Chapter 97 - Loving memories

"Ah..." Willow groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. He opened his bleary eyes and looked around, his vision hazy. When... when did he pass out? His head ached slightly as he tried to recall and the last thing he could remembered was being with Liam. Liam had been acting annoying as usual, purposely talking sweetly to irritate him. He'd been feeling somewhat thirsty, and Liam had given him a bottle of water...Willow could only remember up to that point; the rest of the details being all blurry. Still, it didn't take a genius to guess what might have happened, given his current situation."No surprise... he is the villain, after all."Willow was already at his lowest, and he didn't even panic upon realizing his predicament. Even back then, when Liam had given him water, he had initially suspected this possibility but was too fed up with everything to even care. Now, he felt painfully numb and couldn't be bothered with what happened afterwards."Still, let's at least look around." Willow slowly got up from the bed, observing the moderately decorated room. Since it didn't have any personal touches or signs of anyone living there, it was probably a hotel or guest room.Just as he was about to take a few steps away from the bed, something clinked, making him step back. "What the- chains?"Both his ankles were tied with metal chains, one end fixed to the bed."Oh my god. I get this is a stereotypical novel, but chains? Really?" Willow's face turned red from secondhand embarrassment, unable to handle the cringe."What are we in, medieval times? Do... do young girls actually think this is hot?" he asked himself in astonishment. "This is basically harassment, kidnapping, drugging, and a bunch of other crimes. Stuff like this shouldn't be romanticized!...But everyone's allowed to like what they like, I guess."He tried to pull his leg, the chain clinking with the movement. Not that he expected the chain to break with his weak pull anyway. It's not like he was the male lead of an action novel who could tear away anything.He sighed, resigning himself to sit on the bed again. "Well, this much was to be expected... after going through so much trouble to kidnap me, it's not like he's going to let me simply let me walk out the door."Left with nothing else to do, Willow just looked around from his position, trying to pass the time."Ahh, where's Liam? Doesn't the villain appear as soon as the captive wakes up? How free does he think I am?"He didn't seem to care that he was the only one in the room and continued to talk to himself. "What's going to happen now? Prisoner of love?" Even saying the words made him cringe so much that he had to pause for a moment to regain his composure. "Since this is shounen ai, we probably won't... do the deed. Thank god. I would've felt like such a creep otherwise."After about twenty minutes of mindless chattering to himself, he flopped back on the bed, his legs dangling over the edge. The ceiling was a simple white with minimal decorations. A small chandelier hung there, gleaming with yellow light. It seemed to be made of glass rings arranged aesthetically, looking rather delicate.Willow couldn't help but wonder, "Hah... what if this thing fell? Would it kill me—""-Well, no. Not if I immediately rushed you to the emergency room."Willow was startled by the second voice but continued to lie down lazily, not bothering to sit up and look at the person. Well, the annoyingly high-pitched voice could only belong to one very short, certain someone anyway."You're here.""You don't seem surprised," Liam noted, coming over to sit beside Willow."Oh, I'm very sorry for not being surprised." Willow opened his eyes wide, his tone faker than Adelia's fakest eyelashes. "Oh! Why are you here? How did I get here?! What happened???"Liam laughed, unbothered by Willow's sarcastic demeanor. "Happy to see you're your usual self. You don't seem too angry about what happened earlier."Willow rubbed his ear, not looking Liam in the eye or acknowledging him otherwise."Hmm?" Liam prompted.Willow replied halfheartedly, "...My anger's too valuable to waste on you."They both stayed silent for some time. Despite everything, Liam made no move to leave, simply sitting there.Willow finally couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Anything else? If not, leave. Let me at least be imprisoned in peace.""If you want me to leave, I will. But first, there's something we must do." Liam pulled out a camera, setting it in front of Willow. "Your 'ex-lover' proved to be a lot more troublesome than I expected. Even after you broke up with him so cruelly, he's still searching desperately for you.""He... he is?" Willow asked, surprised."Well, yes." Liam crossed his arms and said in a carefree tone, "All things considered, it isn't that surprising, you know? After all, you've been missing for three days."Willow was surprised again. He took a moment to let it sink in before asking, "...What? Three days? But I couldn't have been out for that long—""It only felt like a few minutes, right?" Liam smiled, as if pleased with himself. "That's to be expected. After all, that's its specialty.""It?" Willow asked sourly. "The thing you drugged me with?"Liam didn't deny it and continued, "Now, no need to be pissy. everyone's looking for you. It's hard—even for a powerful person like me—to hide you for long, but I'm not going to let you leave either.""Right now, we're in a remote villa, one of the properties of the extended Sanders family. Knowing your sister, she might have already told them I was a suspect since we had, ah, a sudden search of properties."Liam smiled gleefully. "Too bad they didn't find what—or more specifically, who—they were looking for."Willow felt strange. Everyone was so worried about him, yet...he'd done so many horrible things to them. He took away Charlie's first love, deceived him, and now he'd even cheated and broken up in the worst way imaginable. His parents, too... oh, wait, they weren't his parents, right? They were just people whose son he pretended to be.Unaware of Willow's inner turmoil, Liam sat beside him and said enthusiastically, "Well, I thought of the perfect solution. Right now, they think I kidnapped you. But what if..." he smiled like a predator about to trap his prey, "...you tell them you ran away of your own free will? That you don't wish to be found? That it was your decision to leave them all and start a new life?"He morphed his expression into a scared, pleading one, like he was truly worried. "You won't leave me, will you? You'll do it, right- do everything so we can stay together? You'll tell them you're going to run away with the love of your life, right?"This mock-loving tone was even more unpleasant to Willow's ears. Though he knew it wouldn't make a difference, he still spat out, "We don't love each other."It seemed Liam wanted to play the role of the pitiful lover a bit more. He pretended to wipe away a tear and said, "Oh, how can you be so cruel, love? Look, don't we look so happy in this photo?"He pulled out his phone, shoving it in Willow's face as he dramatically placed his hand on his forehead like a maiden in distress."I'm literally passed out with my hands and feet chained here.""But look, you're smiling in this one!""You're pulling the corners of my lips.""Details, details."