Knot me on ice, Captain(BL) Chapter 264: Leo, The boyfriend

Miller

The words Andrew said continued to echo loudly in my head even after we left Glacier Do and started heading ho, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not stop thinking about them.

An Enigma who truly falls in love becos terrifyingly devoted.

The sentence alone was enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

But the problem was not Andrew saying it.

The problem was the fact that Leo had gone unusually quiet afterward, which only proved that those words had affected him just as much as they affected .

Leo had barely spoken since we left the Do.

Normally, even when he was tired, he would still throw in sarcastic remarks or start dically diagnosing everyone around him for breathing incorrectly, but now?

There was nothing.

Just silence.

And honestly, that silence felt heavier than anything else.

I leaned my head slightly against the window of the car before turning to look at him again.

Streetlights reflected faintly across his face while his hands remained steady against the steering wheel.

"Hey," I muttered quietly, trying to start a conversation before the silence swallowed both of us completely. "Is everything going alright with you?"

Leo finally turned slightly toward , his eyes narrowing behind his glasses like he was waiting for to say sothing more.

I knew that look.

It was the look he always gave whenever he was pretending everything was fine when, in reality, it was not.

And honestly?

Leo was terrible at pretending.

What Andrew said was definitely still sitting heavily inside his mind, and even though I desperately wanted to understand what exactly he was thinking, I could not because he refused to speak.

That was the unusual part.

Leo always had sothing to say.

Even if it was criticism, dical lectures, or insults disguised as professional concern.

But now, it was just silence.

"Why are you staring at like that?" he finally asked after a long mont of silence.

I blinked once before realizing I had been openly watching him for the past several seconds.

"Your eyes should remain focused on the road and not on ," he continued calmly. "Visual distraction while operating a moving vehicle significantly increases delayed reaction ti, spatial miscalculation, and collision probability. Considering we are currently traveling above urban speed limits, I would strongly prefer not to experience blunt-force trauma tonight because you decided to stare emotionally at the driver."

That made snort softly.

"There he is."

Leo frowned slightly. "What does that an?"

"You are talking again."

"I was always talking."

"No," I said while shifting slightly in my seat. "You have been acting weird ever since we left the eting."

"I am not acting weird."

"You are."

Leo sighed quietly before looking back at the road ahead.

The city lights stretched endlessly around us while soft music played faintly through the speakers, but sohow the atmosphere inside the car still felt tense.

It was uncomfortable.

Like both of us were thinking too hard about things neither of us fully understood yet.

"You are overanalyzing things," Leo finally muttered.

"Andrew literally told us that Enigmas beco terrifying when they fall in love," I pointed out imdiately. "And then right after that, you suddenly started looking like you were preparing to dissect sobody in a laboratory."

"That is an exaggeration."

"Is it?"

Leo remained silent.

I stared at him for another mont before speaking again.

"You know, normal people would probably be concerned after hearing sothing like that."

"I am concerned," he admitted quietly.

That answer surprised slightly because Leo rarely admitted fear out loud.

Ever.

I straightened a little in my seat afterward.

"About what exactly?"

For a mont, he did not answer.

His fingers tightened slightly around the steering wheel before relaxing again.

Then finally, he spoke.

"My instincts have been worsening recently."

The casual way he said it imdiately made my stomach tighten.

"What does that even an?"

Leo exhaled quietly through his nose.

"It ans there are monts where my biological responses beco irrationally aggressive before logical thought catches up."

I frowned. "Aggressive how?"

His jaw tightened slightly.

"Territorial," he admitted after a pause.

I blinked once.

Then twice.

And suddenly my mind imdiately replayed every mont over the past few weeks where Leo looked ready to commit murder over the smallest things involving .

"Oh."

Leo glanced briefly toward before looking away again.

"Yes. Oh."

A small silence followed afterward.

Then suddenly I laughed softly under my breath.

Leo frowned imdiately. "What exactly is funny?"

"You."

"That explanation lacks detail."

I shook my head while laughing quietly again.

"You are seriously sitting here talking like you are so kind of dangerous science experint."

"That is because biologically speaking, I practically am."

"Leo."

"I am being serious."

The laughter slowly disappeared from my face after hearing the tone of his voice.

He really ant it.

"That is what worries ," he continued quietly. "I do not know where the line exists between control and instinct anymore. Even though we agreed to make things work between us, I do not want anything to co between us."

The honesty in his voice caught completely off guard.

Leo never talked like this.

Never.

And suddenly, for the first ti since Andrew’s conversation earlier, I realized this was genuinely terrifying him.

And sohow, it felt even worse than what happened on the island.

I leaned back slowly into my seat afterward.

"You are not going to hurt anybody," I said quietly. "We already talked about this, Leo. Everything is definitely going to be fine."

Leo did not answer imdiately.

And honestly?

I hated the silence, but there was nothing I could do about it, at least not for now.

So the rest of the drive passed quietly after that.

By the ti we finally reached my apartnt building, it was already late into the evening.

Leo parked the car smoothly near the entrance before turning the engine off.

"We should probably eat sothing," I muttered while unbuckling my seatbelt. "I am starving."

"That is because your eating schedule is dically irresponsible."

"There it is again."

Leo frowned slightly. "What?"

"The doctor lectures."

"They are necessary."

I laughed softly before stepping out of the car.

Cold night air imdiately wrapped around us while I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

Then I froze.

Soone was standing near the entrance of my apartnt building.

It was a familiar figure, and I could imdiately tell he was an oga from the faint lavender scent surrounding him. Dark curly hair fell ssily against his forehead, and the mont he noticed and stepped fully beneath the light, his face lit up instantly.

"Miller?" he said softly.

My eyes widened in shock.

No way, I thought.

The oga imdiately started walking toward with a huge smile stretched across his face.

"Oh my God," he laughed. "It is actually you."

"Jace?"

Leo stopped walking beside instantly.

anwhile, I was still too shocked to process what was happening because the oga standing in front of was soone I had not seen in years.

This was Jace.

My first oga boyfriend back in college.

Jace finally reached before imdiately throwing his arms tightly around my neck.

And because my brain completely stopped functioning from shock, I hugged him back automatically.

"You disappeared completely after graduation," Jace complained dramatically while pulling away slightly. "Do you know how many tis I tried contacting you?"

I laughed awkwardly. "I changed numbers."

"That is offensive."

Only then did I suddenly rember Leo standing beside .

The atmosphere around us shifted almost imdiately afterward.

I slowly turned my head toward him, and instantly my stomach tightened because Leo looked too calm.

Jace finally noticed him too.

"Oh," he blinked while looking between both of us curiously. "And who is this?"

Neither of us answered imdiately.

Then Leo finally spoke."Leo. The boyfriend."