Endemic Love Chapter 20: It wasn’t him

"I don’t understand. The Treasure’s body seed to be responding well to the dication, but... this sudden fever..." GAC’s doctor muttered, mostly to himself. He seed either completely oblivious or simply didn’t care about the anger simring around him. Most likely the latter.

"Inform the GAC that Le An won’t be attending any guiding sessions today," Theo snapped. His eyes were locked on the pillow under Le An’s head, stained with sweat and blood from his nose.

"It’s not that bad," Le An muttered, trying to sit up, as if sheer determination could override his condition.

Erald imdiately pushed him back down. "You’re deathly pale. You still have dried blood on your face. Don’t be ridiculous."

"What about an injection-"

"No." Erald’s voice was sharp, her eyes dark with mory. "That could kill you. Have you completely lost it?"

"The last ti wasn’t that bad. I can-"

"Injections will only make things worse," Theo cut in. "And your heat is approaching. Given your unstable condition, it might trigger early. We can’t afford that risk."

Le An didn’t resist anymore. Truthfully, he had no energy left. His body was limp, his breath shallow. Theo lifted him easily and changed the sheets. When he placed Le An on a fresh pillow, the oga shivered.

"The room... It’s too bright," he murmured, barely coherent.

One of the guards quickly switched off the lights.

"I’ll give him a mild sedative. He needs complete rest," the doctor said, flipping through his chart. "I’ll inform the Association of his condition. If he’s better by the afternoon, I’ll report him fit for guiding."

"Are you serious right now?" Erald’s voice was sharp with disgust. "He’s barely conscious!"

"Enough," Theo cut in, his voice final. "Take this outside. No guiding today."

"Do the sedative injection and-"

Le An flinched. "Isn’t there a pill?"

"Yes," the doctor replied. "It’ll work slower, but sedative pills are fine."

"I don’t want an injection," Le An repeated.

"I understand." The doctor sighed. Theo handed him the pill with a glass of water.

Then he asked, "Where’s your shirt? The one you were wearing before bed?"

"I..." Le An’s thoughts were cloudy. He couldn’t co up with a lie. "I didn’t wear one. I was feeling hot."

"Oh," Theo said simply, seemingly too worried about Le An to catch the lie.

---

The rest of the day was peaceful for Le An, at least. As the sedative kicked in, he was almost sad to be sleeping on such a rare day off. For the others around him, however, the day was chaotic.

Because no one knew what had caused his sudden breakdown, blood tests were necessary. They drew samples while he slept. But alpha oppression wasn’t chemical or scent-based; it left no traces. The pressure was gone. The alpha was gone. And most importantly, the shirt was gone. Because if any alpha had sniffed or examined the bloodstain on that shirt, they might have caught the lingering scent of oppression this ti.

When Le An finally woke up, he found himself alone in the dark. The curtains were closed tightly. There was no noise. No machines. Even his watch was missing. What ti was it? He didn’t care. He wanted to stay like this for a while.

The air felt clean, free from the sharp, artificial scent of dicine. He let out a slow breath.

Then last night ca rushing back.

He had genuinely thought he was going to die. He had co back from the edge of it.

Why had he provoked the man so much?

Even now, Le An couldn’t fully explain it to himself. But in that mont, it had all beco too much. The feeling that his life, his future, even the lives of those around him, were dangling from that man’s fingers. That helplessness had erupted into defiance.

The truth hadn’t changed. He was still at the rcy of that man.

But sothing inside Le An had changed.

That man’s hatred... It wasn’t an instinctual act. It wasn’t for show. Last night, for the first ti, he had actually spoken about it.

It wasn’t re hostility. This man hadn’t approached him on a whim.

"Why do I hate you?"

"From the very first day I saw you, everything in my life began to fall apart. I lost everything. Because of you. Even before you were called the Treasure, do you get it?"

Le An had always known this man hated him. But last night made him realize the hatred ran deeper than he had imagined. And for so reason... a part of him couldn’t shake the idea that maybe that hatred was justified.

But how could soone he’d never t hate him so much?

The man had said it dated back to before Le An beca a Guide. But before that, Le An had lived a quiet, unremarkable life. He was barely even more than a child.

"While you were being glorified, I was being buried."

What could that an? Was it sothing that happened during the tis when Le An was manifested as a guide? Sothing he’d done, knowingly or unknowingly?

Had he ever hurt anyone so deeply they’d co to hate him like this?

He couldn’t rember ever yelling at soone, let alone wronging them.

Cruelty and insensitivity simply weren’t things Le An could do. Even if they were, his public image wouldn’t have allowed it.

So... when had he hurt this man? And that oppression...

Le An shivered at the mory. The black threads pressing against his face. The suffocating energy that seed to crush his ribs. What had gone through the man’s mind in that mont before the oppression? When he’d leaned in so close—had he intended to hurt his glands? Or... was it sothing else entirely?

That man’s body was like a gate to hell, and last night, Le An had crossed its threshold.

"If you think you didn’t deserve it, no. You did. I believe that."

If he could’ve seen the man’s eyes, he imagined they’d look just like the ones belonging to the alpha who had tried to mate and kill him during his first heat.

The sa eyes full of hatred. Full of justification.

Those words had stuck with him.

"Soone got killed just because he found out you were a fucking oga! He was my friend! He swore to protect your identity!"

The alpha’s friend, the others before him... Even if he hadn’t physically hurt them, people had suffered, and maybe died, because of Le An’s re existence.

This man might have had the right to hate him.

Le An didn’t blink away the tears. His vision blurred as he stared at nothing.

Maybe he deserved what had happened. Maybe he even deserved worse.

But what this man had in store for him. It wasn’t a simple punishnt. It felt planned. Like a slow-burning revenge.

"What’s your plan?" Le An whispered. "And what happens if I never figure it out?"

Everything was still a mystery.

And as he drifted off again, one last thought crossed his mind:

Maybe I do owe him that much. Whatever his plan is... maybe enduring it is the price I have to pay for what he’s lost.

---

He woke again to sothing strange.

Sothing huge... moving in the dark.

The room had already been pitch-black. But this... this was darker. A shadow so thick it swallowed the light. Thicker than usual. Wrong.

It had to be him.

Le An’s heart began to race. He pushed himself upright, hands trembling. The mory of last night gripped him all over again.

Why wasn’t the shadow taking shape? Why wasn’t it stepping forward?

Why... did it look even larger than before?

"You said you wouldn’t co today," Le An murmured. His voice shook. His body trembled, as though the man’s hands were still around his neck. "If... if you want guiding, let’s get it over with."

Was he trying to scare him?

Or... was he going to pull Le An into the shadow?

"Hey..." he called out again. "What’s wrong with you?"

The shadow’s motion slowed at his voice. It began to spiral around him gently.

Curious now, Le An stepped forward. The shadow lood.

He raised his hand, touching the edge of it.

And suddenly, two bodies dropped from the darkness like cut marionettes.

Le An froze.

He’d only ever seen one person erge from that shadow. Before he could even gasp, one of the bodies lunged forward.

A hand clamped over his mouth.

It wasn’t him.