“Caiden, those women didn’t follow you, did they?” Lily asks urgently.

“…”

I just keep staring at her face in shock.

“Did they?” Lily asks again, her voice growing more and more worried by the second.

W-What is happening? Why is Lily asking me this?

“Lily, why are you—”

“Answer me first, Caiden!” Lily cuts in-between.

“N-No, I don’t think anyone came after me… Well, I can only say for that until I enter this room though,” I answer.

She gives out a small sigh.

“Thank goodness…”

I can see that Lily is clearly relieved to hear this, but still, her worried expressions does not lessen much.

“And are you okay, Caiden? These people didn’t do anything bad with you, did they?” she asks.

“I am sorry for yelling all those things at you before…”

“…”

W-What the heck is this?

The shock of what Lily is saying to me right now is making me unable to utter even a single word.

Wait, I am not dreaming again, am I?

Lily is asking if I am okay?

And why the hell is she saying sorry to me? This is just fucking insane!

“L-Lily, about what Zoe told you…” I speak timidly.

Suddenly, she lowers down her face to look on the floor.

“Is it… is it true?” Lily also asks in a small voice.

Lily…

“It is. I-I did it…” I answer while looking down myself.

I close my eyes in anticipation of a slap or something from her but it never came…

Instead, a heavy and soft feeling envelops my body.

I open my eyes in surprise and see that Lily has wrapped her arms around my back and has enclosed me into a tight hug.

“Thank you…” she softly whispers in my ears.

…

Wait…what?

Am I hearing fine? Did Lily just say thank you to me?

There is no way this is possible, right? And really, why would she even say that to me?

“T-Thank you? Why?” I ask in confusion.

“Yes, thank you for doing this for me,” she whispers again and this time, she even gives my neck a little kiss.

“Wait wait wait!”

I separate my body away from Lily’s in a flash.

“What are you talking about, Lily? Are you okay? They haven’t drugged you or something, right?” I ask in a worried tone.

To be honest, this is the only possible way I could think that Lily would say thank you to me…

“Ouch!”

Lily knocks on my forehead.

“No, dumbo! I am not drugged or anything. I am thanking you for what you did,” she says.

“But why? What did I do?” I ask weakly.

This is really going way above my head…

Maybe Lily is behaving like this to make me feel even more guilty?

Well, to be honest, I think I deserve this thank you then…

Lily gives out a huge sigh before speaking again.

“Caiden, I have known and liked you since I was eleven, okay? I have always noticed every little thing you do when you were around me. And at this point, I can confidently say that I know what and why you are doing something even before you know it yourself.

“And I absolutely refuse to believe even if you tell me it to yourself, that you were involved in this gang because you want to,” she says stubbornly.

Lily… you…

“Yes…I am not here because I want to…” I answer while still in little disbelieve.

“See? I was correct! And the only explanation for you being here is that something must have happened to you as well… like me,” Lily says while looking at me exploringly.

I don’t know why, but a strange sort of feeling rises from within me.

Lily choose to believe not what her eyes told her, but her heart did…

I am so happy that I fell in love with a girl like her…

But still… One thing is bothering me…

“Aren’t you even a little bit affected by the fact that you were raped by me?” I ask in a little surprised tone.

Lily’s face turns a bit strange again before she answers me…

“It is not like that, Caiden. It affected me so much that I was like a broken doll after that day. I can only tell you my condition at that time by the fact that I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat… even my mind was completely blank for most of the time.

“The only thing which kept repeating inside me was that I wanted to see you. I knew that I could find comfort with only you…

“That day, after we both confessed and made love to each other, my mind finally started to settle down. It was like you washed your love over my pain and suffering.

“But my problems did not stop there… I was actually contacted by that woman, Zoe, just a day after the rape incident,” Lily says.

“Wait, what? Zoe contacted you?” I ask in shock.

I thought that they planned to let Lily go. I remember Natalie telling me that they won’t contact her again…

“Yes, she told me that they are reaching out to me again because their higher-ups have made changes to their plans and according to it, I will have to help them out now or they will release my rape video…” Lily tells me.

“They are freaking blackmailing you!?” I ask loudly in shock.

Those filthy fuckers! I will make all of them pay for this!

“Shhhh! Don’t raise your voice or they will hear us! And yes, they are blackmailing me. At that time, I couldn’t even process what they were telling me and kept silent throughout the whole call but after the day we confessed, I could finally understand the seriousness of what Zoe told to me…

“Well, I thought that they were just trying to scare me after a few days of no contact… but the contacted me again today,” Lily says.

“So, that means that they need your help in something, right? What do they want from you?” I ask with anger still mixed in my voice.

“I will tell you that later, but first, I need to know how you got into this mess. I already got told by another woman here that they allow only females in this gang, then why are they using you as their member?” Lily asks.

I guess it is finally time to tell Lily about all the things…

I start from the day I got kidnapped at first…

“You were going to propose to me?” Lily asks with her cheeks turning pink.

“Y-Yes,” I answer while turning a bit red myself.

Then, I told Lily about how these women made me rape her and also about the meeting of the squad leaders and the other meeting of me with the king… (I skipped the part with Emily and Ava.)

“So, like you, they also bought me here today and told me that I would be meeting with a person who would help me with some task I have to do. Well, I still don’t know what it is though…” I tell her.

The moment I stop speaking, Lily moves forward and tightly hugs me again.

“You have to go through so many things just because of me…” Lily says while burying her face into my chest.

“How the hell it is your fault? If it is anyone’s fault than it is those people who kidnapped us. But don’t worry, e will get away from here somehow…” I say to Lily while patting her back.

“Yeah, we will… no matter what. And you know, you were actually brought here to meet me,” She says while removing her face from my chest.

“You? Really? Then, do you know about this task?” I ask.

Suddenly, Lily’s voice turns grave and her face shows many strong emotions at once: anger, frustration, and fear.

“C-Caiden.. they want you to…With my mother…”

“Your mother? What are you trying to say, Lily?” I ask in confusion.

“They want you to rape my mother…”