Unusually for Brian, he didn’t immediately notice my agitation.

I watched him through lowered lashes, then quickly dropped my gaze to the floor so he wouldn’t read my expression. Despite my still-racing heart getting in the way, I desperately forced my mind to keep moving.

Was Brian really the man from that night?

Why did he lie to me...?

But the surveillance footage showed a different person. I wouldn’t mistake him.

In the first place, Brian was the one investigating that man. How could I be sure the surveillance footage itself wasn’t a lie?

The words that surfaced and vanished made me dizzy. As I bit my lip, painfully aware of how subordinate I’d been through all of this, Brian turned a puzzled gaze on me.

I consciously relaxed my body and continued to rack my brain.

The man in the black baseball cap was real, and he had chased me.

But that wasn’t proof that Brian wasn’t the one who’d spiked my drink.

Was there any possibility Brian had entered my bedroom on a day other than that night?

That question was immediately drowned out by my own voice saying, Impossible. I knew every corner of this place. That escape route had been closed from the start. I kept searching for another explanation and found none. Frustration mounted.

A lie to escape this situation rose to my throat—no, right to the back of my tongue.

Sorry, Brian. I suddenly feel exhausted.

I thought I was okay until just now.

I think I’ll call it a day soon.

But I swallowed back those smooth words meant to paper things over and escape.

It would be easy to blame him, push the responsibility onto him, throw everything away. But if I ran now, we’d just repeat what happened three years ago—back at that hospital, I should have known.

I inhaled slightly, then exhaled deeply. Suppressing my trembling, I shot a sharp glance straight into Brian’s eyes.

“—Stand up.”

“What?”

“Get ready to go out, Brian. Right now.”

Brian looked confused at my words, but his face gradually hardened as he watched me stand and shove my device into my pocket.

“...Don’t tell me you’re planning to go outside too.”

“That’s exactly what I’m planning.”

“Do you have any idea what you look like right now?”

He tried to adopt a tone that brooked no argument. But his expression and voice wavered with bewilderment he couldn’t fully conceal.

Brushing off his words, I placed the wristwatch I’d removed while walking in its usual spot on the desk. The analog face was just about to hit 8:50 PM.

Exchanging places with the watch, I picked up the old-fashioned key and headed for the entrance.

“Wait, Luke. Are you out of your mind?”

“I’m not sure. How do I look to you?”

“You’ve always looked insane to me.”

Brian’s voice came from right behind me. I whirled around just as he forcefully slammed the door shut behind me.

The door—usually treated with great care—protested loudly behind me.

“You’re going to lock this door right now, take a shower, and then lie down in bed.”

I stared back into those blue-gray eyes glaring at me. He seemed more than confident he could keep me from escaping. Of course he would, faced with me—pale and spouting nonsense.

Keeping my gaze fixed so I wouldn’t miss any change in him, I opened my mouth. Surprisingly, even to myself, my voice carried the faintest hint of a calm smile.

“The mati—that blue glass charm. When did you see it in my bedroom?”

Brian didn’t seem to understand my question’s intent—only for a split second.

His black lashes trembled faintly, and he blinked twice in quick succession. The sound of a sharp inhale in his throat.

From that moment, the face of the man who’d realized his mistake slowly began to change. Unable to exhale properly, his eyes moved busily, and fragments of words that had failed to form leaked from his pale lips.

The faint signs of agitation gradually drained away, replaced by a terrifyingly blank expression.

His ice-gray eyes lost focus. When they found mine again, an indescribable smile—one I’d never seen before—flickered across his face and vanished.

I see. I understand now.

I reached back for the doorknob and opened the door again.

“...Seems even I can see through your lies.”

Brian’s hand grabbed my shoulder as I turned to go outside. A surge of fear I couldn’t control froze me in place.

“Is it too much to ask you to hear me out?”

“I’m going outside so I can hear you out.”

My voice came out trembling despite myself. Brian noticed how rigid I was and grimaced as if in pain. His grip on my arm tightened, but after I counted five of my own rampaging heartbeats, the strength drained away.

“Luke, I...”

“But I don’t want to hear anything here!”

“Then I’ll just leave. You stay home.”

At that, I couldn’t hide my disappointment.

“You want to repeat the past three years?”

“That’s not my intention. Once the situation calms down, I plan to talk to you properly.”

“You think we’ll have another chance to talk properly.”

Even at my dry, strained sarcasm, Brian remained calm.

“Your safety should be the priority above all else right now.”

Without replying to words that seemed meant to convince himself, I simply tried to shake off the hand gripping my upper arm. He noticed and tightened his grip again.

“If you can’t trust me right now, that’s fine. But don’t leave the house. Take care of yourself.”

“Shut up. Why do I have to take care of myself? I’m sick of it!”

I spat the words in a voice loud enough to make Arsh next door jump if he was home.

“I’ve decided to hear you out—somewhere other than here. There’s no other option. If something happens to me because of that, I don’t care. I won’t regret it. If you don’t like that, then protect me!”

At my outburst, Brian loosened his grip as if taken aback. In that brief opening, I finally shook off his hand.

“Now it’s your turn to choose, Brian. You have two options left. Either tell me absolutely everything this time, or quietly go back to your house in Taringa and pretend everything that happened these past two weeks never happened. Choose. Here. Now.”

Conflict flickered in the eyes that had just been staring at me in stunned silence. But perhaps understanding that I would push past him if necessary and bolt outside anyway, he answered in a low “Understood” and slipped past me. I let out a small sigh at his answer, followed him through the door, and inserted the key into the lock.

In silence, we stepped into the narrow elevator. Brian glanced sideways at my fingertip as I pressed the button for the ground floor.

“Where are we going?”

“Lexandra’s.”

“My car—”

“No.”

My curt refusal stiffened Brian’s face further. At his demeanor and the taut air in the elevator, my nearly frozen heart gave a faint ache of guilt.

Are you supposed to always trust someone and open your heart—especially when they’re your best friend or your lover? But I couldn’t help it either. If I didn’t keep up this bravado, arm myself with strong words, and keep pushing myself forward, I was so scared I felt like I was losing my mind.

The elevator finally reached the ground floor and seemed to expel Brian and me in a hurry. We passed through the entrance and waited for the silver Honda I’d arranged from inside the elevator. The Honda—its unfortunate fate already sealed—pulled up about two minutes after we stepped through the automatic doors.

“...This isn’t for your own sake either, is it.”

Brian, who had been silently following me, murmured behind my back. Getting into the car, I couldn’t help but grimace and look back at him. He was gazing at the car with eyes like the surface of a dark, still lake.

“I love this about you so much I want to destroy everything. Have for three years now.”

“Finally showing your true colors.”

I twisted my face at his words, which overflowed with hatred even as he spoke of love.

“Get in. It’s not for your sake. I just want to get this over with.”

“I know. Thank you for being considerate of my leg.”

Brian’s voice was also growing increasingly barbed and frayed. The carefree young driver, still unaware of the taut air between us and his own fate, turned back with a smile. “Lucas?”

“The destination is, um, Café Lexandra, right?”

“Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You’re lucky you got me. Right now the roads everywhere are—”

Brian’s low, merciless voice crushed the young man’s easy, pleasant chatter.

“So, you’ve satisfied your condition of not being alone with me. You’ll hear me out now, won’t you.”

The young man’s eyes widened and he whipped around to look at Brian. Leaving the young man to wonder whether he’d picked up someone dangerous, I grimaced.

“Impatient, aren’t you.”

“What do you want to hear first?”

Brian pressed on, ignoring my words. I grimaced at his arrogant manner, while the young man in the driver’s seat looked heavenward as if lamenting his own fate.

I thought about just ignoring his words, but I couldn’t hold back and squeezed out my question.

“…Before we get to the bar, let me confirm just one thing. Was it really you, Brian—the one who brought me home drunk that night, the day Alan died?”

Even with near certainty, a desperate prayer still lingered inside me. I wanted Brian himself to laugh it off—that it was all just a misunderstanding, that there was some other explanation for how he knew about the mati, for the expression I’d glimpsed.

“Yes.”

My prayer was in vain. Brian simply confirmed it, cold and without hesitation.

“That day, I dragged you out of that bar and took you home.”

“—Why!”

To my “why,” heavy with so many meanings, Brian answered quietly.

“So that this time, I wouldn’t let you escape from my side.”

At his words, wavering between passion and madness, I gasped sharply.