The warmth on my face woke me up. The light above shot its glow on me. Getting up on a bed, I found myself in my room with my pajamas. Nothing I remembered except the fist on my temple and the blood that rippled. The headache came. I plopped back to the mattress. Lanzo...where was he? Those men ambushed him. Could he survive? What if they abducted and detained him somewhere? I had to ask Brad. The pain deterred me from moving. My body was still too weak. It was hard for me even to reach the door that wasn't closed. Someone might just get out of this room and carelessly let it open. "Ms. Grayson…" With my shaking voice, I tried to reach out for help. But, none heard me. "Mr. Thompson…." I didn't want to give up easily with my situation. Maybe, If I kept calling their names, they would come eventually. "Miss. Dawson…." I could breathe in relief seeing Brad rushing to the door."Where is Lanzo?" That was my first question since I worried about him too much. I was afraid that they wo
Lanzo didn't even take a final look at me. The way he treated me nonchalantly dug a deeper hole of loneliness and uneasiness in my heart. And it was weird that his oblivion upset me. Was I in love with him? I shouldn't have let love grow as I knew that it would only result in disappointment. Lanzo wouldn't develop the same feeling. Staggering, I managed to get up. I felt no water falling on my hair. Did the rain stop suddenly? When I looked up, the umbrella barricaded the downpour. Turning around, Lanzo had been at my back with one hand securing the umbrella. "Go, get changed. You're soaking wet." Without a protest, I obeyed him, slowly descending the stairs. He loyally counted his steps behind me, protecting my head with the umbrella. If it were a drama, it would be the most romantic scene I had in my lifetime. But, I didn't want to set high expectations. As a kind-hearted person, Lanzo did this as a form of sympathy. He would do the same thing to anyone who was in my position.
"Lanzo...wait!" It was useless; he disappeared in the next corridor when I was trying to run after him. Something bad must have happened to him. Who assaulted him that he ended up battered? That wasn't important to think about now; what mattered was to help Lanzo get his wound treated by a doctor before it was too late. Instead of roaming around to look for Lanzo, I jogged to the reception office to report it to Brad. He could be of any help with this. At least, he would know what to do. And Lanzo wouldn't refuse his initiative Catching my breath, I recounted Lanzo's pathetic condition to Brad who listened to me attentively. He swiftly went to his room after I shared the information with him. Meanwhile, I waited nervously in the reception room since I didn't have any access to the boy's room. In no time, Brad was back alone. I wondered why he didn't come with Lanzo. Where was that boy? Did he turn down Brad's assistance?"How is Lanzo?" I inquired in panic."Don't worry. The doc
The picture of those two men attacking Lanzo reminded me of what Yura had been through. Before losing her life, that girl went out of the dorm with them. Would Lanzo end up the same? I jerked, getting rid of that negative thought. It was just a picture; it wouldn't prove anything. My concern for Lanzo kept growing inside me and sucked my attention. Until the day shifted, uneasiness still caged me. The only thing I feared was Lanzo would share the same fate as Yura's. My eyes flinched open. I had locked myself in my room for a few hours upon my arrival from the academy. Even skipping my dinner did not matter to me. Everything about Lanzo confiscated my mind now that I forgot to have my meal. The knock on the door drove me to roll out of my bed. A servant arrived with food. Ensuring I received my meal, she turned away. I just eyed the battered fish with large chips without having the desire to taste them. I had already lost my appetite to eat.In an hour, that servant came back; m
The tense inExhibitionlong with Lanzo's roaring voice. No one dared to intervene as his hand hauled the boy's collar. In a second, that boy's body ended up on the crystal clear floor with a grimace on his bruised temple after it crashed to the ground. My effort to mediate them was all in vain since the incident happened in a blink of an eye. The bodyguard took the boy out of the room. Meanwhile Lanzo ambled toward his seat like nothing occurred; he even ignored the glasses boy who thanked him. The situation got back to normal in a few minutes. The food silenced us. Next thirty minutes, the intelligentsia emptied the room. My punishment kept me in the breakfast room for the next ten minutes. I had to assist the staff to clean the table. "You did a great job today, Ms. Dawson." A praise came out of that beautiful smile of one of the staff. "And to be honest, I appreciate your bravery to handle the hard situation this morning.""That sounds exaggerated. I did nothing. It was Lanzo wh
The screen in the classroom was on; the head of the academy's face popped up. Information revealed. He announced that we had to go to the hall. In only a few minutes, the classroom was vacant. The intelligentsia marched toward the auditorium. There might be an important issue he would convey. Ha had been on the stage welcoming us when we were entering the hall. His expression turned frigid with our presence as if he withheld the tense under the cold atmosphere. What would he tell us this time? Was it about the rumor Rein told me last night?"I summoned you here as I have an important announcement for you. The participant of Student Exchange has been selected. And she has held her solo exhibition as a part of reward for being elected in the event. The host academy has contacted me. So, Dylanesa Dawson will leave for the host academy tomorrow." That news left me with shock. The mumble crowded the hall. I was just dumbfounded, not knowing if I should be happy or sad. It was too sudden.
My intution whispered there was something wrong with this journey. The way they acted and treated me asserted they had bad intentions toward me. But I was powerless. I couldn't come up with a single idea how to deal with this situation. And regret haunted me; if only I had listened to Lanzo and withdrawn from the program, I wouldn't have experienced this nightmare. I was just afraid that they were kidnappers or the worst, a part of human trafficking mafia. The car devoured the street, passing through the bumpy road. It caused instability of the vehicle. My head almost touched the ceiling. Luckily, the seatbelt saved me. My stomach roiled in nausea. Puke threw out of my mouth. In no time, the white slimy wetted my laps. Grabbing the handkerchief, I was trying to clean it. However, a snarl from the blonde haired men sitting next to the driver jerked me up. Resentment had masked his stern face when my eyes met his. "How dare you dirty the car with your puke?" I had no time to respond
"Is it you, Mom?" With my palm on my mouth, I walked toward that woman whose body kept moving forward. "Mom…" I called her again but no response I heard from her. Nevertheless, her smile hadn't gone even until our distance was only one meter away."I am not your mother, darling." Her smirk frightened me even though she did nothing which could harm me. "You must be yearning to meet your mother so much that you hallucinated.""No, your face….""My face? Sometimes, someone's face can outwit people, darling. I may look like your mother. But, I am not her." I stuck where I was in silence, enchanted by her words. Then, her hand gradually groped jer face, peeling something from it. She wore a mask. In less than a minute, that mask unsealed and revealed her real face. A woman with purple orbs popped up. I moved backward. "Who are you?" "Does it matter for you to know who I am?" Her eyes dilated while her head leaned toward me. It was as if her mouth wanted to gulp me whole alive. This woma