1

"Hate is too strong a homework."

When the director revealed the real reason behind everyone being there, it was difficult to hold back a manic laughter. Blackmail? That piece of trash of a mother wouldn't even give up one sad yuan to have them back. She would probably tell the police, knowing the first instructions were always "do not engage with the kidnapper on your own nor give them what they want, hold on until we manage to track them down". She'd have such a great excuse to get rid of them for good, and the director thought it was a win? They wouldn't have made it out of Matsu School even if that bastard had genuinely planned on giving the students back to those who paid. Shuang had been doomed from the start, and it made them feel a sick satisfaction, to know that even if they were indeed to die there at least the mind behind it all wouldn't get what they wanted. Not from them at least.

And then their assignment was announced. Whoever was behind that robotic cat sure had a twisted sense of humor. Their stomach was already in knots, and not one word had been crossed between them yet, staring at the door and trying to find the resolve to grab the handle and push it open. Shuang knew long before he entered who he'd find on the other side, but it didn't make it any easier to walk in and face it. Between them and their mother, the resentment was deeply rooted and unshakable. And Shuang despised their own heart for still holding so much love for her. They'd make each other's lives miserable, and still like magnets get pulled back to each other anyway. Like whatever the twisted relationship they had was the only home they could ever get to know, and it would take a stranger kidnapping them, to free them from one another. Well, now not even that.

"If I'm being honest, I've always known you'd be the death of me." Those harsh words greet Shuang as they close behind them. Her stern voice didn't waver. It rarely ever did, but her eyes were puffy and red, badly covered behind the otherwise neat make up she wore. She'd probably been crying about herself. Her situation, her pain, her fear. The self pity and self importance of this woman knew no bounds even before all this. What began with Shuang’s anger after her divorce ended up turning into a war. They'd lie to her lovers and ruin her every oportunity at happiness, sometimes within weeks, sometimes after letting her believe it was going to last for once. Punishment for letting father go, for pushing him away.

They didn't even need to wonder if she'd cried for them once since she started getting blackmailed. "They certainly have left you a fair share of toys to decide from." She says not bothering to look back at the shelfs full of weaponry. However long she’d been in the room, it had been enough for her to look over each one of them and accept her situation with a dignity she probably didn't quite deserve.

"Oh come now mother, I would never dream of it." It was absurdly unfortunate, that the two most intense feelings anyone could have for someone were directed to the same person. Yenay looked as elegant as always, well suited with an expensive dress she could barely afford but bought anyways and leaving a faint trace of overly sweet perfume through the room. It felt so familiar it was hard to believe this could be anything but real. Like home. It made Shuang's heart ache with the firm conviction they'd never see each other again after all this was over. They had entertained the thought so many times before, but it had never been so palpable. University, moving out, cutting ties. The theory and fantasy always carried along a vague sense of euphoria and freedom that was nowhere to be found now. When they looked at her there was only anguish. "Is that really the kind of person you believe me to be?"

She laughs, but the sound that comes out is humourless and broken. "I suppose not. I'd need to think of you as a person for that." The silence that follows feels heavy in the room, broken only by Shuang's steps towards the shelf and the clanging of the weapons against one another as they put them inside a bag. And when they zipped it closed and left it just on the outside of their dorm, she finally felt like she could start breathing again. The tension didn't dissipate however, not even after Shuang opened the door of the cell and said, almost to themselves "The bed's going to be tight fitting us both, but as you can see I don't have a couch to offer."

And as days started to pass, it got harder to be on the same room as Yenay and not end up yelling and arguing. Sharing blames and past mistakes just to keep hurting each other. Things that couldn't possibly have anything to do with how they'd end up there were brought up anyway, in a mutual attempt to dig the metaphorical knife deeper. Forgetting to get them from school, locking them on their room until her date was gone no matter how many hours passed, giving them just enough affection to keep them aching for it. Or Shuang's loose tongue, every friend that left her after a seemingly innocent comment they made regarding their husbands, every man he'd scared away calling them dad, just to keep her so desperately alone. It was best to stay away from each other, even if at night the silence and warmth of each other's bodies seemed strangely comforting to keep the fear away.

Until the last night arrived. Killing the person brought to each room shouldn't have been the obvious go-to solution. Or at least they didn't think it would be, for most people. But as the week had advanced they'd heard and seen things. Strong noises, cries of pain, changes of attitude among the students. It made them increasingly anxious over their own situation. Were they the one staying behind? Who couldn't hate their most hated person enough to go through with this game? It was hard to think clearly, to keep their mind from going into a thousand tangents of possibilities and best course of action. When she asked what was wrong, they couldn't do much but to stare and struggle to come up with the words.

Eventually though, they found them.

"You know what's wrong. You know I should have killed you the first day you showed up here. I'm going to be the one that gets..." They pause, slow steps towards her. "No. No you know what? You're going to be a decent fucking mother for once. Isn't that what most of them would do? Die for their kid? Become their willing sacrifice?" Their hands are shaking as they wrap around her neck, and it feels so thin when they squeeze. She tries to scratch and fight to get away, of course she does, and Shuang finds themselves thinking how even if she was almost as tall as them, she really seemed small now. Weak. Blurry? Why was she blurry too? They blink forcing the tears to fall and they laugh, almost histerically as they fall on her cheeks. "No, don't be sad. It might take me a while but I'll come back to you."