Hearing her question, Jay drew in a sharp breath and hurried to clarify,
"I was talking about the apple Moona, and Maxi gave ."
Only then did he realize, with a sudden jolt of guilt, that he had never ntioned it to Ember before.
His words spilled out in a rush, every detail laid bare, as if honesty alone could undo the danger he had already invited inside their lives.
Ember froze once she heard everything.
She stared at Jay as if she were looking at a complete fool. "Why didn’t you wear gloves?"
Her voice trembled, sharp with panic she could no longer hide.
"I did," Jay answered imdiately, lifting his hands as if to prove it.
"I wore gloves the whole ti. I don’t know how it still happened, but sohow... I still got contaminated."
Those words struck Ember like a blow. Her fingers began to shake, a cold dread crawling up her spine.
Ivy’s voice echoed in her mind, clear and rciless.
’In the past, Jay took care of you even after you beca a half-zombie.’ Ember swallowed hard. ’Then this ti... if Jay turns into one, I won’t leave him either.’
Yet fear blood in her chest, thick and suffocating.
In her previous life, she had been the one who changed.
In this life, it was Jay. ’Is this destiny mocking us?’ she wondered bitterly.
’Or is it warning us that so things can never truly be escaped, no matter how hard we try to turn fate around?’
Her hands clenched into fists, nails biting into her palms as she looked at Jay with raw worry etched across her face.
Jay sensed the shift in her emotions imdiately.
His brows furrowed, and instinctively he took half a step forward, then stopped.
Fear flickered in his eyes as he pulled back, afraid that even a simple touch might harm her.
That hesitation shattered sothing inside Ember.
Her heart ached as mories she never lived pressed down on her.
’In my past life, I reacted just like this, didn’t I?’
Ivy had told her again and again how she had ignored Jay, how she had cut off all contact for Ivy’s sake.
’So even now,’ Ember thought painfully, ’even when we’re given another chance, are we still ant to lose each other?’
She shook her head almost violently, rejecting that thought.
’No.’ Jay was hers. Zombie or human, it didn’t matter.
She would stay. But the realization of how deeply Jay must have suffered in her previous life tore at her heart.
Ivy had said that after Ember turned into a zombie, she had hidden away, watching them from afar, avoiding Jay even when he reached out.
Tears welled up in Ember’s eyes. Before Jay could react, she rushed forward and clung to him tightly, her arms wrapping around him as if letting go would an losing him forever.
Jay panicked, his body stiffening as he struggled awkwardly, trying not to touch her, trying to pull away without hurting her.
"Ember, don’t..." his voice broke.
"If we’re not destined to be together as humans," Ember whispered fiercely, her face buried against his chest, "then let’s beco half-zombies together. If we’re the sa, we can still stay together."
Jay’s fear spiked at her words, and he tried to pull back again, but then he froze.
His eyes widened in horror as he noticed sothing impossible. The dark blotches on his hand were gone.
Completely gone. The skin looked normal, untainted, as if nothing had ever been there.
The next second, he pushed Ember away gently but urgently and grabbed her hands, scanning her from head to toe.
His breath ca fast and uneven as he checked her arms, her neck, her face, as if expecting to find even the smallest sign of infection.
When he realized she was perfectly fine, he looked around in disbelief, then back at her, confusion written all over his face.
Ember felt it too. Sothing was wrong.
She followed his gaze to his hand and sucked in a breath.
It was clean. Smooth. Untouched. The horrifying blotches she had seen earlier were gone, as if they had never existed at all. For a mont, silence fell between them, heavy and unreal.
"Jay," Ember finally murmured, her voice unsteady, "what just happened... can it happen only once?"
Jay clenched his fist slowly, his expression turning serious, thoughtful. "I want to test sothing."
Her heart skipped. "Test... what?" she asked, worry flooding her voice.
"Can you cut the tip of your finger?" Jay continued, his tone controlled but tense.
Ember didn’t hesitate. She knew exactly what he was trying to do.
’If he’s going to turn into a zombie,’ she thought resolutely, ’then I’ll turn into one with him.’
She bit her lip, then bit down on the tip of her finger. A sharp sting flared, and crimson blood welled up almost instantly.
Jay leaned closer, inhaling carefully, his senses alert, watching for any reaction within himself.
Blood was known to lure zombies, to awaken their hunger. If he felt even the slightest urge, it would an he was no longer human. He stared intently, waiting for his body to betray him.
Nothing happened.
Relief washed over him so suddenly that his legs felt weak. His shoulders slumped as the tension drained away. Ember didn’t wait another second.
She threw her arms around him again, laughing shakily as she hugged him tight, convinced that everything was finally all right.
Still, her heart pounded violently in her chest.
’One wrong step,’ she realized, ’and everything could have ended.’
For the first ti, she truly understood how terrifying a researcher’s job was.
One mistake, and the consequences could be irreversible.
Suddenly, Ember pulled back and glared at Jay.
"You’re never going near that apple again," she snapped.
"If it can contaminate soone even through gloves, then who knows what else it could do?"
Jay shook his head, excitent slowly lighting up his eyes despite the lingering fear.
"Or," he countered softly, "maybe that apple has a way to make soone immune to the zombie virus."
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