I closed my eyes, my hands dropping to my sides.

I thought I could accept it, but the tears leaking from my eyes betrayed my vulnerability.


I wanted someone to save me.

I didn't want to end up like my mother, carrying a rapist's child, dying in humiliation.

I heard a scream.


Opening my eyes, I found Derek had been ripped away from me.

He was slammed into the pavement as Thomas, eyes blazing with fury, mercilessly pounded him with his fists.


"Don't—you—fucking—touch—her!" Thomas growled between punches, his knuckles splitting open as they connected with Derek's face.

Derek tried to fight back, but Thomas was relentless, driven by a rage I'd never seen in him before. Blood sprayed across the pavement.

Thomas cursed with rage while crying heart-wrenchingly.

He cried so desperately, like someone betrayed by the entire world.

I crouched down, covering my torn clothes with my hands, softly calling to him, "Thomas, take me away. Let's leave this place together, okay?"

Take me away, give me a chance to start over.

Thomas, take me with you—you are my home.

My heart screamed silently: please, save me one more time.

Thomas looked up, his eyes burning into mine.

He ripped off his jacket and draped it over me, then scooped me up and started running.

He carried me to his secret hideout.

The place where he first met me.

Where he had kept all those stray cats.

But I saw that the stray cats were all dead, butchered with multiple stab wounds.

Thomas's laughter was chilling. "Surprised? Claire Jenkins, I killed them all. These filthy animals didn't behave, so I taught them a lesson."

"No..."

I shook my head in horror. This wasn't Thomas. It couldn't be.

My vision gradually blurred.

He pushed me down on the ground, his kisses falling like rain. The stench of whiskey on his breath was overwhelming—bitter and harsh.

This wasn't a taste Thomas would ever like. The Thomas I knew hated alcohol, said it reminded him too much of his father's business dinners.

Before his body covered mine, I whispered in his ear, "Thomas, do you know? I'm a rapist's daughter."

His movements suddenly froze.

"Thomas, I do owe you, but I never intended to play with your feelings. What you saw that day—I did it deliberately because I wanted revenge on your mother."

Tears streamed down my face, my heart already crushed to pieces. "But I never wanted you to see it. Thomas, believe it or not, my body was just a tool for revenge, but my heart—my clean, pure heart—was only for you."

Thomas's fingers twitched. He pushed himself up and slowly moved away from me.

"Anyone can trample on me, Thomas. Anyone but you."

He smiled lazily, lighting a cigarette from his pocket, saying flatly, "Why?"

I got up from the ground, carefully fixing my clothes.

I knelt before him, smiling through tears. "Thomas, you have only two choices: either kill me or take me with you."

He flicked his cigarette ash, his lips curving into a smirk. "You're quite demanding."

He stood up and extended a hand to me. "Claire Jenkins, hating you is exhausting. I can't seem to manage it."

So I took his hand.

Together with him, in the golden sunlight, we fell into the cracks of time.

There's no exit here, no end. We can only rely on each other, watching over one another for life.

And after wasting half my youth, I finally found a home.