Make friends

I figured he was right, so I stopped squirming and remained still, sitting atop the boy. At that moment, my clothes were disheveled, leaving me feeling vulnerable.

I let go of his neck and used both arms to cover my chest. In the darkness, I noticed the boy's gaze deepen, becoming more unreadable. After a short silence, he asked quietly: "What's your name?"

It was the first time someone in this strange world had asked for my name. Feeling a little flustered, I answered: "San San. And you?"

"I'm Triet Hi. Do you know who that man was, the one who captured you?"

Because I couldn't see the boy's expression clearly in the darkness, I simply shook my head.

"He's Huyen Ky" Triet Hi said, voice low but firm. "He's a royal of the Leopard Clan. He buys and sells women, offering them to other nobles and princes. Right now, we have to stay hidden. I'm certain he's already sent his subordinates to search every corner of the town for you."

So that man in white was Huyen Ky. Just hearing the words "buys and sells women" was enough to make my stomach turn. I no longer had any sympathy left for him. In fact, being with this boy, this stranger, felt significantly safer.

Triet Hi leaned against the back of the wardrobe, half his upper body propped against the wooden wall. He looked at me seriously and said: "San San… do you know you're really beautiful?"

His words made my cheeks flush with heat. I didn't know why, but while compliments from others never affected me much, this one, coming from him felt different. Maybe it was because he had saved me, maybe because we were sitting so close, or maybe it was the strange sense of trust that had already formed between us.

Either way, the compliment made my heart flutter. Still, the fact that I was sitting on his lap made everything feel a bit too intimate. I couldn't see his eyes clearly in the darkness, so I shook my head quickly and said: "That's only because you haven't seen other women."

Triet Hi gave a soft laugh. Then, he gently brushed a lock of hair behind my ear and said in a quiet, calming tone: "You're not just beautiful… you smell nice too. Walking around like that is dangerous. You should disguise yourself."

He wasn't wrong. I'd only been in this world for a few weeks, and until now, I had naively believed it was relatively peaceful. I hadn't expected this place to be filled with such danger and twisted desires.

With so little knowledge of the customs and rules here, I had to rely purely on instinct to survive. After a brief pause, I looked at him and asked: "What were you before? I mean, your original form?"

Since arriving here, I'd always been curious about what kind of animals these people had evolved from. I believed that understanding their origins might give me clues to their personalities. Triet Hi didn't answer immediately. Instead, he leaned in close to my ear and chuckled softly.

"Why don't you guess?"

I shook my head again. There was no way I could tell. His face was handsome and smooth, with no clear traits of any animal visible. He was about to say more when suddenly, the creaking of a door echoed through the silent room.

We both froze.

Peeking through a narrow gap in the wardrobe, we spotted two figures entering the room, a man and a woman, both beastfolk. The two were entangled, seemingly lost in their own world. They closed the door hastily behind them, clearly unaware of our presence.

They didn't even make it to the bed. Right there on the floor, they collapsed into each other. Though their appearance was far from graceful, the man had a thick, scruffy beard, and the woman was large, with messy hair and heavy movements, they were utterly absorbed in their actions. The room quickly filled with indecent sounds.

I felt my whole face turn red with embarrassment. Even more so because I was still on Triet Hi's lap. Instinctively, I covered my eyes and whispered, barely audible: "Don't look."

Triet Hi gave a short laugh under his breath: "You didn't know? I used to work in a brothel. I've seen this kind of thing every day… but I've never quite been affected by it like this."

I blinked in surprise, still hiding behind my palms. So I was more innocent than him? The moans and gasps from outside the wardrobe echoed loudly, making it impossible to ignore. I didn't know where to place my hands anymore. My heart was racing for multiple reasons, fear, embarrassment, confusion.

But then, something shifted.

Triet Hi's gaze was no longer focused on the couple outside. I could feel it, he was looking at me. I didn't dare peek through my fingers, but I could sense the weight of his stare.

His body tensed slightly, and the air between us grew heavier. I turned slightly to look at him and saw that his expression had changed. It was no longer the gentle look from earlier, now it carried something more intense. Something that made me feel suddenly alert.

I shifted back instinctively, trying to put space between us. He seemed to realize he was making me uncomfortable, and the fierceness in his gaze softened. He looked away, then gave me a half-smile and whispered: "Don't worry. I won't do anything. But if you step outside now, he'll definitely catch you. Huyen Ky… he wouldn't let a girl like you slip away again."

His voice was calm, but the underlying warning was clear. I nodded slowly and clutched my robe tighter around me. The wardrobe was cramped, but right now, it was the safest place in the world. Neither of us spoke for a while. The sounds outside continued, but we did our best to tune them out.

In that small, wooden box, two fugitives from a powerful predator sat side by side, one scarred by what had just happened, the other protecting with quiet resolve. I could still feel Triet Hi's warmth beneath me, but I no longer felt afraid of him. Instead, I felt something else rising, an uneasy trust, or perhaps the start of a strange bond born from desperation.

Outside, the world was dark and dangerous. Inside this cramped hiding place, we were just two people trying to survive.