Faye woke up startled in the middle of the night, feeling someone close to her. The moonlight shining through the window allowed Faye to vaguely recognize this dark figure as Danny.

She didn't know when the woman had entered, and a wave of disgust surged within Faye. Startled, she sat up quickly, trying to move as far away from her as possible.

Faye reached out to turn on the light, but a voice from the darkness stopped her.

"Don't turn on the light."

"If you take another step closer, don't blame me!" Faye threatened angrily, pulling her clothes around her and cautiously assessing the situation.

"For the past three months, I've always indulged your wishes. You wanted to inform your family, and I allowed it. You wanted to live stream because you missed your fans, and I agreed. I haven't forced you to do anything. Mali, are you still angry?"

Faye truly detested this woman. She couldn't accept the truth that Faye didn't love her; she was almost insane and always believed she was right.

For the past three months, the woman hadn't forced Faye to do anything but also hadn't given her freedom, keeping her imprisoned here. She tried to manipulate Faye in every way, but time and again, Faye brushed her off. Like an incurable disease, Faye didn't know how she could escape this place.

Faye was about to be driven insane by her.

"Danny, what you've done for me isn't love, it's an obsession..."

Faye tried to explain: "You've never been by my side, never met me when I grew up. You don't know what kind of person I am behind the spotlight, what I'm like when I'm alone. All you see is a memory from when I was 7 that I can't even recall, and an over-the-top obsession from a fan for their idol. That's not love!!"

In the darkness of the night, Danny's eyes flickered.

"I understand you, Mali. I'm always by your side, even silently. I remember all your preferences by heart. Why can't you give me a chance?" Danny changed her posture, curling up in a corner of the bed, staring intently at Faye without looking away.

Faye recoiled, grabbing the blanket and covering her body. Inside, apart from anger, there was no other feeling. Don't be fooled by Danny's pretense of weakness and hurt; she was always like that, the most cruel and malicious person.

"No, all you know is me through the screen. You don't know what I truly want. In this world, only Yoko truly understands what I want. Only she loves me for who I am, not for the image you all see through the lens..."

"Shut up!!! Don't mention that bitch." Danny exploded with rage as soon as she heard Yoko's name, screaming angrily.

But this time, Faye was defiant, uttering words to provoke Danny.

"I love Yoko. I only love Yoko. How many times have I told you? Why don't you believe me? I have never had, and never will have, feelings for you." Faye also screamed.

The two of them, at opposite ends of the creaking bed, couldn't even clearly see each other's faces, but their anger erupted.

The space suddenly fell silent.

Faye clearly heard Danny's frantic heartbeat, indicating her extreme anger.

"Since I started studying psychology, because I knew what I wanted, I only focused on in-depth research into a few advanced topics. Like hypnosis, manipulation, control..." Danny suddenly shifted to an unrelated topic: "...Even a forbidden subject I once studied. That is subconscious alteration."

She stood up, calmly as if nothing had happened, walked to the head of the bed and turned on the light. Then she took a chair and sat on the edge of the bed.

Faye was momentarily blinded by the sudden light. This scene was like a flashback to the times she would come and talk to Faye every night, always the same.

"Each person has a unique subconscious. From the subconscious, it will guide people towards evil or good. And the subconscious is also a strong factor influencing one's three views: worldview, outlook on life, and values...." Danny's voice was monotonous, as if teaching a lesson at school. Her eyes coldly looked at Faye.

"Therefore, changing the subconscious means erasing, rewriting, or overwriting the old, and has the ability to change an entire person. If you apply the strongest level of subconscious alteration, it means restarting an entire brain. Everything in the past is completely erased and becomes a blank slate. So if I want to, I can completely restart you, and teach you what true love is."

Upon hearing this, a chilling sensation ran down Faye's spine. Having been here for nearly three months, Faye realized that when discussing psychological expertise, the woman was not joking.

This madwoman could truly do that!!

In a flash, Faye said, "If you erase my memories, Yoko will find me, help me remember everything, and we'll go back to how we were."

"Then I'll deal with that little girl first."

Faye chuckled, simply saying, "If anything happens to her, you'll never see me again."

"You trust her that much? You believe that no matter what happens to you, that little miss won't let go?"

Faye's eyes were sharp and confident: "I believe. Yoko will never give up on me."

Danny was truly enraged by this.

"She doesn't deserve you!!"

"And you do?"

Upon hearing this, Danny shot up, knocking over the chair, her eyes cruelly fixed on Faye.

But that was all that happened. She stormed out of the room immediately afterward.

As soon as Danny left, Faye collapsed. That was truly dangerous; for a second, Faye feared that the woman would go crazy and do something terrible.

For the past three months, Faye's nerves had been constantly frayed, having to play mind games with a madwoman like Danny. Faye was truly afraid that one day, she would have her entire subconscious erased, as Danny had threatened. Faye feared that her memories would be gone forever.

Curled up, hugging her pillow, a feeling of heartbreak and exhaustion once again overwhelmed Faye. If she hadn't had to constantly battle Danny, keeping her brain intensely active, she didn't know how she would have eased her sadness, how she would have forgotten her current situation.

She was being held captive, and the person Faye loved was far away.

Yoko, I want to go home.

Yoko, take me home.

.....

Danny disappeared for the next three days. When Faye opened her eyes again, she only saw bread and water on the table; the woman had not appeared. Faye didn't know what was happening, but she understood that things weren't that simple.

Pressing her ear to the floor, Faye could still clearly hear the movements of the henchman in the room below. He was always there, guarding, perhaps monitoring her via camera. A cautious and suspicious person like Danny would certainly not be foolish enough to imprison Faye with just a locked door; there always had to be someone supervising. Sensitive to sounds, Faye could distinguish the heavy feeling of his footsteps, and at the same time, she deduced that there was only one person and Danny was not here.

Faye walked around her 200 square meter prison, trying to act normal in front of the surveillance camera, thinking, thinking. Then Faye went near the window, took out the broken piece of glass she had been keeping for self-defense all this time. Faye walked near the window, pretending to admire the view outside the bars.

Looking outside the window frame, in the distance, was the flow of people passing by. Faye used the small piece of mirror, trying to reflect an SOS signal to the residents living nearby, hoping someone would notice. Faye had been doing this for many days now, at fixed times, with a fixed SOS message. Although she didn't know if it would succeed, Faye still tried to do something, hoping someone would recognize her cry for help.

Faye continued her boring day like this, when suddenly, looking from afar, Faye saw a black car with tinted windows driving into the villa. It was Danny's car; she had returned.

Discreetly putting the broken mirror piece into her pocket, Faye walked to the desk, picked up her guitar, and sat down.

The footsteps were quite hurried; Faye knew Danny was coming up. But Faye didn't expect that when she entered, her eyes and expression would be very serious, not leisurely as usual.

Danny threw a handbag onto the floor, urgently ordering,

"Put your things in here immediately, we have to go!!"

Faye completely ignored her words, continuing to play the guitar.

Angrily, Danny walked over and snatched the guitar from Faye's hands. Faye stood up, looking up. This time, there was no longer the usual feigned gentleness; Danny revealed her true face, her eyes blazing red with anger. She mercilessly threw the guitar to the ground, and despite Faye's height advantage, she grabbed Faye's shirt and pulled her down.

"I don't have time to play with you, pack your things immediately."

Hearing Danny's commanding voice, Faye was furious. The two struggled, Faye pulled her shirt out of Danny's hand, stepping back as far as possible from her.

Faye wasn't stupid; someone must be coming to make Danny lose her composure like this. This was her chance to end everything.

"You lost." Faye said softly, clearly indicating that she wouldn't obey, wouldn't comply, her hand reaching for the broken mirror in her pocket, ready.

"Lost? You're still in my hands, do you think it'll be that easy to escape?" Danny's eyes were malicious, she lunged forward and pushed Faye down, both falling onto the bed.

Danny sat on Faye, one hand tightly locking Faye's arm, the other gripping her chin.

Faye struggled to resist: "Let go of me, don't touch my face!!"

Danny's eyes were bloodshot, her cruel gaze gradually losing its sanity.

"Danny!! LET ME GO!!" Faye screamed, trying to break free.

"DON'T MOVE!!"

Suddenly, Danny roared in the hypnotic voice Faye had heard many times before. And as if frozen, Faye once again couldn't move. Danny was still sitting on her, her reddened eyes emanating desire.

Countless emotions burned through Faye: anger, disgust, injustice, sorrow, fear... Faye didn't want this, didn't want contact with this person, didn't want anyone to touch her. The feeling of revulsion made Faye want to vomit.

"No, don't do that!! I don't want to, don't touch me..." Faye couldn't move, but she could still speak, tears beginning to fall. At this moment, Faye felt more helpless than ever; the woman was insane, she could truly achieve her goal if she wanted to.

Danny completely lost her composure; she began to caress Faye's face.

"This beautiful face, it's mine. You are mine!!" She leaned down, embracing Faye's neck, kissing Faye's neck.

"I don't want to, don't do that..." Faye couldn't move, her hands clenched, feeling only disgusted, soiled, and afraid: "Don't, let me go..."

At this moment, Danny didn't realize that she was becoming the very person she detested most.

"Just this once, then I'll erase your memories, and you won't have to be sad anymore. You'll live happily, and you and I will return to our lives as before, by each other's side every day." Danny kissed Faye's neck, her entire body pressed against Faye's with no gap, her hand reaching down, wanting to unbutton Faye's shirt.

Faye closed her eyes, a feeling of helplessness spreading in her heart, a terrible, haunting, and dirty feeling; even this smell made Faye afraid and repulsed. Faye closed her eyes, understanding that she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. The feeling of being so broken that she no longer wanted to live, she didn't want to, if this happened, she would rather die.

"What you're doing, how is it different from him... You're forcing me like this, how is it different from that demon." Faye said very softly, but Danny heard it clearly.

She froze, as if an invisible hand had slapped Danny hard across the face, bringing back a sliver of her remaining human consciousness. Decades ago, it was precisely a hard slap to the face that caused Danny to lose consciousness, unable to resist, letting that man trample over her.

Danny stopped all her actions, sat up and looked at Faye, her eyes a maze of mixed emotions. And Faye didn't know how to escape this maze.

"Alright, I won't force you. I'll just erase your memories, and when you truly return to me, I'll wait for your voluntary consent."

Then, Danny squeezed Faye's neck, her eyes focused...

Immediately, Faye cautiously closed her eyes and said: "Don't do that!!" She couldn't let Danny hypnotize her again: "I'll listen to you. Danny, don't do that..."

Danny paused a second time: "You agree?"

"Don't you want me to come with you? Okay, I'll come with you. Calm down..." Faye tried to buy time, but her mind was racing wildly and desperately. Faye knew that if she went with Danny this time, there would be no escape; she would be forever mired here, imprisoned, manipulated, and controlled.

Rarely, a hint of joy appeared on Danny's face. She seemed to have gone mad, not very coherent anymore, so when she heard Faye agree to go with her, Danny became happy.

She got off Faye, and Faye also regained control of her body.

"I'll go pack and take a bath. Then we'll leave, okay?" Faye tried to speak as calmly as possible.

"Okay, okay... just agree." The insane Danny smiled happily. She stepped back from Faye, as if afraid that if she showed too much excitement, Faye would change her mind.

Faye sat up, picked up her bag, a few items, and went into the bathroom.

This was the only place here without surveillance cameras. Faye skillfully locked the door, turned on the water loudly, and let it fill a plastic bucket.

They used to say that if you immerse your hand in water while doing this, it would hurt less.

Faye took out the broken piece of glass she always kept with her for self-defense. Her left hand was submerged in the water, while her right hand tightly gripped the sharp shard of glass.

Faye was never stupid. All this time, on one hand, Faye tried to play mind games, converse, even sometimes flirt with Danny, with the sole purpose of survival. On the other hand, Faye always thought of ways to escape. Faye understood that she was just an actress, what her strength was like; she inherently couldn't overcome Danny's large henchman to leave this place. And with Danny's almost狂 loạn mind-controlling ability, Faye understood that it was already very lucky that Faye hadn't been harmed until now.

But Danny's moments of clarity and remaining humanity would gradually disappear. If she truly let Danny take her today, Faye would have only two outcomes: complete memory erasure, or being forced to do things Faye didn't want to.

Today, Danny disregarded everything and touched Faye, making Faye realize how much she resisted it, hated it, felt dirty... No, she didn't want it, not even in death.

For the past three months, hope and a positive mindset were what kept Faye sane and helped her overcome difficulties. But this time, despair was winning.

Sometimes she felt that if stopping breathing was a release, then so be it, just do it. Anything that could free Faye from this situation.

Danny had gone mad.

Faye was also driven to madness.

Closing her eyes, even though her hands had begun to tremble, Faye did not falter.

Yoko, I'm sorry.

I'm truly sorry...

One line, then as if to be sure, another cut.

The water in the bucket quickly turned red.

It turned out, it didn't hurt as much as she thought.

....

After a long wait, Faye still hadn't reappeared. Danny, now calm, began to feel suspicious. She walked to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Mali, are you okay?"

Danny frowned, feeling suspicious and uneasy. She still heard the sound of water running, even water overflowing to the edge of the door, but she didn't hear Faye. Only when she looked closely did Danny realize that the overflowing water was red.

Feeling afraid for the first time, Danny immediately took out a bunch of keys and opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, what met her eyes was a spreading red, everywhere was blood. Faye had one hand submerged in the bucket of water, the other holding the sharp, bloodied piece of broken glass. Faye's face was pale, her entire body leaning against the wall, the shower head was still pouring water over Faye, the whole scene was truly tragic and heartbreaking.

"MALI!!" Danny screamed. She grabbed a towel and rushed over, intending to wrap Faye's injured arm.

With her last bit of strength before completely losing consciousness from too much blood loss, Faye pushed her away.

Her beautiful phoenix eyes opened and looked at Danny. This time, there was no longer anger or revulsion; in Faye's eyes, all there was was liberation.

"Everything you helped me with that year, I'm returning it all to you..."

"No, no, the wound isn't deep, I can bandage it... Come, come with me." Danny lost her composure; she couldn't lose Mali, she couldn't!!: "I'm taking you home, I'm taking you home!!"

Faye's only sensation at this moment was pain; it truly hurt too much, her limbs were so cold. Faye said with difficulty: "You broke your promise to Mali..."

"What are you saying?" This was the first time Danny had heard Faye mention that incident from that year.

Faye closed her eyes, remembering Mali Khanthong's words, words that could save her.

"That day, you left Mali behind. You promised you would come back for Mali..." Faye opened her eyes, her pale face filled only with sorrow. What happened that year should never have happened: "...Nguyen, you broke your promise. You broke your promise to Mali."

Nguyen?!

Just one name immediately shattered all of Danny's defenses, causing her to collapse to the floor. How long had it been since she had heard that name, her own real name, the name she introduced herself with when she first met Faye decades ago.

"I'm Nguyen. Let's be friends..."

"Let's be friends, okay?"

"Mali is waiting here for you, Nguyen will come back, okay?"

Even Danny herself had forgotten this name. On that day, after that terrible thing happened, Danny was sent abroad. From then on, there was no one named Nguyen anymore.

Faye tried to ignore the pain, finishing her sentence: "Nguyen, it's all over. Mali kept her promise and waited for you at that street corner. For many years, you always had a chance to appear... You were the one who disappeared, you were the one who broke your promise..."

Mali Khanthong was gone, Nguyen was also gone.

"It's all over... don't force each other anymore. Let go."

That childhood memory should also fade away.