If he could help it, Bright would rather sleep with anyone else than Hopkin.
This is a bit ambiguous and makes it sound as if Bright is promiscuous and unfaithful, so letâs put it another way.
Borrowing a 21 <sup>st</sup> century phrase, it would be even if all the men are dead except him, he would still not sleep with him.
This is a flag thatâs been toppled just after itâs been erected.
Hopkin is asking what if you have to choose between a six-year-old child and me?
Brightâs mind goes⌠you! You you you!
Bright has too many principles he wants to adhere to. He is greedy â he doesnât want to slaughter, doesnât want to indulge, doesnât want himself to be harmed, doesnât want to hurt innocent beings.
If his virginity can only be maintained with someone elseâs soul as price, then he would rather sacrifice the former.
At least the two parties are voluntary?
Not bloody likely!
Is it still rape if the male is forced? Is it still rape if they both feel pleasure? A relationship not built on violence, where one party is seduced and obeys, would it be any different to one that is threatened and has to obey?
This is complicated and relates to problems in culture, philosophy, morality and law and legality. Instead of all that, Bright believes that whether youâre the one poking or the one being poked, as long as it isnât voluntary, no matter the relationship between the two, their past or their future, non-voluntary is non-voluntary. It has forced its hand on free will and will be harmful.
Bright is reminded of the saxophone performance under the setting sun. It was a serene night. He managed to acquire power in front of the Inner City aristocrat. It was a delusion, but a happy delusion nonetheless. He has the life of the aristocrat in his palms, he has the right to decide whether he lives or dies, he even rejected the aristocratâs advances. He managed to get onto the moral high ground and look down on him from high above.
Right now, he can only laugh bitterly in his mind. That ended up being an illusion after all. In this City, he is a slave in cuffs. He is more often than not in a position of inferiority. All he has done is occasionally leap out of the pond and admire the boundless skies, imagine he has become a flying fish that can soar towards it.
Bright looks at the beautiful aristocrat. The black pair of eyes is fixated on him. They are standing between bookshelves, their breaths crossing each other. He can examine every inch of skin on Hopkinâs face, every fluttering of his eyelashes, every line on the pattern on his ruby-coloured lips.
When it comes to his appearance, Bright has always been with a lack of words. He doesnât know how to describe it, and he has to admit he is attracted to him. Purely on the grounds of his appearance, nobody can ignore Hopkinâs perfected looks that make him appear as if a deity. The first time he saw him, he assumed he was another star. If he were not stuck in the cesspool of human flesh, he might have been seduced blind.
Yet, under that layer of skin is such a terrifying monster. The heart and mind of a devil that is adept at manipulating emotions, threatening and enticing. Bright believes a new colour should be named, just describing him as âblack,â âinkyâ or âtenebrousâ is insufficient. Perhaps it could be called âInner City,â or âShithead.â
Who would threaten someone with an offspring that carries their own genes?
Who would be able to commit so many atrocious acts to acquire someone?
In Hopkinâs eyes, the experiment sample is only a means to an end, a necessary tool for his goals.
That name âHopeâ is not given by Hopkin. It was the sick humour of Scientist in actuality. He probably thought that since their genes are related they might as well give him a similar name. Naming him ironically like that is also interesting. A child with top of the line intelligence and physique, full of hope and potential, and yet he is a child that is unwanted. One of his biological father wants to use him to torture his other biological father, who is therefore on guard against him, lest he invests parental love and be damned.
Hopkin likes Brightâs kind and affectionate expressions. While in the presence of cameras, the man can still control his expressions to only be gentler than normal, but when the cameras canât see him, he is always so soft, full of affection, even indulgence for the child.
The carnivorous beast casually hanging out under the camera that he is, he might be resting but he is still alert and dangerous; through the experiment sampleâs eyes, another part of him emerges. Bright has let go of part of his pretensions, and using the attentiveness and diligence that is unique to the man to take care of Hope meticulously.
The man will patiently wipe clean every droplet of water on Hopeâs body, covering up his little feet with a towel, lightly separating his cute, round toes and dry the moisture within completely; the man will dry his hair for him and flatten every strand of hair that is shooting up unrulily; he would have the child open his mouth wide after brushing his teeth to check whether they have been cleaned well or not, and then reward him with a good-night kiss.
The man might not even have noticed it himself, but he has already been entrapped in this scheme covered in sugar and honey. He might have thought he could withstand it, and act normal under all the cameras, but what Hope can see, or, what Hopkin can âsee,â is the eyes of a doting father towards his son.
Hopkin can taste the sweetness and sourness of a grape about 80% ripe. He would give the sweetness 4.5 stars. There is a slight sourness that is perfectly fitting with the sweetness of the fruit. He canât help but to have another taste, have another go.
A single round grape followed by another. The surface appearing crystalline and clear, like a purple gemstone. Juicy and high in sugar content, with a bit of coolness that satisfies his thirst.
Hopkin has started to indulge in the whole-hearted care of the man. Towards that young offspring with the same brown pair of eyes as himself, Brightâs every movement is careful, showing how much he cherishes and how important he is.
Those are all trivialities, but it is exactly those details so minor one would ignore, that they become valuable after the man shows how much he cares about them.
Every time when washing the little guy and before the hot water splashes onto him, Bright would test the temperature first. He would only wash him starting from the bottom up when he feels the temperature is appropriate, or he would start washing from his extremities so that the little guy has time to adapt. He would also observe his reaction, and if the current is too strong or the temperature is too low, he would adjust it immediately. It is probably all these little details of his affection that the little guy quickly familiarised himself with him. Children are pretty sensitive to who is treating them with care and affection.
Hopkin admits that the plan of him sending Bright Hope has brought him endless pleasure. He has managed to be pleasured every time he feels the touch of the man, but this is also making him dissatisfied.
Those feelings transmitted through a medium is far from sufficient to satiate his desires. He is like a traveller who is quenching his thirst with seawater, the more they drink the more thirsty they are. He is never feeling satisfied.
Besides the sexual aspect, another thing is angering him.
Even others are securing Brightâs kindness so easily, except him. Besides some progress with his initial deception, he has always been facing hardships. Since the exposure of his identity, he has never been able to extract even a single strand, a single slither of emotion that can be said to be kindness from the man.
This is making Hopkin inexplicably angry. The emotions of his heart boiling like lava.
It is really perhaps those strange emotions that cause the aristocrat to treasure the slave, because of those emotions that he cannot obtain.
The man likes the protect and take care of the weak and young. This is his lethal weakness. It is unfortunate that he can no longer pretend he is a victim or someone that needs help. Or he could have done it with less effort.
He can only go about it creatively.
Using the manâs doting, patronising affection towards the experimental sample to threaten him to submission.
Hopkin is waiting patiently, he believes he will not fail.
Those brown pair of eyes are darkening, the shame in them being overtaken by sarcasm, âdo you want a man that badly?â
As the winner, Hopkin does not think that the slave expressing his dissatisfaction with language is any problem at all. He has acquired the fruit and he is almost putting it into his mouth. He will not mind these inconsequential details while he is in such a good mood. He can tolerate his transgressions with his accepting self.
âPleasure me.â The aristocrat has ordered without much variation in his expression. He is looking at Bright no different from looking at a gigolo or a human-shaped vibrator.
Only he himself knows that as the slaveâs hands are unbuttoning his clothes in accordance with his wishes, he is so excited even his soul is trembling.
The manâs actions are mechanical, perhaps due to stiffness, due to unwillingness. In any case, he executes his order anyway.
Hopkinâs gaze looks fixedly at the silent man. He is expressionless and quietly doing what he is requested to do. His tense muscles and intentionally blank expression has revealed his restlessness.
Hopkin is both thrilled and dissatisfied. Thrilled because he is finally able to manipulate this powerful man, making him feel pain and lose his sanity because of himself; though this is a bit different from his expectations, as he is already used to the kind expressions, his eyes curving into a smile and his treatment of care mixed with cherish through the experiment sample⌠Right now, facing the slave who is suddenly as emotionless as a marionette, he feels uncomfortable.
Yet he doesnât want to stop.
It is like he knows his cook is slacking off, and he can definitely make food more delicious, but because he is a famous cook, and even his slacking produces extraordinary feasts, he endures.
Hopkin thinks he still has time anyway.
There will come a day he tames this tiger, make him retract his sharp claws for him willingly.
He seems to have realised there is no turning back on this, the man starts acting roughly, mixed with anger. Different to how proper he still looks, a button of Hopkinâs shirt has flown away, and several creases have appeared on his shirt making him look messy.
Hopkin knows that he is probing him and expressing his dissatisfaction. Most of his clothes have already been undressed, though the slaveâs is still properly on.
When the slightly cold hand touches his skin, Hopkin furrows his brows lightly.
âSir, is there anything you are dissatisfied with for my service?â
The man asks coldly, acting as if the moment the other person nods he would stop because of that. He would rather accept cruel punishments than touch him further.
The aristocrat urges him on with his eyes.
The slave becomes even more depressed. He is like a cornered beast, nervously pacing about in his predicament. He is acting even more roughly. He pushes the aristocrat onto the bookshelves fiercely, clashing his back with the cold hard metal frames. His fragile and young skin is reddened.
Hopkin has let out a brief sound and resists a bit out of reflex. Then he latches onto the manâs collars as if in welcome, making him unable to leave himself.
As if trying to avoid his control, the man kneels down gradually. With no foreplay, he puts the thing right into his mouth.
His long fingers are latching onto Brightâs head through his soft and dense hair, in the same way that that strange seed the man has planted unwittingly into Hopkinâs heart, trying to tangle himself into his blood and flesh, without releasing, no matter what kind of pain and harm it might bestow upon Hopkin.
Too cruel, too cruel, this is too muchâŚ
So happy, so happy, I want moreâŚ
âIs your excellency pleased with me biting you?â
The man stops mischievously as soon as he can feel intense pulsing.
The torture is overriding his pleasure, and Hopkin is getting furious too.
âIf you do not satisfy meâŚâ Hopkinâs hands that are on his hair loosens, changing into a light patting, as if warning a pet by lightly patting on its head. He says in a low tone, in haggard breath, âyou donât want anyone else to suffer because of your failure in your job, do you?â
His answer comes in the form of wave after wave of pleasure.