3 - The Incident

The next day, Zia found James and Bella going out together, dressed warmly and neatly. Both acted normally, as if the previous night's events had only happened in Zia's dream-dream that left so many wounds in real life.

There was nothing else Zia wanted. Except to leave James's life as soon as possible.

Zia knew it was impossible. James would never let her go until his desire was fulfilled. But she truly wanted to forget everything related to James. Even though she loved him, she wanted to forget it, no matter how painful it would be.

“Mrs. Zia, what are you carrying?” asked a housekeeper as she approached Zia, carrying a large cardboard box out of her room.

“Oh, just some unimportant things,” Zia lied.

All the things she intended to throw away were very important to her. All her memories with James were there. But for Zia, simply removing James from her life wouldn't be enough if something still tied her to him.

“Mr. James asked me to take care of your leg wound, ma'am.”

Zia sighed softly, unable to believe that James truly cared about her.

“I can do it myself,” Zia refused.

“But...”

“Please just throw these things away. You can burn or throw them away if I don't see them anymore.”

The housekeeper nodded understanding and immediately took the box from Zia's hands. For a moment, she peeked inside to see what Zia wanted to throw away. She was surprised.

The items that were off-limits to everyone were inside the box. Everyone in the house knew that Zia would never allow anyone else to touch the gifts from James. Yet now, Zia wanted to throw them away.

“Are you sure you want to throw all this away, ma'am?” the housekeeper asked again.

“Yes. Get rid of everything,” Zia replied, stepping into her room.

Zia sat staring out the window where snow continued to fall, covering the ground. Everyone was preparing for the New Year's Eve party, but Zia never did that after marrying James.

It wasn't because she didn't like it. She was trying to understand James' pain at losing Audrey on New Year's Eve. Zia remembers when Audrey's body was found in a pile of snow with blood frozen around her. There were cuts on her wrists.

“It wasn't me...” Zia muttered without realizing it.

Zia admitted that she was involved in James and Audrey's argument. Zia ruined their date, but she never pretended to be sick to get more attention from James, which made James not pursue Audrey to resolve their issues.

Audrey was robbed, and while fighting back, she was raped. That's what led Audrey to choose to take her own life ultimately. The CCTV footage provided by the police clearly shows this.

However, James still blames Zia for Audrey's death.

Beep... beep... beep...

Zia's body jerked when her cell phone rang. She immediately answered the call from James.

“Hello?” said Zia.

“Zia, it's me.”

Reflexively, Zia's hand clenched the paper before her when she heard Bella's voice. Bella seemed to be showing how close she was to James, freely using his phone to contact him.

“What's going on?” Zia asked coldly.

“James wants to take you out on a date. Come to Starfish Restaurant now.”

Zia did not respond. She felt a little happy hearing that James wanted to take her on a date, but she didn't believe it because Bella said it. She thought Bella might be trying to prank her in revenge for what Zia said last night.

“I'm busy,” Zia said softly.

There was no denying that Zia wanted to go on a date with James.

“Are you busy or don't you believe me?” Bella seemed to be able to read Zia's mind.

“If that's true, why didn't James say it himself?”

“I'm asking you out on a date. Please come.” James's voice sounded a little softer this time than the last time he spoke to her.

Zia didn't understand the point of the date. Even though she felt happy, Zia never intended to cancel her plans to leave James's life. No matter how James tried to persuade her later, Zia didn't want to accept James back into her life.

If James did it before everything was revealed, Zia would have easily succumbed to the date and a little gift.

“You hear that, Zia? James said it himself. He's prepared everything for you.” Bella spoke again.

“I don't know where that restaurant is.”

“No. 010 St. White Rose.”

The phone call ended. Zia took a deep breath, staring at her phone screen for a moment before finally getting up and putting on layers of warm clothes.

Yes, she decided to go to James's date invitation. Not to take James back. Zia would consider it their farewell date together. Her decision to go was final. The pain was too deep to continue a relationship filled with lies.

“Mrs. Zia, I think the weather is very bad. Please stay at home.” For some reason, the security guard guarding the house felt uneasy seeing Zia dressed warmly to go out.

Zia laughed softly in response. “Everyone will be celebrating Christmas Eve, sir. You should also have fun instead of worrying about me.”

It was true that Zia's heart was hurting. But she didn't want to bring that energy to people who were supposed to enjoy their New Year's Eve celebration. She was trying to look fine.

“But your foot is injured, ma'am.”

“I'll take a taxi and minimize walking.”

“Alright. Please be careful.”

Giving a thumbs up, Zia went out and immediately stopped a taxi that happened to be passing by. When she got in, she felt a little uneasy seeing the taxi driver's appearance. He was wearing a mask and a hat that covered his face.

“Please take me to No. 010 St. White Rose, Starfish Restaurant, sir,” said Zia.

The driver didn't respond, not even with a nod. He stepped on the gas pedal and drove off without saying a word during the trip.

Unfortunately, Zia was lost the whole way, not wanting to think about his uneasy feelings toward the taxi driver. He realized when the car stopped at a large empty lot with a building not far from where they had stopped.

“Sir, are we lost?” asked Zia.

“No. You've arrived at your destination. Please get out.” The driver replied without looking at Zia.

Zia, who had no idea where they were, could only hand the driver some money and get out of the taxi with a confused expression.

“Sorry, where is the restaurant?”

The driver pointed to the only building visible in the area. Zia thanked him and walked toward the building, which didn't look like a restaurant. From the outside, it appeared dirty, old, and neglected.

“Are Bella and James playing a prank on me?” Zia muttered to herself, looking around for signs of anyone else there.

“No one is pranking you, Pretty. Since you came in on your own, that means you have to make us happy.”

Zia turned around and stepped back in shock when she saw a group of men appear and stare at her with lust. Zia recognized one of them.

The taxi driver who had brought her there!

Before Zia could say anything, two large men immediately grabbed her and pinned her arms behind her back. Zia screamed when the other man began to grope her body.

“N - NO!” she cried, starting to cry.

“Shut up or I'll kill you!” someone said, holding a knife to Zia's throat.