Despite trying to convince himself that what he’s doing is right, Lev couldn’t rest easy that night, after he saw how devastated Verona had been.And on top of that, the absence of Verona’s parents raised a question for Lev. Where are they?“Did you get anything?” asked Lev to Sant, shortly after he jumped onto the verandah of Lev’s room.Sant brushed his hair and glanced at Lev. “It’s not easy getting information from Felicia. Somehow, she knew I love to tease girls, and she thought I was hitting on her.”Lev pouted. “Doesn’t everyone know that? About you being a womanizer?” he taunted.Sant plopped down on the couch by the bed and spread his arms on the backrest. “Thanks for the insult,” he muttered. He tilted his head and closed his eyes.“If you couldn’t get anything from Felicia, I will visit Verona’s hometown and find out about her myself.”Sant opened one eye and squinted. “I still don’t get it.”“What?” Lev tilted his head.“You. Why do you care so much about her.”“I will tel
Clouds hung in the sky when Vero entered the library. The weather in Duradel this afternoon was gloomy as if to confirm Mr. James’ words about the storm that hit several towns around Duradel the past few days. And just as Vero suspected earlier, the incident with Mr. James could not stop Hatice from torturing her. It’s just that Hatice’s way this time was more ‘calm’. She secretly took Vero’s lecture assignment and burned it, then put it back in her bag. Vero didn’t know when and how Hatice did that, or maybe she wasn’t the culprit. But one thing was certain, Vero had to re-do the assignment because her lecturer required that assignments be handwritten, not typed. The atmosphere of the library was as gloomy as the weather outside. The somber sunlight streamed through the large windows at the top of the walls. There weren’t many visitors this afternoon, and Vero was pleased that way. The presence of many people around her was the last thing she wanted, after everything that had happ
“I can’t do this anymore.”“Hang in there.”“You are a very annoying cousin. The thing I regret most in life is being related to you.”Lev’s jaw tightened at Jia’s words on the other side of the phone. Even though he knew Jia was only joking, her words more or less represented his feelings for the big name Deammone he bore.The thing he regretted the most in life; became a part of Deammone.“She’ll be gone eventually,” Lev said. “Continue being hostile towards her and persuade her to leave Duradel.”“I’ve heard it from Sant,” said Jia. “You went to her hometown and couldn’t find her parents either.”“I—““So how will she get out of here, Lev? And if she leaves this place anyway, where will she stay? She’s homeless.”“We can think about that later—”“If you still doing what you are doing toward her, I’m afraid she’ll become a corpse before she can leave this place,” interrupted Jia. “If only you knew how Hatice bullied her. The other day, she was cutting her clothes and was about to cu
Vero didn’t give Vincent a chance to narrow the distance between them. Before Vincent can touch her, Vero throws the plastic bag filled with books in her hand at him, hoping the books will hit him and knock him down, or at least hinder his movement. But her shaking hands, plus the books that were too heavy for her, made her throw only as far as one reach. As a result, the books fell with a loud thump between her and Vincent. “Ah….” Vero was at a loss for words and could only see the books that were thrown out of the plastic bag and fell scattered on the floor. A book slid quite far and stopped right at Vincent’s feet. He bent down and picked it up, then pressed it to his chest. “You want it?” he asked, moving the book around as if he were offering a toy to a child. His sinister grin perched on his lips. “Come and get it.” “No. You can have it!” Vero replied, shaking her head. Goosebumps all over her body because of him. He’s even more terrifying than Conner. “You can have them all
Vero groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. An excruciating pain radiated from her head throughout her body. She raised a hand to touch her temple and was stunned to see that her hand was covered in bandages.Her other hand felt heavy, and when she lifted it, there was a cast wrapped around it.After dropping her hands back on the bed, Vero blinked and stared at the ceiling. She was lying in a bed, but not in her dorm room. The ceiling of this room was so high and wide, decorated with carved gypsum with a luxurious crystal chandelier that hangs in the middle of the room. Even so, the light was not on and there was only a silvery-gray light glimmering from the large windows beside the bed.Vero looked there and found the moon glowing in the distance, illuminating the room and the forest that stretched across it. The leaves on the trees glisten because of the wetness after the rain.“You’re awake?”Vero flinched at the sound of someone’s voice. She looked to the other side of the bed an
“You know why I’m here, Moldark.” Lev sat in a high-backed chair in the living room of the Moldark residence. One leg crossed over the other. Moldark must not have expected him to come this early to his house. Moldark stood before Lev with his hands clasped in front of him. His head was down. He didn’t dare to lift his face for a second to look at Lev, and that’s how he should have behaved. “My deepest apologies to you, Mr. Deammone….” “Didn’t we warn you many times to keep your son in this house?” said Lev. “You’re lucky that my brother isn’t in Duradel. If he was here, today you and your wife would be crying over your son’s dead body.” Moldark gulped. His distended belly moved slowly along with his short breaths. “It was my fault, sir,” he mumbled. Lev lifted his chin and took a deep breath. This house had always smelt bad and until this moment, he couldn’t understand how Moldark and his family could live in such a dingy and smelly house. “Yes, of course, it was,” he said. “You
When Vero opened her eyes the next day, Lev was no longer by her side. Darkness enveloped the room. It seemed Lev had turned off the sitting lamp and there was only a streak of light coming through the gap between the curtains. Vero pushed aside the blanket with her bandaged hand, then stepped out of bed. She walked over to the window and opened the curtains to see the scenery outside. The forest stretches as far as the eye could see and in the distance are mountain ranges whose peaks are covered with snow. Vero was trying to open the window, she wanted to breathe the morning air outside when the bedroom door opened and an old man stepped in pushing a trolley. “You are awake,” he said. His voice sounded firm and clear. He pushed the trolley onto the coffee table by the verandah door, then placed a plate, a cup, and a glass teapot onto the table. Vero gave him a confused look, and the man bowed politely to her. “Raphael, at your service,” he said. As he straightened up, he smiled k
Vero sat on the edge of the bed in her dorm room looking at the cell phone in her hand as if she had never seen anything like it before. This is the latest model phone for a fantastic price, but that’s not what keeps Vero stunned all day. Why did Lev buy her a cell phone? Does he have ulterior motives? Is he going to use this cellphone to monitor Vero’s movements, in case Vero divulges his secret to the world? Bad thoughts popped up one by one in her brain and became more and more terrible. She got up and headed to the study table. She pulled the desk drawer roughly and put the phone in there, then slammed it closed. Her breath was shallow as she stared at the closed drawer, waiting for something to happen. Seconds after seconds passed in silence and there was only the sound of her breathing in the room. “Something’s wrong?” “Shit!” Vero jumped while holding her chest. Her hand reached for the sitting lamp on the table and she turned toward the verandah, ready to throw it at the