After that incident in the mini-forest, the woman had become quite the headache for him and the couple since she didn"t want to be brought to the hospital, fearing that once Amelia heard of her admission there, a syringe of poison would just enter her bloodstream without her knowing. Aura told him this was based on experience. Apparently, when Alessa was still fifteen or sixteen, a nurse bought out by Amelia almost killed her by strangling her with a pillow. Chris suggested a hospital under the Ever Victorious group, but the actress also violently refused.
In the end, Alessa only relented to home medication but threatened that she wouldn"t take her meds if Chris wouldn"t accompany her home.
Due to this, regardless of his dark face, the man was forced by the two mama bear a.s.sistants to hop into their mini-van.
Inside his brain, a hateful and childish being began to taunt him for being like a maiden kidnapped out of her volition. It kept saying he was a disgrace as a system user.
Half an hour later...
"I"m going insane..."
The half-host only wanted to inform his manager to clear out his schedule for the next two days, but somehow, he ended up speaking with that woman who unceremoniously gave him another task to do. It was seriously annoying.
"In order to save even the littlest amount of points, she threw the request to me rather than her own system? Unbelievable. But she also knows how to manipulate cyber data, why does she frickin" love to exploit me for every small task like this?"
"... I"m humbly requesting the d.a.m.nable you to get out of my mind. You"re getting on my nerves, siding with another host other than your own."
It, unfortunately, didn"t shut up and continuously rambled nonsense and lectures in his head. To not end up exploding, he chose to ignore the headache and focus on what he was working on in his laptop.
As he looked at the t.i.tles and pictures that he would detonate on the TV news and the internet, he realized that something must have happened to make Sofony no longer hold back against the First Miss of the Morgans. It was a good thing though. It meant she wouldn"t make him hold back anymore too, right? Before yesterday, he didn"t really have any scuffles with that woman. Now, recalling everything he went through due to that poison, he didn"t hesitate to purchase cla.s.sified information from the system and include them to what he found out from the web.
Mirth flashed across his face as he watched the videos he created taking over the flash reports all over the country.
"Let"s see how many points will go to me after this. I won"t settle for anything lesser than five thousands!"
His system derided him with a snide remark, reminding him that Sofony would also get a share in the pie, but he ignored it. Why should turncoats be given any attention and time?
After closing his device, he placed it down the bedside table and stood up from the couch.
He was about to walk outside to fetch himself a gla.s.s of cold water when his eyes flickered to the woman who should be sleeping in the bed. He saw that her eyes were wide awake.
She was actually not asleep?
Chris" eyebrows almost met in the middle. "Don"t tell me all this time, she"s watching me?"
"Sleep," he barked.
The woman who fell sick due to excessively cooling her head last night under the cold water s.h.i.+vered. Despite this though, she defiantly met his rigid eyes and even flipped to the sides to face him. "I"m not a kid. So don"t order me around. Also, my body only needs rest and I"m getting it aplenty as I lie down here."
Chris went out to get a pitcher of water and some gla.s.ses. When he got back, the woman teasingly told him it was a good thing that he was acting comfortably in her home.
"If I may say, rest your eyes too, Miss Morgan. You don"t have to be so guarded. Aura is just outside, and she"s checking on you every ten minutes."
He didn"t know if it was the effect of the fever, but the woman straightforwardly said, "... Rather than you taking advantage of the sick me, I"m more afraid to suddenly wake up finding you on that snake"s side."
Images of her wanting to bend her knees before him instantly appeared in his mind, and he knew it was the work of the system which loved to prank him of anything unwelcomed. Nonetheless, it successfully stirred some emotions within him.
"Say, Alessa."
He downed a gla.s.s of water in one gulp in hopes its coldness could chase away the uncomfortable feeling in his heart. Meanwhile, the woman wiping her nose with a tissue as she sniffed froze momentarily. It was not an everyday chance to hear her name from this aloof man"s lips.
She watched him slowly questioned her, "You"re so insecure since you don"t trust anyone enough, right? Even me."
Alessa slightly smiled, "I"m a realist, so I don"t have a choice but to admit that. Out of all the people I loved and invested trust before, only two people remained, three, if you"re included. So, in the end, there"s always a chance, no matter how small it is, for people to betray those who they swear lifetime loyalty to."
Chris sat back and ma.s.saged his aching forehead. Hiding his sigh, he remarked, "... Realist. What the heck are realists."
"People who dislike their opposites, the idealists, maybe? A person who accept things as they are."
Alessa maintained her silence for a while, staring at the man in front of her meaningfully. She curled her body up under the covers, her eyes not daring to meet his.
"Maybe this is also why I easily recognized my feelings... for you. And even acted on it whimsically. I know that I"m being a bother. But I don"t know what else to do."
She laughed, choosing not to voice out that she was being like this too since she acknowledged that if she doesn"t fight for it, time would just arrive, and she wouldn"t notice that he had already slipped out of her fingertips. It was a scary possibility to imagine, to be honest, heartrending too.
"... Did you see the postscript I added on the most recent file I sent to you?"
To this question that he suddenly asked her, the frail woman froze again. The hands grasping the tissue shook, then unconsciously crumpled it into a ball before dropping it. Thankfully, a trash bin had been set up there beforehand.
Since what he had just asked her about was still fresh in her memories, she nervously inquired back,
"What"s the matter with that postscript?"
Chris quietly looked at her and said, "I think I made a mistake there."
"... Is it because it gave me false hope?" Alessa braved to inquire even though inside her, a certain something started to become covered with ice and free fall towards the endless abyss. Her body also felt the cold enveloping it, s.h.i.+vering due to the equally cold man"s stares.
From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the handsome actor standing up and walking towards her. She heard him softly speak.
"I told you through that script that both of us are not ready to be in the kind of relations.h.i.+p that you want, right?"
She replied to him with her silence. He stopped a meter away from her. "Look at me, Alessa."
The woman took a deep breath as if she was gathering enough courage for the ordeal, yet denied his request at the last minute when she continued looking away.
"... Actually, the mistake lies in me deciding for you what only you should have concluded for yourself." He continued after a few seconds.
If only the woman had looked at him like he requested, she would notice that his left hand holding an empty gla.s.s rose high up in the air. Behind him, the door which should have been left open suddenly closed.
"In a few seconds, you will see for yourself why I thought that you are not ready..."
Crisp sounds and tingling of broken shards just suddenly cut through the brief quietness, leaving the woman to almost jump from fright out of her bed.
Alessa was just stunned silly at the sight of numerous broken gla.s.s littering the floor. Yet the shock had not ended there. All of a sudden, Chris bent down to pick up one of the relatively large and sharp pieces of the crystal clear gla.s.s.
She found herself unable to breathe after, her mind couldn"t work properly, or rather, it froze as she didn"t want to think what he could be planning to do with that long and sharp object. However, before all her cognitive functions stopped, an ominous thought crossed her hazy mind. It was just something inevitable considering that she was a mere vulnerable and ill woman while the other was a strong fellow with a makes.h.i.+ft weapon.
A tiny voice came out of her mouth, calling out his name.
"... C-chris?"
She watched as his lips curled into a dangerous yet s.e.xy grin.
"... Good thing that you are sick. Just in case, my expectation is not met, we can easily turn this stupid test into a mere nightmare. I won"t lose anything, and nothing would change between us..."
"What?"
A word that failed to escape out of her.
Her eyes widened as he glanced down to his left wrist and raised the sharp object a third of a meter away from it. If his other hand descends to that undefended wrist in a very fast manner...
She inwardly shook her head, laughing at the ridiculous thought.
Why would he even do that? What did he say again? No, she was merely thinking of a very silly possibility, right?
Yet, at the next second that came, that silly possibility did happen.
Darkness consumed her whole system and the shriek she let out was so ear-piercing and horrifying. Before she knew it, her body had gotten out of the comforter and rushed towards him.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
But blood had already splashed all over the floor, and some red drops colored her extremely oversized yellow T-s.h.i.+rt. Alessa"s brain was shaken once again...
The indifferent and calm voice of the actor barely registered in her hearing. "It seems I hit my main artery quite badly."
"Eh?" She felt all the world views she built up in her twenty-three years of life crumbling one by one.
Her vision was still filled with red, and tears unconsciously came out as she knelt down and reached out to the heavily bleeding arm... "B-blood... Y-you"re heavily bleeding!..."
Shortly after, extreme fear for Chris" life overtook her mind and thus she came back to her senses. She put all her strength into her legs and shakily stood up.
"W-wait! I"ll get something t-to wrap it up with. and then I will also call Aura and Diaz for help! S-stay still, I"ll be real quick!" While saying this, she scrambled to her feet towards the drawer where the medicine kit she used on him last time was kept. In a great panic, some items inside were overturned or thrown messily on the carpeted floor.
When the panicking woman turned around and ran back with the box in both hands, it took her only two seconds or so to stop with her bare feet rooted in the ground.
She saw the man expressionlessly wiping the blood off of his pale arm using a blue checkered handkerchief.
Then quietly, he raised it in front of her.
Alessa"s eyes widened. The blood all over the floor was still there. She also noticed that there was a pain coming from the soles of her left foot due to stepping on one of the sharp pieces. Everything screamed at her that this was still the reality.
And yet, there was no trace of the long and deep cut remaining in his fair and smooth looking wrist...
...
...
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"-Queen