Chapter 128 Drunk

• After Michael left, I sat alone on the couch, staring at the gold card in my hand. My mind was a swirl of conflicting emotions. I should have been focused on my classes, my homework, anything productive—but all I could think about was the reason Michael had given me this card. It was obviously significant, yet I couldn’t figure out what it meant for him to entrust it to me.
• In the week I had spent with Michael, I had started to settle into a routine. Breakfast and dinner together, evenings spent doing my assignments while Michael worked at the table. We would sometimes play games, watch movies, and then sleep in the same bed at night. It was a strange kind of harmony that had developed between us, and despite my initial resistance, I found myself developing feelings for him.
• But now, everything felt like it had been upended. We had returned to square one, where our relationship seemed more like that of a caretaker and a prisoner rather than two people who might become lovers. I tried to see things from Michael’s perspective. Maybe he did care about me in his own way, but he was too accustomed to being noble, to commanding and controlling. His version of caring felt more like how one might care for a pet—loving, yet always under control, always within his territory.