A New Hell

********

It was already 24 hours since Kasen was taken away from Leia.  

Without being told, she knew she had to be strong to stand in his place and she got ready for that. 

"Mrs. Sky, you have to be strong and ready,' Leia chanted inwardly as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, desperate for strength.

She needed it before going to pay a visit to Kasen's family, without Kasen. 

If she had known better, perhaps she would not have bothered.

In the end, things did not turn out great and the family of vipers finally found a way to get back at her and point their fingers in her face.

"You cursed thing…" her mother-in-law yelled as she pounced on her, ready to tear her apart as she pulled Leia by the hair, leaving her with no defence.

Where had it all gone wrong?

Sadly, from the very beginning. Right from when she chose to step foot into the Sky family’s mansion.

As planned, she had arrived at the family house to relay the gravity of things to his dearly beloved family. 

Not surprisingly, Claire had gotten the wing of the matter beforehand.

Having been told of Leia’s visit, she waited on the balcony, watching out for her daughter-in-law like a predator seeking out its prey.

Upon sighting Leia's supposed car, she rushed out from the balcony to give the girl a piece of her mind. 

"It's all your fault…” her voice trailed off long enough for Leia to catch that. “Y-you bad luck," she yelled, pulling the lady by her hair. 

Without reserves, all sorts of words were thrown at Leia as she mounted the latter. 

The staff who watched from a distance contemplated whether or not it was in their place to intervene, even after seeing the woman's tight grip on the poor child. 

"Claire!" 

A loud voice roared from miles away, sending thunderbolts all over Claire’s body, and even had the spectators in hiding flee from the scene. 

Slowly she let go of Leia and turned around towards the sound of the deep voice. 

"Let her go this instant, Claire, you're causing a scene!” He hollered, causing veins to pop out from either side of his head. “Where is your dignity, woman?" He scolded. 

His words were countable and clear, but also very fearful and deep. 

The poker-faced expression on the man's face while his brows lifted in silent questioning was all it needed to make anyone believe he was a godfather.

"Listen, girl," he called out sternly with a pause.

‘Girl?’ Leia questioned inwardly.

He didn't know her name but at the very least, the way he called her did not sound friendly but she wasn't in a position to complain either.

He had saved her, for now, that is.

Her hands squeezed into fists at her side as she swallowed every form of insult thrown in her face with great endurance.

A slow smile worked its way across her face and into her eyes like a bewitched fool.

This was what they wanted. Who was she not to give it to them?

"While we handle things, make sure to live like a mouse," he warned conclusively. 

His words were the most considerate and fearful threat she had ever heard or been told in her life. 

Everything happening currently spoke a clear message to her.

‘You picked the wrong family.’

But at this point, there was nothing she could do about it. She was already legally married.

Besides, it wasn't as though she didn't know they hated her, she wasn't expecting things to turn out this way. 

In the end, the phrase not all that glitters is gold was beginning to play in her life.

Little did she know that the glamour everyone expected her to live in was suddenly turning into a sweet hell.

*******

"Hmm… maybe behaving as they had said, is the best solution for now. What do you think Rachel?" Leia questioned loudly while chomping off her nails as she paced about in the room. 

Rather than giving a response as expected, Rachel, her dark skinned friend, and only friend simply kept quiet as she watched Leia eat her brains out with worry.

She wasn't expecting her newlywed friend to show up at her house this early but having seen the news, she expected a call from Leia asking her to come over.

"Arrghh~" she cried out in frustration and threw her hands in the air

"As much as I want to do that in exchange for peace, I know it is far from possible to achieve that by just doing nothing," she relayed to Rachel. 

At this point, she knew it was best for Leia to let out her frustration while she gave her best support by listening and nodding in support of every word that came out of Leia’s mouth. 

Having exhausted herself, Leia sighed deeply and bounced upon the bed.

"I don't know what's happening to Kasen, because they told me to wait and not get in their way and then there was the company."

As she listed out all of her worries, tears began to overflow. 

Surely, she wasn't expecting things to take such a turn but they did and she could not hide it anymore.

Her eyes rolled, and she dabbed her tears repeatedly while trying to maintain her composure. 

But each time she rolled her eyes, drops of tears would gather in wait to flow out.

Her handkerchief got wet with each second, and she found herself sniffling as she broke down without knowing. 

By now, Rachel knew she had to step in.

Her hot-headed, strong-minded friend was having her spirit crushed in just one day. If anything, this alone was all the evidence she needed to fear marriage. 

"Leia… Leia, listen,” she called out to her, as she crawled up on the bed towards her friend and held her in her embrace. 

It took that single act to convince Leia to let her guard down and cry more. 

"They're just jealous and angry that Kasen nominated you for the position of CEO and not someone who is a part of the family."

"You think so?" Leia asked with her face buried in Rachel's soft chest. 

"Pft… it's quite obvious, silly," Rachel teased and let out a calming laugh.

"I think, you should get ready for your big first day in the office tomorrow. You need to show those people you aren't afraid of them. After all, you got this far by yourself."

"I have no idea what they do in that company,” she showed forth her weakness.

Left to her, it was best to do so now before she made a complete fool of herself.

“I might not be able to handle it," Leia cried again. 

Rachel grew tired of Leia's words. 

She never expected the fiercest woman she knew to break down so easily.

In anger, she held onto Leia’s shoulders and shook her violently while forcing Leia to look at her in the face.

"You think Kasen would give you something you can't handle?"

She hesitated briefly before giving her answer weakly. "No."

“Answer me like the Leia I know!”

“No!” She responded in shock.

"Good. Now, trust in his decision skills and show them who's boss. I know you better than they do. You can do it.”

Just looking at how Rachel was taking charge of the situation made Leia’s eyes water once more.

“You can stay here in the meantime, rather than return to those people. I'll give you the key so you can come in whenever you want,” Rachel informed her, bringing tears to Leia's eyes again.

Throwing caution to the wind, she hugged her friend tightly and let the tears out freely. It was okay to cry after all.

Even Sia said, ‘Big girls cry when their hearts are broken’ and right now, her heart was crushed by the whole situation.

********

Her first day as CEO nominee began after a long night of tears. 

It was a good thing Rachel knew her cosmetics, otherwise, her face would have looked like a mess. 

She arrived early in the morning, much earlier than most of the workers and waited for their arrival.

Taking her time, she examined the company, going from office to office, familiarizing herself with the place till she made her way to her own office.

It was her first day but she already had work cut out for her with documents loaded on her table. 

She was to replace Kasen in his absence, as part of her test as a nominee.

As soon as she entered, she found her name imprinted on the nameplate on her table. 

"This place used to be Kasen's office," she whispered to herself. 

Not needing a reminder on what to do, Leia helped herself and began to review some documents.

Suddenly, a file dropped on the floor and as she bent down to pick it up, she spotted a dark brown drawer and was tempted to open it.

Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Leia jiggled it, but it never opened. 

Scanning for a keyhole, her eyes met the small hole in the drawer and she frowned.

‘That's a bit too small to look like a normal keyhole.’ She noted internally.

She gave it one more careful look before drawing out her conclusion.

"It's almost like the keyhole for a necklace," she voiced to no one in particular. 

Suddenly she stopped as her eyes went wide. “A necklace.” Instinctively she let her eyes drop to her neck.

“My necklace.”

Her eyes darted to and fro for a moment there and like a movie being replayed, she heard Kasen’s voice loud and clear in her mind.

"Keep this safe for me would ya?” 

Her jaw dropped briefly. "It couldn't be, could it?" She questioned.

Throwing all cares to who knew where, Leia reached up to her neck first, realizing it wasn’t on her, she picked up her bag and began her search.

Due to how worried she was on her first day, she forgot to put on her favourite piece of jewelry.

She searched hurriedly until she found it and lifted it up in front of her face.

Her eyes shone with brilliance as a smile of joy and satisfaction lit up her worried face.

The necklace was his gift to her when he proposed. It was her favourite because of its design but that was all she ever thought of it until now.

She slid it into the keyhole and twisted it easily with the sound of clicks echoing from the drawer. 

When the drawer finally opened, her eyes were met with loads of document. Without being told, Leia knew how important they were.

Her face was laced with worry and just the thought alone, made her ponder, “What are you hiding Kasen?"