Chapter 1838

Instead of heading out to eat, Wilfred decided to head home. It was the weekend, and with Mrs. Santos off-duty, they could cook for themselves. The fridge had just enough ingredients left for a proper meal. Karina pulled out an unopened carton of cream and called toward the living room, “Do you like cream of mushroom soup?”
A response came from Wilfred, and with his approval, she got to work preparing the ingredients.
The dishes she planned weren’t particularly complicated, so in no time, the table was filled with food. After all the bustling in the kitchen, Karina almost forgot the reason she had come in the first place. But seeing Wilfred pick up his utensils brought her back to her thoughts.
“I wanted to ask you about your sleepwalking last night. Mrs. Santos said it happens often,” she said, her tone filled with concern.
Karina had known Wilfred for quite a while now, and their relationship was fairly close. Yet she had never heard about his sleepwalking, not from him nor anyone else. That could only mean one thing he had deliberately kept it a secret.
And judging by what Mrs. Santos said, this wasn’t a recent development. It had been going on for a long time.
Worry crept into her voice as she continued, “Sleepwalking isn’t something to ignore. You can’t just pretend it’s not a problem…”
Wilfred interrupted her calmly, “I called you here to talk about that night. But let’s finish eating first.”
Karina frowned, wanting to press him further. Holding everything inside felt suffocating, and she was afraid she would get indigestion if she tried to eat with so much on her mind.
But Wilfred’s tone, though mild, left no room for argument. After a moment of hesitation, she picked up her spoon.
As she expected, the meal was far from enjoyable. The silence wasn’t comforting-it was stifling. The air was thick with suppressed tension, a forced calm that made every bite hard to swallow.
Karina barely managed to eat a little before giving up entirely. Glancing across the table, she noticed Wilfred was already wiping his mouth. He hadn’t eaten much either, clearly affected by the same unease. The moment she set her spoon down, she spoke. “Can we talk now?”
Wilfred looked at her, and seeing no resistance in his expression, Karina took a deep breath and said, “I understand that you might have things you don’t want to talk about. But we’ve known each other for so long. I thought we were close
enough to trust each other by now.
“You know everything about me. Why, when it comes to you, do you keep things hidden? I’m not a child. I can handle it. You don’t have to keep things from me. That’s all I wanted to say. Your turn now.”
Wilfred stayed silent for a long moment.
He had anticipated this. From the moment she left yesterday, he knew she would put the pieces together and come to him with questions.
This exact scene had played out in his mind countless times. He had imagined her expressions, her words, her reactions-all of it. Finally, he spoke, his voice steady but heavy with meaning.
“I was… kept as a test subject,” Wilfred said quietly. “You could think of it as a form of slavery.”
As the words left his lips, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders, a burden he had carried for far too long.
It turned out that confessing wasn’t as difficult as he had imagined.
But the credit belonged to Karina. If
it hadn’t been for the things she had
said just moments ago, he might never have found the courage to verha
share this truth-not in this lifetime.
en FindNovel
IMS
Karina’s eyes widened as she stared at him, her mind racing to process what she had just heard. Confusion and disbelief flashed across her face before settling into shock. “Slavery?” she repeated.