Ye Qixin continued listening quietly.
What I said next, slowly and gently, was more like the voice of my heart that had lain silent for a long time. At last, I had a loyal listener who would never betray me, and the box of words sealed within my heart finally opened a crack. Just a crack was enough to shock anyone.
"You said it yourself just now."
"Only normal people feel suffocated."
"Only they break down beneath the omnipresent desire for control."
"And I... need her love."
"I crave it desperately, like a drowning person needs a breath of air."
"I... can't live without her."
"I've even thought about how wonderful it would be if, in her world, I were the only one."
"If it's Senior Sister, then listening to what I say more often, watching what I do more often—I don't think there's anything wrong with that... even if the methods might not be entirely aboveboard."
"You can think this is a sick idea, but I've always believed it. Isn't this the best proof that she loves me?"
"I... get uneasy too."
"I get frightened too."
"I can't help wondering what she's doing, whether she doesn't like me at all anymore, whether she's gone out to play with some fairy again."
"I, too, have mad love buried deep within me."
"At every moment, I want her—from this day onward, whether in mind or body—to belong to only one person."
"My unease is stronger than anyone else's."
"Once I feel threatened, once my possessiveness rises—"
"I don't know what I might do."
"But how have I kept it under control?"
"Baby, you're Mother's daughter. Perhaps even you haven't noticed it."
"Actually, some of the things Ye Qingxian does aren't much like what a normal person would do either."
"It's just