3
After a moment of deadly silence, he broke the silence of our eye contact.
“When did you come? Can you walk now? Why are you out here?”
I lied in panic, looking up at him with moist eyes,
“I just came. I felt anxious when I couldn’t see you, couldn’t sleep.”
Zack seemed surprised and touched by my “dependence“. He came forward and picked me up in his arms, his movements as gentle as if I were made of porcelain. “Be good, I’ll tell you a story to help you sleep.”
I looked up and saw Vanessa’s twisted face behind him, full of malice.
It seemed that because I had ruined Vanessa’s plans, her hostility towards me became even more obvious.
The next morning, she cornered me in the stairwell.
“Aria looks so pale,” her fingers with wine–red nail polish dug into my shoulder,
그
4:04 PM
<
“You’re not pretending to be sick to get Zack’s attention, are you?”
I winced in pain and tried to pull her forceful hand away, but she grabbed my wrist instead, squeezing so hard it felt like she would crush the
bone.
“Aria? Where are you?” Zack’s voice calling for me came from around the corner of the stairs.
Just as I was about to call for help, Vanessa suddenly pressed my hand against her waist and threw herself down the stairs like a self–destructive snake.
“Be careful!” I reached out as she fell, but only grasped thin air.
When Zack rushed over, he saw her fall like a broken–winged butterfly down the long, high staircase.
Blood seeped from her knees, arms, and forehead, blooming like red plum blossoms on the white marble.
“It wasn’t me…” My trembling explanation was cut off by a slap.
Zack pinned me against the wall by my throat, his pupils crawling with bloodshot: “How dare you?!”
“She pushed me…” Vanessa pointed at me, shaking, tears falling, “She hates me…”
Zack’s eyes turned completely cold.
His fist fel!. By the time I counted to the hundredth blow, I finally heard the crisp sound of three of my ribs breaking.
The taste of blood rose in my mouth. Before my vision blurred, I saw Vanessa’s curled lip – it was a victor’s smile.
In the darkness, I was thrown onto the cold floor.
Opening my swollen eyes, I saw Zack gently wiping Vanessa’s tears with a silk handkerchief, his lips pressed against her earlobe as he
whispered:
“She really never learns. Vanessa, I’ll get revenge for you. This time, I’ll let you watch in person as a group of men ravish her.”
Vanessa’s light laugh was like a poisonous snake’s hiss, “Can I choose the men myself?”
“Of course, whatever makes you happy.”
D
As the basement door lock clicked shut, I fumbled to break off my necklace. Cold tears mixed with blood splattered onto the screen of the mini communicator hidden in the necklace.
As I pressed the SOS button, the screen’s cold light illuminated the black and blue handprints on my collarbone.
“Brother, I lost the bet. Come save me…”
Five years ago, I ignored my brother’s objections and went on a hunger strike to be with Zack, the notorious playboy prince of the city.
My brother looked at me with disappointment, “I’ll agree for now, but you must hide your identity as the princess of the Jiang family in the capital. If you can last ten years together, I’ll give you all the Jiang family’s vast fortune as your dowry.”
I smiled naively, “Brother, he’s already reformed and sworn to love me in this life, the next life, and for all eternity. You can put your mind at
ease…”
Hah, back then I was confident we would love each other for ten years, a hundred years… but in reality, we couldn’t even make it to five years.
