The Zenith System

Chapter 014

“What happened to him?”

“He was beaten up. Someone saw him in the alley and called for help to get him here.”

Zack groans as he blinks and tries to focus on the voices around him. His eyes slowly adjust and he sees two figures standing over him. He immediately recognizes one of them as Celeste. He tries to sit up, but pain shoots through his body and he groans again.

“Celeste?” he whimpers.

“Are you now ready to tell me what’s happening with you?” she asks, a scolding tone in her voice.

He grimaces as memories of the beating flood back into his mind. He winces in pain, trying to sit up again. He was beaten up more than he thought.

“You’ve been badly beaten up, Zack. You need to rest,” the male nurse says as he places a hand on Celeste’s shoulders. “Be kind, Celeste. I will leave now, but if you need help, just tell me.“

She nods and when the nurse leaves and closes the door, Zack fears the incoming admonishment. She didn’t speak immediately though, but she moves closer and checks all the injuries he sustained.

When she raises his arms, he groans.

“That’s painful, huh?” she asks. Then she presses on his chest and asks, “How about this?”

“Aw! Stop! That hurts!”

She glares at him. She is getting more angry by the second, the more she checks his injuries.

“This, too?!” she asks, her voice rising.

“Aw! Why do you sound angry? Do you need something? I will get it for you.”

She presses against his stomach, and he gasps in pain. “You stay in bed, asshole!” she screams at him.

He freezes as panic rises within him. Celeste never really raises her voice with anger like this. The only times she shouts are when she’s being lazy; being a pain in the ass; and when she’s asking for a lot of things to be brought to her.

“You are not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on with you!” she scolds, her lips pursed in anger, and her chest heaving.

He looks around, searching for anything to protect himself against her anger. He’s been beaten enough. He doesn’t want to be beaten by her.

“I… I got myself in trouble…” he whispers.

“I can see that!” she yells at him.

“Ahm… I loaned money from loan sharks…” He glances at her and sees the anger in her face. Still, he continues, “My sisters need money for tuition and their daily allowance, and you’re not around, I don’t have food… and I—“

“You have your job! Surely, you can feed yourself at least! As for your sister, you should have told them to write a letter telling their teachers that I am currently out of the country!”

“You’re out of the country? You said you were just out of town.”

“Don’t make this about me, Zack. You should have not let it get this far when I was just out for over a month!”

“But I was desperate…” he mumbles weakly.

Celeste clicks her tongue. “The way you are now, it’s all because you are lacking in decision-making skills! I told time and time again that you need to think! Always think about all the repercussions! Exhaust everything before—”

But Zack is no longer listening. When Celeste starts nagging, she will nag until the end of the world. And if he listens to each of her words, he will feel so inadequate until he wants to end his world, too.

“You are also to blame,” he says, cutting her off. “You can’t blame me for everything.”

“What?!”

He meets her angry gaze. “You heard me.”

“I dare you to say that again!” In a split second, she has already climbed on his bed and is clutching at his collar.

Zack glares back. “You’re putting all the blame on me, but you could have been better at helping me and my family, too. We are not beggars, we are your family too!”

“You—”

“You’re always so busy with work and your own life that you never even bothered to ask how we’re doing! You didn’t even know that I lost my job!”

“How dare you—”

“You make it all seem as if you hold our lives! But my parents helped with the expenses too! I also help when I had a job!”

Celeste’s grip loosens as she sits beside him. “You… You have no idea, don’t you?!” she asks, her voice still loud.

“I know that we don’t owe you our life, you weren’t even helping enough to—”

“Shut the fuck up!!!” she screams.

It is so loud that he’s certain that the nurse earlier heard her screams.

“You think you are entitled to my help, don’t you? Just because you are my cousin and you obviously needed my help?! Do you think I am so kind-hearted that I will help just about anyone?! Even if they are my family?!”

“I—”

“Don’t think so highly of yourself! How can you expect to receive MORE of my help when you don’t even want to help yourself!?! Time and time again, I’ve given you a couple of hints on how to fix yourself! But you brush them all off! How do you expect—”

“Those are just hints! You could have told me straight out!”

Celeste punches him in the face, catching him off guard. He holds his cheek, feeling the sting of her fist. She looks at him with such intense anger that he feels a tremor of fear. This time, the nurse comes into the room and lifts her off his bed.

“You fucking bastard!!!” she yells at him.

Zack’s mind is reeling. Celeste has always been the calm and collected one in the family. But now, she’s like a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

“You have no idea how much I’ve done for you and your sisters!” Celeste continues, her voice trembling with emotion.

“I didn’t ask for your help,” he says defensively.

“Because you’re too proud to admit that you fucking need it!” Celeste screams.

“I am not the proud, arrogant one! It is YOU!”

“No! It’s you, Zack! You are unable to rise on your own in your current predicament! Do you think that your meager salary in the convenience store can cover everything that your sisters need?! How can they survive alone, especially when your mother has abandoned all of you already and has left with another man!?! Not to mention that your father has recently had a heart attack and can no longer work?!”

Zack opens his mouth wide at the information. “My mother did what?” he asks, but Celeste is too angry to really listen to him. “My father is what?”

“Your sisters are living in my family’s house! And I provide for the majority of their needs! It’s just this one time that I was not looking and you have already destroyed your life!! Don’t help someone when you can’t even help your fucking self!”

“Celeste, calm down,” the nurse says, imprisoning her in his arms as she struggles to escape him to punch Zack again, but when she can’t, she continues to berate him.

“Do you know why I don’t give all the help I can provide to you?! Because I fucking need you to stand on your own two feet! You are too old already! I am not expecting you to live with me forever! You are going to get married and if you don’t know how to survive, then how do you expect to create a family on your own!!!”

“Shhh… Celeste, calm down,” the nurse whispers in her ears.

Zack snorts. The nurse is a looker, muscular arms, nice face, and looks reliable. Also, the way he holds her seems as if he is more than just a nurse to her. It’s obvious that they were friends before, or more than that.

“You talk all that, but tell me, the only reason you are successful is because you flirt with men, do you? You give them hope, like you did with Mason. In exchange, they give you things.”

Zack watches in horror as Celeste’s expression changes from anger to hurt. She freezes and quiets down. He knows he shouldn’t have said those words. He swallows hard, but he has already said it out loud. There’s no use taking it back now.

“Is that so…” she whispers. Without another word, Celeste turns and leaves Zack’s room, the nurse following closely behind her.

Feeling guilty and ashamed, Zack buries his face in his hands. He knows he has hurt her with his words, and now he regrets ever saying them, especially when he completely knows that Celeste is not like that.