Page 206 of Scarbound

“No.” Noeul looked at his wrist as though he could still feel Gong’s fingers there. “He grabbed my hand. Hard.”

“How hard?”

“Enough to hurt.”

“And what did you do?”

“I tried to calm him down.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him he was scaring me.”

Dr. Kim’s expression changed slightly. Noeul noticed. “What?”

“You told him you were afraid.”

“Yes.”

“And how did he respond?”

Noeul looked away. “He didn’t let go.”

The room became quiet.

“He kept saying they were waiting for me. That he couldn’t let me leave.” Noeul rubbed his wrist now. “His eyes were fixed on something behind me. Or maybe he thought there was something there. I don’t know.”

“Were you frightened?”

“Yes.” The answer came quickly. Then Noeul corrected himself. “Terrified.”

Dr. Kim nodded.

“I told him, ‘Gong, let go. I’m just going for a walk with our friends. I’ll come back. I promise.’”

“But he didn’t.”

“No.” Noeul drew in a slow breath. “Then his expression changed.”

“In what way?”

“He stopped looking scared.” Noeul’s eyes remained fixed on the floor. “Or maybe the fear was still there. It just became something else too.”

“What?”

“Threatening.”

Dr. Kim allowed the word to sit between them.

“He said, ‘If you leave, I’ll have to stop you.’” Noeul gave a quiet laugh without humor. “I remember actually asking him what he meant. Like there was going to be some reasonable answer.”

“What did he say?”

“‘I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you here. I won’t let anyone take you away from me.’”

Dr. Kim’s pen remained motionless on the page. “What did you understand from that?”

“At the time?”