Her Sacrifice

7. I Will Snatch Away All Of His Pain

Seeing Kate grinning evilly, Damien got confused. "What... What do you mean?" he stammered. "Oh, just nothing baby, you know, this and that," she pulled a chair while smiling and settled herself on it. "As you told me that you have met Amber and told me about the deal she forced you to make, I came up with a plan," she winked. "I thought, why shouldn't I be friends with her? As you know, my boyfriend is my enemy, so it's smart for me to be protected from my enemy. So we had a great chit chat this morning and finally came to a decision, that your fate is in our hands, hers and mine. So if you harm me, then you will pay equally."

Damien angrily looked at her but was shocked at her guts. They had been together for the past year, but he had never seen her stand against him so strongly. Her strength made him furious, but he was also a bit scared. Kate then stood up from the chair and walked towards him.

"I have tolerated so much shit for you and still continued to serve you selflessly, as if you weren't my boyfriend but my master. But you know what? It's enough," she grinned, looking deep into his eyes. "I will still serve you selflessly, but one thing is changing from today, and that's I won't be taking any shit from you. Just cheat on me by sleeping with any other girl, and I will show you what this woman can do," she spat and threw the ring right near his feet, then walked away from the room.

Damien hurriedly picked up the ring, wore it, and then took a deep breath. He walked towards the bed and sat down on it. "All of this seems to be going out of my hands, and this isn't good. I have to do something," he thought, contemplating for a long while.

In college,

Amber reached her classroom for the literature class and found Brian sitting over there in the corner most bench of the class. She quickly walked towards him and sat down on the next bench.

"Hey, good morning," she chirped. "Good morning?" he ridiculed. Amber could sense the frustration in his words. "Is anything wrong?" she asked, looking at him. "Anything? Everything is wrong, and I have no idea why," he snapped.

Amber placed her hand on his shoulder and lightly pressed it. "Brian, what happened?" she asked him in a soft tone. Brian looked at her, her green eyes, pale brown skin, blush plump lips, warm smile, and long wavy curls. He just paused for a moment. He had never seen her in such a way in their first three meetings. But this time, he was amazed by her beauty, and something about her attracted him.

"Brian, please speak," she softly consoled him again, which brought him back to his senses. "It's nothing," he tried to shrug it off. "Please tell me," her voice felt like a sweet meadow to him, which he couldn't resist.

"I just don't know," he hesitated, "this morning, I woke up to a complete surprise. It had rained heavily last night, and there was a storm too. I could easily tell by looking at the surroundings, but then again, I was completely dry. The bench I slept on was completely dry, and even my stuff was completely dry. There were ashes of wood near me. But amidst all of this, one thing I couldn't understand is how I could be completely dry and sleep peacefully when it was raining heavily last night," he vented out all his doubts at once.

"Maybe God helped you," Amber smiled, looking at him. "I have messed up a little bit, I have to fix this," she thought to herself.

"God helped me? Are you kidding me?" Brian sarcastically laughed. "The sentence you said is no less than a joke. In fact, practically, my life has been a joke," he whimpered.

"What are you saying?" she asked him, confused. "Oh, you want to know about it? Sure, I will tell you," he spoke. "I came from a small village here, got a scholarship to this college because I had perfect grades in school. But then, I have been failing in literature for the past two semesters. I don't know how and when, but I got kicked out of my dorm room and ended up homeless. I don't know the reason. I have this very bad memory where I keep forgetting fragments of moments from my day. I don't know what happened at a certain hour, and when I try to remember, it's all completely blank. And then, I visited the doctor last week, and he told me that my blood levels have dropped, and if this continues, my organs will start failing," he vented out all his frustrations at once and started sobbing.

"I don't know what's happening to me, Amber, and whenever I try to find out, I somehow land in some kind of problem or something bad happens. I try so hard to fit in, but I just can't. I have been alone since childhood, but that isn't upsetting me. What's upsetting me is all the weird shit happening to me all these college years," he breathed heavily as he completed his sentence. Amber was completely shaken as she heard all this. She could figure out what might be happening to him, but thinking about what he had to suffer, it pained her deeply.

That's when Brian started breathing rapidly, as if he was short of breath and couldn't breathe at all. He was crying and whimpering, taking deep breaths. He was having a panic attack.

"Oh my God, Brian!" Amber quickly held him and started rubbing his back to help him calm down. But all her efforts were in vain as he wasn't calming down even a little bit.

She looked around, the class was still empty as no students had arrived yet. She felt helpless for a second. But then, she looked at him. She couldn't see him like this, in pain. She hugged him tightly.

Brian was still panicking and crying, breathing heavily when a unique fragrance hit him. He could feel someone holding him tightly. He opened his eyes and found Amber hugging him tightly. For a second, he couldn't figure out what was happening, but then, he calmed down. He stopped panicking, crying, and his breathing slowed down gradually.

Within a couple of minutes, he was perfectly calm. An unfamiliar smile appeared on his face as he unknowingly hugged her back. "Thank you, I am fine," he whispered softly.

Amber broke the hug as he said those words and looked at him. Her eyes were wet, indicating that she had cried. "Thank God you are alright. I got so scared, you know," she complained. He just smiled at her complaint.

She held his hand. "You consider me your friend, right? So this friend promises you, Brian, that we will fight together against all the odds and problems in your life. You will never face any problem alone," she looked at him confidently. "But I..." he was about to say something when she interrupted, "this isn't any help or favor. This is friendship and how friendship should be," she spoke.

Brian looked at her, and again he felt at a loss for words, in awe of her. He smiled.

They were almost lost in each other when the students started rushing into the room and taking their seats. They distanced themselves a bit and then looked in the direction of the board. That's when the professor, Damien, arrived and started addressing the students.

"Damien, you have caused a lot of pain and trouble to Brian for no good reason. And now, when I am here, you just can't get away with it. You will be punished, and you will be punished severely, and very soon. And this is my promise," Amber thought to herself, looking fiercely at Damien.