. Jesus, is he insane?

She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to say.

When he finally managed to catch his breath and pull himself together, he exhaled loudly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You’ve gotta chill, Rosa," he said quickly, waving a hand. "No, seriously, you’ve gotta chill, because at this point, I feel like you’re overwhelming me. Jeez, so many questions. I wonder if you ask this many questions in your university lectures."

"Just answer them already!" she exclaimed, her patience completely snapping.

The sarcasm and mockery instantly vanished from his face.

He moved toward her—not calmly, but with a terrifying, sudden speed that made her jerk backward in sheer instinct. She didn’t see it coming. Under the hard pelting of the rain, a dark, heavy aura suddenly emanated from him. It felt suffocating, like invisible, freezing hands instantly gripping both sides of her body, locking her joints, keeping her utterly frozen and paralyzed with dread.

He stepped closer and closer. She staggered backward in panic until the back of her foot struck the bottom staircase leading up to the apartment building. The impact threw off her balance, and she stumbled backward, landing hard right onto one of the wet stone steps.

Tim stopped directly in front of her, towering high above her as he glared down. A sudden, shadow-like darkness seemed to wrap around his eyelids, giving him a maniacal, demoniacal intensity that made her chest tighten.

Her breath hitched. There is no doubt about it, she thought to herself, terror seizing her heart. He is definitely not normal.

Without warning, he dropped into a squat, making her flinch violently. Standing on the step below, he squatted until they were directly at eye level. She stared at him, her eyes wide with shock, rain pouring down her face and dripping from her hair. She planted her hands behind her on the cold step to support herself, her chest heaving as fear coursed through her veins.

"Are you commanding me?" he asked softly.

His voice was deep and quiet, but it didn’t sound like a normal question. It sounded like a dangerous, wicked dare—as if he were challenging her to ever speak to him in that tone again.

She flinched, her eyelids fluttering nervously. She couldn’t bring herself to say another word.

Just as she was trying desperately to contain her terror, a loud, terrifying roar echoed from deep within the building, cutting sharp and heavy through the torrential rain.

A powerful, chilling shudder ran straight down her spine, freezing her nerves instantly. She jerked her head around, staring up at the dark building entrance in absolute horror. Driven by pure panic, she scrambled to get away from the stairs, completely forgetting about the entity squatting right in front of her.

She crashed directly into him.

The force of her movement was so sudden that Tim lost his balance entirely. The two of them tumbled off the steps and onto the wet pavement below. He fell backward, landing flat on his back with a heavy splash, while she landed squarely on top of him, her hands pinned just to the side of his head.

Tim smirked, not making a single move to push her off.

She stared down at him in total disbelief, her heart hammering against her ribs.

He chuckled softly. "Well, well, well. Didn’t expect you to be so eager," he said, the dark smirk widening across his face.

A hot flush rushed to her face despite the freezing rain. "What the fuck?" she gasped out.

She quickly pushed herself off his chest, scrambling away as fast as her hands and knees could move. Tim chuckled again, pushing himself up from the wet ground. He stood, casually dusting off the back of his jacket before shrugging in resignation.

"Ugh, what’s the point?" he muttered to himself. "It’s completely soaked anyway."

He turned his gaze back to her, noticing immediately that her attention was no longer on him. Her wide, terrified eyes were locked onto the building in front of them. She was already taking tiny, instinctual steps backward, as if trying her absolute best to distance herself from it.

"What... what is that?" she asked, her voice breathless and trembling.

Tim folded his arms across his chest, watching her with an amused head tilt. "You really forget a lot, don’t you?"

She frowned, pulling her eyes away from the building to look at him, her gaze darting frantically between his calm face and the dark structure behind him. Her face was deathly pale.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she demanded.

Tim stared back at her with a single raised eyebrow. He sighed, scoffing lightly and shaking his head in mock pity as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Honestly, I can’t believe it," he murmured. "How the hell do you even pass your school exams?"

She gritted her teeth, her fists clenching at her sides. "This is not some stupid game!"

Tim’s eyes narrowed into a sudden frown. The immediate shift in his expression caused her to clamp her mouth shut instantly, the words catching in her throat.

He chuckled at her silence, the easy dark humor returning to his tone. "I remember... I distinctly remember telling you that your so-called uncle was hiding a very huge, heavy secret from you."

She froze completely. She stared at him, blinking once, then twice, the rain continuing to lash down around them.

Tim raised an eyebrow, scoffing as he shook his head in disbelief and glanced off to the side. "Right. And you didn’t even bother to ask. Great. Isn’t that just awesome?" he added, his voice dripping with heavy sarcasm.

She frowned, her heavy eyelids drooping slightly as her gaze darted nervously back toward the looming building.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, her voice shaking against the wind. "What does that have to do with whatever the hell is going on right now? It sounds like there’s a monster in there! Mr. Don is not safe. He’s locked up inside... he locked himself in the room!"

Tim stared at her, his jaw slowly dropping in utter disbelief. He raised an eyebrow, looking at her as if she had lost her mind entirely.

"Oh, wow," he murmured, a cold laugh bubbling in his chest. "You are actually even more clueless than I thought."

Her brows furrowed deep with frustration. "Clueless? How? What do you mean by that?"

Tim said nothing. He simply stared at her for a long moment, looked away toward the storm, and then gave a casual shrug, as if the entire situation meant absolute zero to him. He folded his arms behind his back, turning his attention to the building like he was inspecting a curious piece of architecture—like it was an intriguing puzzle he was casually trying to solve, a fun little game.

Desperate for answers, she stumbled forward toward him and grabbed his arm tightly.

Tim flinched at the sudden physical contact, turning to glare down at her hand with a sharp frown.

"What’s the secret?" she asked hastily, her voice laced with raw desperation. "Please. Tell me. What is it? I need to know!"

Tim slowly raised an eyebrow. He scoffed, pulling his arm out of her grasp with effortless ease.

"I’m afraid, girl," he said, a slow, wicked smile creeping back onto his lips, "you’ll have to find that out yourself."