I Am The Queen

Satele abruptly stopped and watched the nonchalant men in front of her who were strolling without a care in the world.

At first, she too thought of that. Without even hearing or knowing their circ.u.mstances, she already judged them as someone who only does trouble left and right.

She gritted her teeth and defended herself. "You can"t exactly blame the public. How about changing your looks and the way you act?"

Lanky and fatty looked at each other, then they stared at her like she was some kind of an idiot.

Lanky tilted his head while waving his arm. "Don"t get the wrong idea. We have already accepted this biases a long time ago. We don"t even care about it. I mean, after all, it"s not society who reject us, it is we who rejects society!"

Then fatty added while nodding his head. "That"s right. That"s right. Rather than stressing about it and trying to change the opinions of others and doing what the majority does, we prefer to act freely and carefree. As long as we don"t violate any laws, then we can do whatever we want! After all, we only live once, and it"s all about freedom and enjoying life!" He proudly exclaimed accompanied by the exaggerated actions of his arms.

Lanky nodded while humming. "Hm. Hm."

Then they resumed walking like a pair of laid-back ducks, tail wagging while quacking with one another.

"Now that you mentioned it. Let"s go to the red light district tonight and have some fun. Ehehehe."

"That"s right. Let"s round up the boys and go there together. It had been a while that we had gone there. How about visiting Ara…"

Satele watched the two in a daze, not moving on her spot. Her brain was processing what the two had just said which, in her opinion, didn"t make any sense.

Freedom? Carefree? Enjoying life?

Who doesn"t want a carefree life? Who doesn"t want to enjoy life?

However, with her circ.u.mstances, could she afford to be carefree? In her current predicament, could she afford to enjoy life?

Those phrases, those words could only be said by those rich brats who could spend their parent"s money however they want without restraint.

"Don"t f.u.c.k with me!"

The two men abruptly stopped at hearing the woman"s sudden outburst. They glanced back and saw that the girl had a tear rolling down her cheek before they looked at each other awkwardly.

"What freedom?! What enjoying life?! You"re just some rich kids who can do whatever you want just because you have the money! But it"s different for me! I have to do multiple jobs to keep us afloat! I have to think hard and think multiple times if I have to buy something! I have to work twice as much to make sure I have a future! I don"t have the time to be lazy and carefree like you two!"

Satele turned around and ran towards the opposite direction leaving the two stunned men behind with slack jaws.

…..

…..

Lanky and fatty looked at each other. After a while, guilt and worry reflected on their faces.

"W-what should we do? We made her cry."

----

In the quiet corner of the dense forest, Satele was sitting on a bench while gently wiping the tears in her eyes and absentmindedly berating herself from the way she acted earlier.

The topic had clearly gone astray and things went out of control. She just kind of lost it back there, unbefitting from the calm and compose journalist she wanted to become.

*sigh... I have a long way to go…

If her emotions could go out of control from just that, she apparently wasn"t fitted to become a journalist that faces the storm with a calm and composed demeanor.

Somehow, she started to doubt herself. If this continued, she would be like any other gossip mongrel spitting nonsense just to raise her popularity.

*sigh

"What"s this now. Are you crying?"

A mocking voice suddenly snapped her out of her self-reflecting state. Still, she refused to acknowledge the presence of that man who was now right beside her.

She lowered her head and avoided her fl.u.s.tered face as she remained quiet. Clearly not wanting to have a conversation or anything to do with the man. She tried to get up and ran away from him, yet her pride didn"t allow her since that would be admitting that she was running away from him even though that was what she really wanted to do right now.

On the other hand, Asher was observing the quiet girl. Then he cast a glanced at the sky while his calm and deep voice resonated in the dense garden.

"That lanky man is Jason. He was born in an abusive family. His father killed his mother right in front of his eyes when he was still but a kid. After his father was imprisoned, he had taken the responsibility of taking care of his siblings. It might be due to this that he had taken up a brusque look. By doing so, he can instill in the minds of others that he is not a man to be mess with. And maybe with just his looks alone, he can save someone"s life unlike before that he was powerless."

Satele"s eyelids twitched, snapping at the guy standing beside her. "Eavesdropping is not really befitting the second son of a mighty food corporation, don"t you think so too, Asher Cole?"

Asher made a side glanced directed at the woman and paid her no mind as he continued. "That fatty"s name is John. His parents and little sister had an accident when he was young, taking the life of his parents and the legs of his little sister. His disabled sister was bullied often, and because of this he had taken upon himself to look like a criminal to scare his little sister"s bullies away."

Indignant eyes only reciprocated the man"s gaze while Satele secretly bit her lip, yet beneath that unyielding look laid unfathomable pool of emotions that gradually took the form of guilt and shame. However, what came out from her mouth were tones of ridicule and stubbornness which hid what she was truly feeling at the moment.

"Why are you telling me this? Do you expect me to say sorry to them?"

Asher only grinned, looking down at the woman which made Satele slightly cowered before his intimidating physique.

"Not really. You"re free to think whatever you want about those guys. However, you should stop thinking that you"re the only victim in this world. Other people"s situations are more unfortunate than yours. And yet, you don"t see them moping around in public to gain sympathy."

Satele"s retort got stuck in her throat while she watched the grinning face of the man that consistently appeared in her nightmares.

Then she avoided his eyes and sneered. "What do you mean moping around and gaining sympathy? When did I ever wanted to gain sympathy? And what do you know?"

That was right, how could he probably understand her circ.u.mstances? This rich young master didn"t have to worry about anything as everything were practically laid before him. All he had to do was command and it would be done!

To reach the top and escape her situation, she had to do everything and anything even if she had to step on other people to do it.

Yes… Just like that woman…

—"You know… You and I are quite similar. I also came from an impoverished background…"—

—"Do you know what separates you and me?"—

—"To reach the top, to attain what I wanted to attain, I won"t think twice of doing whatever it takes to achieve my goals even I have to step and use other people to do it."—

Satele unknowingly fisted her hands and clamped her lip between the force of her teeth. She hated that woman to the core!

And yet, she also couldn"t help but admire her at the same time. And unknowingly, little by little, she too believed what the woman had said and her actions began to mirrored hers without noticing it.

To escape my circ.u.mstances, to secure my future, to achieve my dreams, to give my parents and little brother a worry-free life, I must do whatever it takes to realize it.

Asher observed the quiet woman in silence before he lazily straitened his back and casually placed his hands inside his pockets.

"True that I won"t ever understand the common people"s situations or anyone for that matter and I"m also not interested in knowing."

Satele glared at the man and repeatedly cursed him inside her head for his mocking, easy-going tone. Like their circ.u.mstances was no big deal and insignificant.

She was about to rebuke, but was rendered speechless yet again when the man continued.

"However, it doesn"t stop me from admiring them. By your circ.u.mstance alone, you"re already considered stronger than the rest." Then a boyish smile grazed his lips. "And if you happen to come out of it, achieved whatever you want to achieve, you"ll have my — the world"s respect for you can say in confidence that it is through your hard work and determination that got you where you are. Which I somewhat envied since people like me will always be a.s.sociated with their family"s name no matter how earth shattering we have accomplished."