Emotions were not a right; they were a privilege.

In the Dominion, every citizen was implanted at birth with a Regulator—an intricate neural device that restricted feelings unless permission was granted by the Bureau of Emotional Stability. Happiness, anger, love, sorrow—all rationed, monitored, and distributed like rations in a war-torn world. Without clearance, any attempt to feel was met with excruciating pain, a reminder that emotions were dangerous if left unchecked.

Kiran had never questioned the system. It kept society in balance. No wars, no chaos, no unnecessary suffering. People applied for emotions when needed: a burst of joy for a wedding, sorrow for a funeral, motivation for a project. All controlled. All safe.

But everything changed the day he saw her.

She wasn’t particularly beautiful by traditional standards, but when Kiran’s eyes met hers—dark and knowing, as if she had unlocked a secret the rest of the world had forgotten—something inside him stirred. It was faint, like a whisper in his blood, but it was unmistakable.

Unauthorized Attraction Detected.

Pain shot through his skull. His vision blurred, the familiar burn of the Regulator kicking in. He stumbled, gripping the nearest railing, gritting his teeth as the sensation tore through him.

The girl—Lena—tilted her head. “You felt something, didn’t you?” she asked, a strange smile tugging at her lips.

Kiran barely managed to nod.

“You don’t have to obey it, you know.”

His breath hitched. No one spoke like that. It was treason. The Bureau executed people for less.

But before he could respond, she pressed something into his palm—a small metal chip. “Meet me at the edge of the city tonight.” Then she was gone, disappearing into the crowded streets.

That night, he went.

Lena led him to an abandoned facility, hidden beneath layers of overgrown ivy and shattered glass. “This is where it started,” she whispered. “Where they learned how to take our emotions away.”

She guided him to a chair, wires dangling like dead roots from the ceiling. “I can deactivate your Regulator.”

His heart pounded—fear, excitement, anticipation. Feelings he hadn’t been granted clearance for.

“Once it’s off, there’s no going back,” Lena warned. “You’ll feel everything. All at once.”

Kiran swallowed. A life without permission. A life of his own.

He sat down.

And he felt.

Pain, grief, love, longing, rage—emotions long suppressed burst forth in a tidal wave, crashing into him with an intensity that nearly drove him mad. Tears streamed down his face, unbidden, unfamiliar.

For the first time in his life, he wept.

And for the first time in his life, he truly lived.

But the Bureau did not tolerate defiance.

By morning, alarms wailed across the city. His identity had been flagged. The Regulators, once silent, now pulsed with a new directive: Eliminate the anomaly.

Kiran and Lena ran.

Because now, they weren’t just rebels.

They were human.

And they would never be controlled again.