Nathalie passed out from exhaustion, but when she woke up, no one was around. She was not even in an abandoned building anymore. She scanned the room and saw how fancy it was. It must be a hotel of some sort. Why she's here? She got no idea at all. She could not understand the reason why the kidnappers abducted her and why they harassed her in such a manner and then put her in this place the next day. 'Did they receive orders?' she thought to herself as she tried getting up. Thankfully, she still has some strength in her body. Nathalie does not know whether she should thank the environment she grew up in or curse it since she cannot feel anything inside her right now. Nathalie... she was just trembling in fear last night, but now she feels like an empty shell that had awoken from an as if endless nightmare. She stared at herself in the mirror, and no trace of what had happened to her was found. The gang was meticulous about how they touched her. They never hit her once, so there wer

Nathalie's POV I could feel him staring at me again. It had been over a week now, and he kept gazing my way every time has the chance to do so. Johannes would also try to talk to me, approach me... But I kept avoiding his gaze. After finishing the papers I was working on, I handed them over to him and was about to go back to my desk when he called me and grabbed my arm. On instinct, I slapped his hand and moved away from him. What... What did I just do? I could feel his gaze questioning me, and the pain in his eyes was evident, but I could not feel anything at all. My arms are trembling... no. My body is shaking. I thought I had told myself more than enough that I was fine. That what I had been through was something like a sort of nightmare alone. That it's nothing. It's not like it is not a normal thing for other women. I just happened to experience it all at once... Yes. This is what I had been telling myself every single night that I woke up, panting and sweating as I ran in my

A day before Nathalie decided that they would leave the country... Nathan was walking leisurely while holding a strawberry yogurt in his hand. He glanced at himself through the reflection of the glass wall of the pet shop in front of him. The uniform he's wearing is rather large for him. It must be because it was a rush order. He smiled, remembering how his sister smiled as she took multiple photos of him when he decided to go back to school. But... that is just what Nathalie thought. Nathan did not really decide to attend school. He just said that so Nathalie would not worry about him. He took his phone from his pocket and called Harries. It did not take a second ring for the woman to respond. "Do you miss me that much, Harries?" He chuckled before he sat on the bench since he was feeling quite weak in his knees. He rubbed his trembling hand against it before he smiled and looked at the beautiful blue sky that always reminded him of his sister's eyes. [Why? Do you feel anything

"Nathan, are you okay?" Nathalie asked him when he spaced out while they were talking. "You look pale. Does it hurt anywhere?" She asked continuously as she stood up, but Nathan stopped her. "I'm fine. The air's just a little chilly," Nathan's smile did not fade though his lips were chapped. His hair danced with the wind as Nathalie put a blanket on his shoulders. "Are you going to work again?" He asked. Nathan could not have imagined how Nathalie had worked almost the whole day to pay for the debt that their father had left. One month ago, Pablo, the loan shark that their father had been buried into debt, had bugged Nathalie and Nathan of the payment. She had paid them already, but they insisted that they should pay more. Nathalie could not get a proper job, so she resorted to different part times. She was afraid that Nathan would find out, so she had always worn corporate attire before leaving home and just changed into casual ones once she arrived to work. It had been like that

"Invest?" Nathalie asked the person in front of her who had offered her a deal for investment in the business he was running. "I did not know you were a businessman," she smiled. He is an old friend from high school, after all. They happened to bump into each other when Nathalie was working for a cafe. Jason happened to see her getting surrounded by Pablo and his gang. They are quite famous loan sharks that even Jason, who had lived in South East Asia since he graduated high school, heard of them. He only moved back to America when he was getting serious with his business, saying that it had been making his hands full and that he needed to expand, but an investment was needed. "Why don't you get a loan from a bank?" "But it would not be beneficial to you and other of our friends in that way. My business is quite blooming these days, you see," he smiled at Nathalie as he drank his cup of tea. Nathalie smiled, 'He used to hate tea. He must have adopted it from Asia,' she thought befo