Eternal Replay: A Love Rekindled

Chapter Six

Corey turned his face aside, unable to bear the intensity of Nicholas's gaze. His voice laced with weariness and resignation, he muttered, "I'm exhausted and need some rest. Please, just leave me be."

That fleeting moment of softness in Corey did not escape Nicholas's notice. Instead, it stoked the flames of his determination, fueling his already unwavering belief that he would achieve his heart's desire.

Nicholas lounged casually against the wall, seemingly unfazed by having been unceremoniously kicked off the bed just moments ago. His composure was as unruffled as a still lake. At that exact instant, Corey's phone emitted a soft, telltale ping.

Both men's heads swiveled instinctively towards the source of the sound, their eyes locking onto Corey's phone.

Corey reached for the device, his movements almost mechanical. A quick glance revealed a message from Joyce.

Joyce: Get some good rest. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. [Heart]

Under the weight of Nicholas's intense, almost suffocating stare, Corey's fingers flew across the screen, typing a hasty reply.

Corey: See you tomorrow. Good night. [Heart]

Nicholas had single-handedly shattered the once - comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. Now, each keystroke Corey made was accompanied by a creeping sense of awkwardness that seemed to radiate from the very depths of his being.

Just the thought of Nicholas's intrusion into this private moment was enough to make Corey's blood boil. He slammed the phone down on the table and, fixing Nicholas with a glare, snapped, "Are you going to leave, or do I have to go out and get some air?"

The sight of Nicholas now filled Corey with an overwhelming urge to land a solid punch right on his smug face. But Corey was acutely aware of his own physical limitations. So, he decided that the best course of action was to simply avoid looking at him and spare himself the mounting irritation.

"Do you like him?" Nicholas murmured in a hushed tone, his voice barely above a whisper. The desire he had managed to suppress earlier now surged back with a vengeance, consuming him whole. Corey really wasn't making things easy for him.

Corey, his mind preoccupied, didn't catch the words clearly. He furrowed his brows in confusion and asked, "What did you say?"

"Do you like Joyce?" Nicholas's eyes bored into Corey's, his pupils unblinking, like two dark, bottomless pits. His expression was so inscrutable that Corey couldn't even begin to fathom the emotions roiling beneath the surface.

Nicholas took slow, deliberate steps towards Corey, each one measured and calculated. With every step, his face grew darker, clouded by the absence of an answer from Corey. He didn't stop until he was standing right in front of Corey, so close that their breaths mingled. Only then did Corey see the terrifying, unrestrained emotions swirling in his eyes, like a storm on the verge of breaking.

"Mind your own damn business!" Corey finally reached breaking point. He couldn't hold back any longer. With a guttural roar, he swung a fist straight towards Nicholas's face. Nicholas reacted with lightning speed, dodging backward and, in one fluid motion, seizing Corey's wrist.

Corey, who had some experience filming martial - arts scenes and had picked up a few basic combat skills, was still quick on his feet. In a split - second decision, he lashed out with a powerful kick towards Nicholas's shin. But Nicholas, ever - vigilant, evaded the strike with ease.

Nicholas suddenly lunged forward, his movements feral. He wrapped his arms tightly around Corey, and they tumbled onto the adjacent bed. After rolling halfway around, Corey found himself pinned beneath Nicholas once again. Nicholas's back arched like a wild beast that had cornered its prey, ready to tear it limb from limb.

Nicholas had a thousand and one ways to make Corey submit, to make him weep and learn the meaning of obedience. But when it came to Corey, his heart turned to mush. He just couldn't bring himself to be cruel.

Facing Corey's unyielding resistance, Nicholas's heart wavered between hardness and softness, like a pendulum caught in a storm.

"Be a good boy, baby," Nicholas whispered, his voice a soft caress. He planted three or four tender kisses on the side of Corey's face, each one a promise and a threat. "Otherwise, I might not be able to control myself and end up killing him." And then lock you away, where no one can find you.

No matter how consumed by his own demons he might become, Nicholas could never bring himself to truly harm Corey. But for anyone else who dared to stand in his way, he had no mercy, no rationality to spare.

Corey struggled beneath Nicholas's weight, his breath coming in ragged gasps. When he heard those words, a chill ran down his spine, freezing his blood. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Nicholas wasn't joking. This man was a full-blown psychopath who didn't give a damn whether others lived or died.

He stared at Nicholas with wide, disbelieving eyes. "How could you turn out like this? You were such a decent kid when we were young."

In his memory, although Nicholas hadn't been a paragon of virtue, he had at least been normal. How could seven years have transformed him into a lawless, overbearing, and self-centered maniac?

In truth, Corey had never truly understood the labyrinth of Nicholas's mind. Even when Nicholas first moved in across the street from his house, the seeds of who he was had already been sown, waiting to sprout and grow.

From the time he became aware of the world around him until he was twelve, Nicholas had lived in the Leon family. This was the wish of the old patriarch of the Leon family. In his view, whether a child was born to the legitimate wife or not, they should all remain in the main family, with perhaps just a distinction between the legitimate and the illegitimate.

But Nicholas's father's legitimate wife loathed Nicholas and his mother with a passion that bordered on obsession. Nicholas's father also paid them little more than passing attention. Naturally, the sycophantic servants below didn't treat Nicholas as a true master. They saw him as an outsider, a stain on the family name.

Nicholas's biological mother was also far from responsible. She indulged in a life of luxury and wealth, drowning herself in the trappings of a world she didn't deserve. Nicholas was merely a means for her to profit from the Leon family, a pawn in her game of social climbing.

When Nicholas turned twelve, the old patriarch of the Leon family passed away. Suddenly, there was no one in the family who cared about whether Nicholas should stay or go. In the end, just half a month after the funeral, Nicholas was cast out of the ancestral home, like a stray dog on the streets. He and his mother were left to live on a meager monthly allowance of tens of thousands of yuan, a pittance compared to the wealth they had once known.

Three years later, when the eldest son of the Leon family died in a tragic accident, this illegitimate son who had been driven out of the family suddenly found himself back in the spotlight. He became important once again, a phoenix rising from the ashes. Nicholas saw right through each one of them, their false smiles and empty words.

He had never truly desired anything in particular before. But after returning to the Leon family and seeing the faces of those who had once been cold and dismissive now all too eager to please, Nicholas for the first time felt a longing for someone. A burning desire to possess someone, to hold onto something real in this world of lies and deception.

He despised everything around him, the falsehoods, the greed, the corruption. But he adored Corey, with a love that knew no bounds. Corey was his anchor, his only salvation in this storm - tossed sea of a world.

Corey couldn't recall when he finally drifted off to sleep during their standoff. When he woke up in the early hours of the morning, the first rays of sunlight filtering through the curtains, Nicholas was nowhere to be seen. Every trace of his presence had vanished, as if he had never been there at all. It was as if everything that had happened the previous night had been nothing more than a vivid fever - dream.