"Cookie! Don't forget that it's your turn to tend to the garden today. I already did you a favor last time when you had to leave for something else," the exhausted assistant handed her dazed coworker an envelope, leaning closer to her when she saw that the girl seemed to be in her own world. "Hey, Cookie? You okay there?"

The said woman snapped out of her thought, forcing a smile when she saw the concerned expression directed to her. "Ah, yes, I'm okay; it's just—"

Cookie decided that she would gloss her worry like she did every time. After all, having taken this position in ROMANCE, what right did she have to act like a human with a conscience now? But remembering that heart-wrenching wail and those grief-stricken eyes of that Amorii, Cookie felt the need to pour her heart out.

"I've been wondering for a while, but... why do most Amorii that quit… end up coming back?" She pointed out. "And I'm not talking about the one who came back with their... lover; I'm talking about the one who came back alone, oblivious, like they didn't even quit in the first place."

Her friend nodded in understanding. "You mean, like Kael?"

"Caramel, you and I both know I’m not just talking about him." She told her. "It's just weird, you know? Don't they all say that Amorii only love once? And considering how they love, isn't it weird for them to just... not care about the person who drove them to quit?"

Caramel remained silent for a while; there was confusion in her eyes, as if wondering why a fellow assistant would even wonder about this when it's not in their scope of job to burden themselves with.

"Cookie, I don't see the need for us to meddle in the matters of Amorii; why the sudden curiosity?" She frowned. "Besides, I find it rather hypocritical for a human like us to worry about Amorii but not our own kind. You get what I'm saying, right?"

Cookie was left speechless by the truth in her words, but there were still things she couldn’t agree with. Sure, it might be hypocritical, but for someone like Cookie, who avoided sympathizing with the victims to protect her own mental health, she found it easier to sympathize with fellow perpetrators like Kael because if not, if she couldn’t direct these human feelings toward them, then where else could she put them? Was she meant to live like a cold-blooded monster her whole life?

Cookie belatedly realized that she chose the wrong person to speak of this topic with. Hence, she nodded, feigning understanding.

"Yeah, sorry for making you listen to this nonsense," she got up from her desk, finally taking the envelope that Caramel was holding. "Guess I'll be going to the garden now; see you tomorrow."

Cookie bid the woman farewell before taking her leave. Her footstep heavy and reluctant. Although they called it 'garden,' honestly, it's just a fancy word to refer to the confined victims—a way for them to delude themselves that they weren't doing something illegal.

The assistant opened the envelope and found a collection of letters inside. Some detailed lists of items to be bought and delivered—skincare products, branded perfumes, healthy light snacks, and other demands made by the women who seemed to have already accepted their fates. She skimmed through them, noting the items that she needed to order and the one that's already in the inventory.

Among these, there were also letters filled with curses, each brimming with anger and hatred. And then, tucked beneath them, was one letter—a desperate plea begging to be let out.

Cookie wondered why they would even send this. Did they think that some kind of miracle would happen? That a kind soul would read this and be moved enough to help them escape? She sighed and slipped the letter away. For now, the best thing she could do was make sure it didn’t end up in the hands of the woman’s escort. If it did, the woman's situation might get even worse.

On her way out, Cookie bumped into Coffee near the pantry. It was funny, really—she’d never seen him drink coffee, not even once. Then again, she didn’t go around eating cookies all the time either. The assistant blamed the founder for their odd fake names; this is all because of her weird requirements.

"Hey," Cookie greeted him, noticing that he was sucking on a lollipop.

"...Hi," he replied, eyeing her closely before adding, "You look terrible."

"Don’t we all?" She shot back, deliberately letting her gaze linger on the dark circles under his eyes.

An awkward silence followed, hanging heavy between them.

"So, Coffee, you work pretty closely with the founder, right? Do you know what her power is? I mean, she’s an Amorii, so she must have one," Cookie asked, leaning against the counter.

Coffee pulled the lollipop from his mouth, giving her a long, judgmental look. "Why the sudden curiosity?"

She sighed, feeling a flicker of irritation. "I’ll be honest. The escort under me—he, uh… changed. Like, went back to normal or something. I can’t explain it, but he’s definitely different after meeting the founder. So, I was wondering what she did to him."

"And why do you care?"

Here we go again. Cookie was getting tired of people dismissing her concern. "Because if I don’t, who else will? Yes, I’m a hypocrite, and maybe I’m stupid for caring about a creature like him. But I choose to care, so who can stop me?"

Coffee stayed silent, chewing on his lollipop thoughtfully before crunching it into pieces. Finally, he spoke. "Memory manipulation. The Founder can tamper with memories."

Cookie blinked, surprised by his bluntness, more so by how easily he told her. She guessed the founder’s power wasn’t exactly a confidential matter.

"That makes sense," she said slowly, "but why would she do that to… to Kael? Or any of her own kind for that matter?"

"Why wouldn’t she?" Coffee tossed the stick into the nearest trash bin, his expression calm but pointed. "You’ve seen the state he was in. Do you really think what she did was wrong?"

Cookie hesitated, the words caught in her throat. Her mind dragged her back to the day she’d received that emergency signal—a signal, surprisingly, from Kael himself, a retired escort under her.

She remembered how surprised she’d been at first, thinking it was a mistake. Kael had always been stubborn, never using his ring, no matter how dire his situation. Cookie would even make a fuss whenever she saw him all battered and bruised, but that stubborn man would just laugh it off, yet after he quit, suddenly, he’d use it. Was he being abused that badly by his newfound lover?

So out of curiosity, she ditched everything to follow the signal, arriving at his home.

The house was a mess. Curtains drawn tight, the air thick with the smell of something bad. Cookie hesitated to make a sound; her hand was ready to call for backups in case anything happened, but then, somewhere from inside the house, a low wail cut through the silence—a sound so primal it raised the hair on her neck.

Cookie hesitantly followed that noise, and she almost screamed when she saw something that's clearly not human kneeling on the floor: a towering, emaciated figure, its skin stretched too tightly over its jagged bones, as if it had been starved for centuries. Its limbs were unnaturally long, ending in sharp, claw-like fingers that scratched against the ground in a slow, trembling rhythm.

Its antlered head hung low, covered by cracked and splintered. A ragged, patchy mane hung from its neck, color oddly similar to Kael's hair. What made her more certain that this creature is Kael is its hollow, red-orange eyes that shimmered faintly like a flame on the verge of being snuffed out.

A guttural, mournful wail rattled from its chest, shaking the air around it. Its jaw hung slightly open, revealing jagged teeth that looked capable of tearing flesh, but its lips quivered, trembling as if it were trying to form words.

Cookie had known since her teenage years that Amorii were nothing like humans. These creatures, once human's most fearsome enemies who dominated the earth, had been cursed, forcing them to rely on human affection to survive. To do so, they took on human appearances—though their true forms varied widely. Even so, Kael's true form was, without a doubt, the most terrifying she had ever encountered.

"Why? She won't wake up; no matter what I do, no matter how long I wait, she won't open her eyes," the creature rasped, his voice shredded and trembling. "Was it my fault? I just— I just want her to choose me. I just want her to forget about whoever that person is, bu— but now, even her pulse feels faint."

A chill ran down her spine. Cookie's survival instincts urging her to step back. Yet, her legs refused to move, frozen in place as she caught sight of his pleading gaze. She could vaguely make out his form, curling possessively around something, like a dragon guarding its most precious treasure.

"Help me, Cookie..."

"—why the sudden silence?"

Cookie snapped back to reality upon seeing the face of Coffee a few inches away from her. Her eyes widened, and she quickly tried to regain her composure by placing the envelope on his hand.

"Hey, since you're already here, help me bring these items to the 'garden,'" she told him. "I need a helping hand in case one of them turns hysterical and makes things go awry."

He scrunched up his face, regretting his decision to remain longer when he could just leave while she was daydreaming earlier. "Can't you just slap them to sober them up?"

"I only have two hands, and I intend to keep them until I die."

"So my hands don't matter, huh?"

"If it's you, you don't even need to use your hands. Your eyes are scary enough."

"Then wouldn't that mean there's a high chance that their lover would gouge out my eyes?"

"As long as it's not my eyes."

"You—"

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||HOLLIS'S LOVE STATUS||

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