Chapter 88: Kneel

Chapter 88

Content Warning: This Chapter contains kidnapping, threats, psychological manipulation, and distressing themes.

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After a long silence, Shen Yu finally released Teahyun. He did not say goodbye or offer an explanation. His dark eyes were rimmed red, his expression so empty that the absence of emotion was more disturbing than anger would have been. He turned away and walked off, his shoulders rigid, leaving Teahyun standing beneath the cold night air.

Teahyun watched him disappear into the distance. Only when Shen Yu was completely out of sight did he slowly exhale and slip both hands into the pockets of his coat.

A few moments later, footsteps approached from behind.

"Why was that necessary, Mr. Kim?"

Teahyun did not turn. He already knew the voice.

Jun stopped beside him, his gaze following the direction Shen Yu had gone. He had worked for Teahyun for years and had spent enough time around him to recognize the difference between the Alpha’s usual amusement and the colder stillness that sometimes settled behind his eyes.

"I’m not sure what you’re talking about," Teahyun replied.

Jun glanced at him. "You know exactly what I mean."

His voice remained restrained, but his expression gave away the uneasiness he was trying to hide. He had watched Shen Yu cry. The sight had unsettled him more than he wanted to admit. Shen Yu was not someone Jun had ever imagined breaking down in front of another person, and seeing it happen made the entire situation feel unnecessarily cruel.

"Was hurting him really necessary?"

Teahyun clicked his tongue and lifted his eyes toward the dark sky. A faint smile touched his lips.

"You think I kidnapped his omega?"

Jun said nothing, but his silence was answer enough.

Teahyun’s smile widened.

"Your face is giving you away," he said. "I’ve told you enough about what I’m doing. Why would you assume something so simple?"

"Then explain it to me."

Teahyun reached into his coat and pulled out his phone. His expression changed almost imperceptibly as he looked at the screen.

A small location marker remained active.

Jiang Li was still wearing the necklace.

Unless someone had discovered the tracker and removed it.

Teahyun stared at the location for several seconds before locking the screen.

"Then why are you helping him?" Jun asked. "If you aren’t responsible for Jiang Li disappearing, why are you making Shen Yu go through this?"

Teahyun looked at him.

For the first time, the smile disappeared completely.

"What makes you think I’m helping him?"

Jun frowned.

"I’ve always been helping him," Teahyun said quietly. "You’re simply too dense to recognize it."

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and walked toward the black Rolls-Royce waiting nearby.

Jun remained where he was for a moment.

There was something deeply unsettling about Teahyun. He smiled when other people expected anger, laughed when the situation should have made him serious, and spoke about pain as though it were an interesting experiment. Yet Jun had learned that the most frightening part of him was not the grin.

It was his eyes.

No matter how convincingly Teahyun smiled, there was almost never warmth behind it. His expressions could imitate amusement, sympathy, even affection, but his eyes remained dark and distant, as though he were observing the world from somewhere outside of it.

Jun followed him to the car and took the driver’s seat.

The engine started, and the vehicle pulled away from the curb.

In the back seat, Teahyun sat quietly with his hands resting together. The city lights passed across the tinted windows in long streaks, briefly illuminating his face before leaving it in darkness again.

He could still feel Shen Yu’s tears.

The warmth had remained on his skin long after the Alpha had walked away.

For some reason, it reminded him of something from childhood.

He had been seven years old when his parents were still alive and his family was living in Korea. Even then, Teahyun had been told he was different.

Strange.

Wrong.

His parents had never known what to do with him. They had compared him to his brother, Kim Taehyung, often enough that Teahyun eventually stopped asking why he was treated differently.

One afternoon, he had watched his brother laughing at the dinner table. Their parents had laughed with him, their faces warm with affection.

Teahyun had stared at them for a long time.

He wondered whether smiling was the reason they loved Taehyung.

Perhaps that was what he was missing.

So he decided to study it.

That night, he took his brother’s mockingbird.

He remembered sitting alone with it, fascinated by the sounds it made and the frantic movement of its tiny body. He wanted to understand what made it sing, what made it seem alive, what invisible thing separated it from something that simply existed.

He had taken it apart piece by piece.

There had been blood on his hands. Warmth beneath his fingers.

But there had been no guilt.

No horror.

Only curiosity.

When he finally realized he had found no special organ responsible for happiness or laughter, he had laughed himself.

After that, he began copying his brother.

He smiled when people smiled. He laughed when they laughed. He learned when to look sad and when to appear excited. He learned the expressions people expected from him and wore them until they became convincing.

Then the plane accident happened.

His parents and his brother died.

At the funeral, everyone cried.

Teahyun remembered standing among them, watching tears roll down faces that had once smiled.

He understood that something terrible had happened.

He simply had not felt it.

For the first time, he had wondered whether there was something fundamentally wrong with him.

Years later, Shen Yu had been the first person to disrupt that emptiness.

Not with kindness.

Not at first.

With amusement.

With irritation.

With curiosity.

And, eventually, with something Teahyun had never expected to feel so strongly.

The need to protect.

Teahyun leaned his head against the seat and stared out the window.

"Jun."

"Yes?"

"If Jiang Li dies," Teahyun asked calmly, "or if he loses the baby, do you think Shen Yu would kill himself?"

Jun’s hands tightened slightly around the steering wheel.

He did not answer immediately.

He remembered Shen Yu’s expression moments earlier—the hollow eyes, the trembling hands, the desperation beneath his anger.

"He might," Jun finally said. "He’s already lost enough."

Teahyun looked down at his phone again.

His thumb tapped lightly against the screen.

"Then we shouldn’t let that happen."

Jun glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

"You’re talking as if you care."

Teahyun smiled.

"I never said I didn’t."

The words sounded almost playful, but Jun knew better than to dismiss them.

Teahyun had never cared about most of the things other people spent their lives chasing.

Money had never impressed him.

Status had never fulfilled him.

Belonging had never seemed necessary.

He understood that people wanted love, family, recognition, and security. He had simply learned to imitate the emotions surrounding those things because he had never naturally understood them.

For most of his life, he had not wanted to die.

He simply had not understood why he should live.

Shen Yu was the exception.

Whatever strange place Shen Yu occupied inside him, Teahyun could not allow that place to disappear.

"Go to Shen Yu’s penthouse," he said.

Jun nodded.

The Rolls-Royce changed direction.

When they arrived, Teahyun stepped out and looked up at the building. The night was cold enough that his breath briefly fogged in the air.

He did not have to wait long.

Shen Yu appeared a short distance away.

His shoulders were lowered, his expression exhausted, and the scent of whiskey and rosewood clung faintly to the air around him.

"Shen Yu."

The Alpha stopped but did not turn.

"Don’t," he muttered. "Please leave me alone."

He started walking again.

Teahyun followed.

"Jiang Li could lose the baby at any moment."

Shen Yu froze.

Teahyun watched his shoulders stiffen.

"There are drugs that can cause a miscarriage," he continued, his tone almost conversational. "And depending on the dosage, it can be extremely painful."

Shen Yu slowly turned around.

His eyes were no longer empty.

They were filled with something far more dangerous.

Fear.

Teahyun smiled.

"It’s all part of revenge, you see."

Shen Yu stared at him, breathing heavily.

"One."

Teahyun lifted a finger.

"Two."

Another.

"Three."

Shen Yu’s expression broke.

He stepped toward Teahyun so quickly that Jun instinctively moved forward, but Teahyun raised one hand, stopping him.

"Where is he?"

Shen Yu’s voice shook.

"Where is Jiang Li?"

"I could help you find him."

Teahyun paused.

"But nothing in this world is free, Mr. Shen."

Shen Yu’s hands began to tremble.

He had never felt so helpless.

He could command people, destroy careers, move resources, and make entire organizations respond to a single order. Yet none of those things mattered now. Somewhere out there was Jiang Li, frightened and vulnerable, carrying their child.

Beanie.

The thought struck him so hard that his chest tightened.

He could not lose them.

Not after finally understanding what they meant to him.

Not after spending years believing that losing someone was simply another inevitable part of loving them.

His pride no longer mattered.

His dignity no longer mattered.

Only Jiang Li mattered.

"What do you want, Teahyun?"

Teahyun’s smile returned.

He stepped closer until they stood only a few feet apart.

Then he spoke quietly.

"Kneel."

Shen Yu stared at him.

For several seconds, neither man moved.

The command hung between them, humiliating in its simplicity. Teahyun knew exactly what he was asking. He knew Shen Yu would hate him for it. He knew the Alpha’s pride was one of the few things Shen Yu had never willingly surrendered to anyone.

But Teahyun also knew something else.

Shen Yu would surrender it for Jiang Li.

Slowly, Shen Yu’s hands curled into fists at his sides. His breathing became uneven as he lowered his eyes.

He had spent his entire life believing that strength meant never allowing anyone to bring him to his knees.

Tonight, that belief meant nothing.

Because there were some things a person could endure when the alternative was losing the person they loved.