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"Shit!"
Xiao Xingchen frantically tapped at his phone, trying to get it to turn on. It had dropped as he was running down the stairs, and the screen had shattered. He was panting, heart pounding in his chest. Xiao Xingchen could already hear the loud echos of his footsteps, at full sprint chasing after him.
Xiao Xingchen couldn't think of anything else other than to run. He had to get away from him, couldn't stay here praying for this chunk of metal to suddenly start working again.
He turned into a hallway, down some more stairs, into another hallway - but he could still hear his footsteps. They never slowed or quieted down, and Xiao Xingchen got increasingly panicked. He needed to get away. He needed to get out of this building - he couldn't stay here after realizing who it was that was with him.
Xiao Xingchen went down a few more flights of stairs, vision tunnelled and ears ringing. He was completely lost, had no clue where he was - but he didn't care. He needed to get out of here.
Xiao Xingchen went down another flight of stairs and looked back, seeing his shadow so closely following him. Before he could start running again, he hit full force into something hard. Xiao Xingchen stared up from where he had fallen due to the impact to see a wall. He had ended up at a dead end.
"Can't you see that you would be lost without me?"
The footsteps slowed, before coming to a halt. Xiao Xingchen closed his eyes, preparing for what he knew was going to happen.
He stood up and turned around, finally facing him.
"If you wanted to leave you could've just told me."
Xiao Xingchen glared at him. "And what would you have done if I had told you? Put the cuffs back on? Add a few more locks to the door?"
He smiled, "Yeah, probably that. As well as a camera, now that I think about it."
He walked closer to Xiao Xingchen, the crooked grin plastered on his face. Xiao Xingchen tried to back away, but that was when he felt himself hit full impact into the wall again.
There was a hand around his neck. His feet were not on the ground anymore.
"Why would you try running away, Daozhang? I've been so nice to you. I've given you everything you've asked for. Why would you try to leave?"
Xiao Xingchen was shaking, his hands prying at the one around his neck. He could see the other's smile trembling, his face distorted into an expression that was nowhere near happy.
"I've asked you many times if you were happy. You smiled at me and said yes. I knew they were fake, but I tried to make you as comfortable as possible in here. Why wouldn't you just stay?"
Xiao Xingchen wasn't paying attention to him at this point. He was coughing, bearly able to get air into his lungs. His vision was blurry, and he couldn't do anything more than kick his feet weakly.
"Xue Yang!-"
Xiao Xingchen felt the hand around his neck loosen and his foot touch the ground. He gasped a few times, trying to get as much air back into his body as he could.
"I never wanted to hurt you, Daozhang, but you need to listen to me. You only ended up like this because you didn’t listen to me. Why do you treat me like this? I don't understand - I thought I've been taking good care of you."
Xiao Xingchen breathed in a deep breath, focusing all his energy into steadying his legs so he wouldn't collapse onto the ground. He then stared into his eyes, feeling a sudden pang of guilt when he saw the hurt and betrayal in them.
"It's not that I wanted to hurt you, Xue Yang, but this isn't how I wanted to be treated. This isn't how anyone wants to be treated. Though you may be treating me well, you had also caged me up like I'm an animal. I have my own life and friends and family. You can't just take all of that from me."
Xue Yang's mouth morphed back into a crooked grin, and he barked out a short laugh.
"But that's where you're wrong, Daozhang. You are mine. You are mine and there is no one that can take you from me, not even yourself."
Before Xiao Xingchen could get another word out, he felt a sharp pain against the side of his neck, and his vision went dark.