Chapter 4.1 : The Bite

Chapter 4.1 : The Bite
"Loyalty doesn’t bloom from affection. It grows from fear, from need, from the knowledge that no one else will fight for you the way I will." — Adam

The day after the kiss should’ve faded. It should’ve slipped quietly into rumor, like most high school drama does. But then the collar shifted. Or maybe it was fate playing cruel again.

 Because someone saw it.

The bite mark.

 It wasn’t gory or violent, just a small bruise, violet against pale skin, nestled where neck meets shoulder. But in high school, one wrong mark is enough to set the world on fire.

 By second period, whispers had evolved into stories. By third, they were legends.

 "Adam bit her. Like, for real."
"You think it was during the kiss?"
"Maybe it’s a kink thing…"

 In the bathroom mirror between classes, Akane tugged her collar up in panic. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The bruise was clearer now, like some haunting birthmark she couldn’t scrub off. She considered concealer , but it was too late.

Girls stared at her in the hallway. Boys smirked. A few whispered “freak” behind cupped hands.

In the homeroom, Ellie passed her a note. 

“Is it true? Did he… actually mark you?”

Akane didn’t reply. She couldn’t even meet Ellie’s eyes. Because the truth wasn’t just that he had. It was that in that moment, she hadn’t fought as hard as she could’ve.

 She was frozen
Like prey

Worse still was Riku. The way he kept glancing at her, then looking away. His jaw was tight. His pen tapping violently against his desk. Not angry at her, no, angry at what she’d become in his eyes.

Later, as they left the building, Akane heard it

A passing voice in the stairwell

“I heard she let him do it.”
 “No way. She’s too plain.”
“Apparently he owns her now.”

 The word echoed like chains in her ears. Owns
 Like she was property. A thing

She ducked into an empty classroom and leaned against the wall, trying not to cry. Her heart thudded too loudly. Her skin still burned where he bit her. Not from pain, but from something worse. Shame.

 How had it come to this? A week ago she was studying for the midterm. Now she was the lead in some twisted drama no one had written down but everyone was watching.

And Adam?

He moved through the school like a shadow in a silk coat. Calm. Smirking. The kind of predator that doesn’t have to pounce, he just waits for the prey to collapse from fear. 

He passed her once in the hallway. Didn’t stop. Didn’t touch her. Just whispered:
 “That mark suits you.”
And kept walking
….
That night, Akane sat at her dinner table, untouched food growing cold in front of her. Her younger brother chattered about some video game level he beat, her dad asked about school, and her mom said something about stew being her favorite

Akane didn’t speak. She barely moved.

Upstairs, she scrubbed her neck with soap until her skin turned red. But the bruise remained. Bruises don’t obey soap. They obey time. And memory.

She sat on the bed, staring at her reflection.

“Am I really his now?”

 And somewhere, not far away, Riku sat in his room, replaying the moment he saw Adam kiss her. But this time… he saw more. The way her shoulders twitched. The way Adam had leaned in like a man daring to break something.

He gritted his teeth.

 He had to do something.

But Adam… Adam was already ten moves ahead.