There was silence between us.
“What do you want me to do to them?” He gently touched the bandage on my right eye.
“I hate them, Sihwa.” I wailed.
“I can’t believe they did this to my baby.” He muttered instead and kissed it.
He wiped off my tears with the tip of his left finger and gave me a light kiss on my lower lip.
“Sihwa.” I closed my left eye, held both of his shoulders, and the pain in my body disturbed my consciousness. I was growing weak and holding him would let me keep standing.
“Have your parents seen you like this?”
“No.” I shook my head. “If they see me like this, they would get mad. I don’t want my mom and dad to quarrel again because of me.” I sobbed.
“What do you want me to do to those bullies, so they will never cross your path again?” His gaze was so gentle I forgot about my problems for a minute.
“Warn them. I don’t want to see them again. They keep hurting me. Please, Sihwa, tell them to stay away from me. That’s all I want.”
He grabbed my waist and hugged me, leaning his chin on my left shoulder. “Don’t worry, it won’t happen again, my little damsel.”
Sihwa put his right hand on my right eye and healed me. Since I hadn’t fully developed into my wolf’s form yet, I could hardly heal myself. So, he did it for me and helped me out.
The next day, the bodies of the kids who bullied me scattered across the street. I became horrified and thought it was my fault. The scene of how those dead bodies torn apart on TV made me nauseous as I ran out of the dining table.
“Wendy, where are you going?” My father called after me.
I ignored him and ran to the sink in my bathroom and vomited all the food I ate inside the toilet.
My heart throbbed, and I thought I would die. What happened to those kids? I didn’t kill them.
They died. Those kids are dead. What happened?
Who killed them?
No, I don’t want to believe any of it. Sihwa doesn’t kill right?
He didn’t take the lives of those people, right?
The questions I wanted an answer to roamed around my head for hours. I thought their ghosts would appear to me in the bathroom and kill me.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
I killed them. I killed them.
I killed them.
I killed them.
I killed them.
I killed them.
I killed them… I killed those kids.
‘Hah. Hah. Hah.’ I shouted out of bed and saw Chelsea squeezing a little napkin inside a black bowl of water beside me.
Courtney ran over to me on my bed and Larcade came forward too, with a worried expression.
“Are you alright?” They said in unison and I gripped the sheets on my waist and couldn’t look at them. I needed some time alone to think and dwell on my thoughts.
“Can I stay alone for a while?” What did I just see?
Were those memories? Why don’t I remember them ever happening?
“Stay alone for a while? I saw your body soaked in blood. Your veins popped out of your body when we barged in here. And you are saying you wanna stay alone.” Courtney reacted. “No, I’m not leaving you alone here.”
“Please.” I stressed and looked over at Chelsea. “I want to tell you something.” And turn to Courtney. “I will tell you everything later. I don’t want you to get worried, so please, give me some privacy.”
“But-”
“Respect her decision, Courtney.” Larcade held her shoulder and shifted his attention to me. “We are always here to help. Call us when you need us.”
I nodded.
Larcade motioned Courtney to follow him outside, and they both left. Chelsea stood up from the bed and strolled to the door.
“I said I want to talk to you.” I insisted.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I want you to rest and-”
“I know. You know what is going on with me.” I tightened my grip on the sheets. “You are an alpha. Don’t tell me you don’t know what is going on with me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There’s no way you haven’t read my mind.”
Chelsea is an Alpha. Although werewolves can mind-link each other, it is not common for werewolves to read the other’s mind without knowing.
Only a few of them know how to read the mind of a wolf, but it comes at a drastic effect.
“I don’t always read a wolf’s mind all the time. It stresses me out and makes me fall sick. I wouldn’t be able to shapeshift and feel the control of my powers for a month.” She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, facing me, and added. “That’s the reason I hate reading minds. Prefer to watch their expressions and actions to know what they are thinking. I hardly read your mind, though. I just feel like I shouldn’t invade your privacy. That’s why I don’t read minds. Like I said earlier, it’s hard to read minds.” She came to me, dropped her hands on the bed, and sat beside me. “Not all wolves can read minds through. It is rare for a werewolf to read minds.”
“Yeah, it is.” I muttered and swallowed, giving out a shaky breath.
“What do you wanna do now? Do you wanna go back to them?”
“Huh?” My eyes widened when I reacted. “You know about-”
“Let me get this straight. Your bond with them is getting stronger. It’s hard for you to go through your heat, take suppressant and get through them.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“And you are thinking of rejecting all of them and moving on with your life, but you want to survive. It seems to me you are closer or connected to this Sihwa dude than the others.”
I kept quiet and didn’t even know where to explain.
“Listen, talk to your grandfather about it. He doesn’t know what is going on with you, right?”
“I don’t want him to get worried.”
“He has to know what is going on with you. You can’t keep running away forever. Tormented by the bond and I’m sure the alphas are suffering the same thing too. The mate bond affects all of you.”
“Isn’t that their punishment? Isn’t it good that they are also suffering like me? If they could reject me, wouldn’t it be nice? They don’t want to leave me alone and I don’t know why.” My hands shivered a little. I gave it a little squeeze and continued. “My grandpa says they love me. They are obsessed and possessive with me. They don’t want to let go of me.”