Kaisar Naga Kegelapan Terpenjara di dalam Tubuhku

River’s POV

For ten long minutes, I had been jogging on the same spot, my legs moving so fast that my knees ached and my lungs burned with every breath.

The night breeze swept across the rooftop, chilling my sweat-soaked skin, but the cold offered no relief. Sweat trickled down my forehead, stung my eyes, and rolled along my cheeks. My shirt clung to my back, and my chest burned with every breath, my knees trembled so badly that I could barely keep myself upright.

I needed a break. Just a few seconds to catch my breath, but the moment I slowed down, something sharp struck my back. I cried, stumbling forward.

“Hey! Who told you to slow down?” Jade screamed, raising the thin stick in her hand.

I instinctively covered my head with both hands. “I’m sorry!” Tears blurred my vision as I hurried to move my legs again.

“Then keep moving!” She raised the stick. “Do you think we’re wasting our time here for fun?.”

I shook my head quickly and forced my legs to move again. One step after another, I continued jogging, desperately trying to ignore the pain in my back. My lungs felt as though they were shrinking with every breath, and the cold air did nothing to ease the burning sensation in my chest.

I tried to swallow, but my throat was painfully dry. Just a little longer, River. Please, just a little longer. I repeated those words in my head, but my body had reached its limit, until my knees finally gave way.

I crashed onto the cold concrete, my palms scraping against the rough surface. I lay there, gasping for air, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I struggled to catch my breath. My legs twitched from exhaustion, and I could barely lift my head.

“Get up!” Jade barked.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Please…” I whispered between gasps. “Give me a minute.”

”A minute?” she repeated incredulously. “You’ve been exercising for barely ten minutes, and you’re already asking for a break?.”

I tried to push myself up, but my arms trembled beneath my weight. “I can’t…” My voice cracked. “I can’t breathe properly.”

Jade raised her hand again, the stick poised to strike, but Kehlani caught her wrist. “Relax, Jade.”

I slowly opened my eyes. Kehlani crouched beside me, her perfectly manicured fingers wrapped around a bottle of water. Unlike Jade, she wore a sweet smile that might have fooled anyone who didn’t know her.

“Are you tired?” she asked gently.

My gaze dropped to the bottle in her hand, and my mouth watered at the sight of the clear liquid sloshing inside. I reached for it with trembling fingers. “Please… water…”

Kehlani lifted the bottle just beyond my reach. “If I give you this water, it will erase all the work we’ve already put into you, don’t you think?”

She hovered the bottle above my head, watching as my fingers curled helplessly in the air between us. “Please,” I begged, stretching my arm farther. “Please, I’m begging you. Just a little.” My throat felt as though it were lined with sandpaper. Even speaking made it ache, but I continued reaching for the bottle.

Kehlani tilted her head, studying me as though she were considering my request.

Then Nala crouched beside us. “She looks so thirsty,” she remarked, examining my cracked lips. “Let’s give her a drop of water.”

A flicker of hope stirred inside me. I turned toward Nala, my eyes widening. “Please,” I whispered. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just give me some water.”

Kehlani’s lips curved into a smile. “Of course.” She twisted the cap open.

Before I could reach for the bottle, she lifted it above my face and poured the water over my head.

The cold liquid splashed against my forehead and ran down my cheeks. I gasped, instinctively opening my mouth in an attempt to catch a few drops, but most of the water trickled down my neck and soaked my shirt. I tried to lick my lips, desperate to taste even a little of what remained on my skin. By the time I looked up, the bottle was empty

Kehlani tossed it aside and tilted her head. “Are you refreshed now and ready to continue the exercise?”

I stared at her, my lips trembling. Water dripped from my eyelashes, and my soaked hair stuck to my forehead. I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to ask what I had ever done to deserve this kind of treatment. But the words remained trapped in my throat.

“You know, it’s for your own good, right?” Nala added, folding her arms across her chest.

I turned my face away from her, unable to bear the sight of that smug expression.

“For my own good?” I repeated weakly.

“Yes, for your own good!” she snapped. “Or do you expect us to let you remain like this forever?.”

Kehlani stood and adjusted her clothes. “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be walking down the stage, and when you win the pageant, don’t forget we made you.” She pointed a finger at me. “So you must do everything in your power to get to a hundred pounds.”

I was already exhausted, lying helplessly on the cold floor, and they expected me to lose fifty pounds before tomorrow night?. How was that even possible?

“Please, I don’t want to do the pageantry,” I begged, struggling to sit up. My hands shook as I pressed them against the concrete. “Please, I’ll do anything else. Just don’t make me do this.”

Nala’s expression hardened. “Hey! After we’ve already signed you up, is this how you intend to pay us back?”

I shook my head quickly. “No, that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean?” she demanded, stepping closer. “Do you think we have nothing better to do than waste our time on you?”

“Please, I will never be that slim, at least not overnight.” I cried, my voice rising with desperation. “There’s no way I’ll reduce to a hundred pounds overnight. That’s impossible!”.

Jade scoffed. “Listen to her. Suddenly, she knows everything about weight loss.”

I wiped my face with the back of my hand, smearing the water and tears across my cheeks. “If I walk onto that stage tomorrow, everyone will laugh at me,” I continued. “They’ll see that I don’t fit into the dress. Please, I don’t want to be humiliated like that.”

“Then you should have thought about that before you started dreaming above your level,” Kehlani replied.

I stared at her. “Dreaming above my level?”

“Oh!” She threw her hands into the air. “So you don’t want to be a model? Then why are you sketching designs that have no business being on your body?”

My heart sank. I knew exactly what she was talking about, my sketches. I had thought I was careful enough to keep them hidden, but somehow, they had found out about them.

“I was…” I swallowed, my fingers curling against the floor. “I was just sketching for fun.”

“For fun?” she laughed mockingly. “You spend your time drawing beautiful dresses, imagining yourself wearing them, and you expect us to believe you’re doing it for fun?”

“I never said I wanted…”

“Shut up!” Jade snapped.

Jade stepped closer, looking down at me with disgust. “Look at yourself, River. Do you honestly think those dresses were designed for someone like you?.”