NovelEnglishRyan actually seemed pretty hungry. Once he'd polished off a bowl of rice, he popped his meds.
| glanced around the place-it was so peaceful, not a hint of noise anywhere.
“Don’t you have class or something?” | asked him.
“Yeah, I'm going back to school tomorrow,” Ryan replied. “What, you think | cto Shaville because | flunked
out?”
| chuckled. “With your family, it doesn’t really matter where you go to school. Staying safe is what matters.”
Ryan laughed too. “I'm actually a pretty good student. | just cto Shaville for my own reasons.”
| nodded, taking his word for it.
“Sorry for making you call this way. Do you think I'm being silly?” Ryan shota quick, almost shy glance
as he asked.
“Not at all. Just get better soon,” | reassured him.
Ryan slouched onto the couch; eyes half-closed. “Relax, I'm not dying or anything. But honestly, I'm about to get
depressed if | keep staying in. | just want to go out and do something fun.”
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“Where do you want to go?” | asked with a smile.
“I want to go on an adventure, head out to the middle of nowhere, climb a snowy mountain, go scuba diving...”
Ryan's eyes lost their spark. “But in reality, they won't even letdrive my own car.”
| looked at the good-looking young man in front ofand thought, ‘When someone’s protected to this extent,
it’s no wonder they’d go stir-crazy.”
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“If this keeps up, | feel like I'm going to have a breakdown. I'm starting to feel like a total freak,” Ryan said,
sadness in his eyes as he looked at me. “At first, they wouldn't even letgo to Hachester to see you. They
even control my every move. But you... you're like a light that keeps drawingin.”
| just stared at him, totally at a loss for words.
Ryan looked at me. “You probably never imagined | have to negotiate just to see you.”
| was so shocked | couldn’t even speak. | always thought Ryan was free to cand go as he pleased, but |
never realized there were so many restrictions behind the scenes. Who would've thought things were like this?
Ryan looked at me, almost dazed. “Victoria, if | said | wanted you, they'd have you delivered tobefore you
could blink. Can you believe that?”
“Who are ‘they'?” | asked, my breath hitched, and it felt like my whole reality was crumbling. It was like Ryan and
| existed in totally separate realities.
“They're all kinds of people-power chasers, profiteers, even those who worship it like a religion,” Ryan said with
a bitter laugh. Then he added, “I'd never let them lay a finger on you. You're the only one | don’t want to just
claim whenever | feel like it.”
A cold shiver crept down my back, and | found myself gripping my palm tight without even realizing.
Ryan caught the tension in my eyes, guilt written all over his face. “You said you didn’t want to dig into my past,
but | want you to
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know more about me.”
“The more | find out, the more hopeless it feels,” | said, half joking. “Honestly, who really gets to do whatever
they want?”
“But not many people are locked down like | am,” Ryan replied. “I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat. Would
you ever want to be me?”
1 blinked and shook my head right away. “Nope. If you don’t have freedom, what's the point of having
everything else?”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah, | guess you finally understand what it’s like for me.”
Twas starting to get what his life was like-surrounded by power and privilege, but forced to keep everything on
the down-low. Living at both extremes like that would drive any guy in his early twenties totally nuts.
“Cupstairs with me. I'll play something for you on the piano, okay?” Ryan said, grinning like a kid who
couldn’t wait to show off his skills.
I nodded and went up with him. Out of nowhere, the crisp sound of wind chimes drifted in from the balcony,
ringing clear and bright.
Ryan stepped into the piano room, and right next to it was an art studio-the walls were covered with his
paintings: landscapes, oceans, flowers, trees, you nit.
I only took a quick look from the doorway before the gentle melody of the piano floated out from the other room.
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