⊰᯽⊱┈──╌❊╌──┈⊰᯽⊱
It has been three days since Pearl hasn't eaten anything. Her stomach was completely empty and was craving for some food. Even her body was becoming colder from the lack of nutrition.
Everything was pitch black, only the taste of pre-heated chicken soup was present. Pearl didn't know why, but she was suddenly dreaming about eating Venus' food in her slumber. She licked her lips lightly as the taste of soup became more prominent in her mouth.
Did dreams even feel this real?
There was softness all over her body and something was covering her just like a blanket. When did the floor become this soft?
Pearl slowly opened her eyes, her blurred vision becoming clearer as she focused on her surroundings. She realized that there was someone sitting beside her, it was Venus. What was she doing here?
Wait...
Actually, the real question here is...
Why was she laying on the bed? Wasn't she forced to sleep on the floor these past few days?
The blanket from the bed was covering Pearl's body. She was still wearing that strapless grey dress that Venus had lent her. Her wrists were firmly bound with the handcuffs and the long chain attached to the wall. Nothing had changed apart from the fact that she was now laying on the soft bed that she wasn't supposed to be sleeping on.
The sunlight was coming from the window, illuminating the bedroom along with the orange light from the lamp on top of the nightstand. It was already morning again.
"You finally woke up." Venus uttered in a soft tone of voice as she placed a spoonful of soup against Pearl's lips.
No wonder the taste of soup felt so real. It turns out that it wasn't a dream, but that Venus was actually feeding Pearl while she was unconscious. This woman seriously had the nerves to give Pearl some food after having tortured her for three days in a row?
This had to be some kind of joke!
Pearl moved her face to the side, not wanting to eat the food even after already trying it. It was delicious, but that didn't mean that it wasn't poisoned, and she also didn't want to die.
"Eat it." Venus told her in a calm manner. There was no hint of threat in her voice anymore and that was really bizarre from her. She would usually get pissed easily, but this time she was being peculiarly patient with Pearl.
Pearl shifted her gaze from Venus to the spoon and replied flatly, "No." Her voice cracked a little because her throat was dry.
"You haven't eaten for days, you have to eat something or else you will die of starvation." Venus insisted.
What the hell was wrong with Venus today? Was she being for real? Why was she acting like this?
Pearl wanted to laugh with sarcasm at the response that Venus had given her. She had never seen Venus being this genuinely caring with her for the past few days. What exactly happened to her that she became this gentle all of a sudden?
"Why don't you just let me die then? Wasn't that what you wanted to do from the start?" Pearl wanted to sit up, but her entire body was still sore after being whipped roughly with the belt last night. At the end, she gave up and just remained laying down on the bed.
Venus shook her head, letting out a sigh. "Stop being stubborn and just eat the food, Pearl."
"I don't want-! Mm!" Pearl couldn't finish what she was saying because her lips were instantly sealed by something causing her to muffle the sentence.
There was no way Venus just did that...
Pearl's eyes widened slightly as she felt Venus' moist lips pressing against hers abruptly. It was so unexpected that she was startled. She wanted to pull away but Venus held her face firmly, not allowing her to get away.
Venus shoved down Pearl's chin, opening her mouth a little, enough to deepen the kiss between them. Pearl didn't know when Venus had placed the spoonful of soup into her mouth, but she was now passing it from mouth to mouth with a sloppy kiss. A little droplet of soup dripped from Pearl's cheek to the pillow as their lips moved against each other.
Passing food from mouth to mouth was something too intimate that only couples would do for fun and for pleasure. Doing this with Venus was strange and Pearl didn't know how to feel about it. She could only feel her cheeks heating up as they flushed bright red. Her heart becoming restless once again.
Why did Venus have to make her feel this way? It was so confusing for Pearl!
Venus didn't part away from the kiss until she made sure that Pearl gulped down the soup from her mouth. When she finally did, their lips slowly separated from each other.
There was silence in the bedroom for a while, only the sound of their breathing could be heard.
Pearl bit her own bottom lip, wanting the ground to swallow her alive. She was feeling abashed after letting the devil steal a kiss away from her. How could she allow this to happen? Things were seriously going too far between them.
Venus was too shameless and evil!
"Do you want me to continue giving you the food this way, or are you going to finally eat it with the spoon?" Venus asked while perking a brow.
Pearl didn't think of it twice and immediately responded, "The spoon! With the spoon! I rather eat it with the spoon!"
"Fine, then eat." Venus said as she took another spoonful of soup from the bowl and placed it near Pearl's lips.
This time, Pearl obediently opened her mouth and swallowed the food without complaining. She didn't want her lips to be stolen again by this bastard.
She allowed Venus to feed her the entire bowl. Pearl ate everything, not leaving a single drop behind. She was starving for three days after all. If this was going to be her last food before dying of food poisoning then Pearl would die at least with a full stomach and with the delicious taste of the chicken in her mouth. It was surely going to be a death with no regrets.
"Do you want some more?" Venus asked her.
Pearl shook her head, "No, I'm full." In reality, if she could eat three more bowls she would. But there were several reasons why she didn't ask for more food.
The first reason: If the food was really poisoned, then eating more of it will only make her death approach faster. (We never know, maybe Pearl has still a small chance of survival if she doesn't consume more of it!)
The second reason: Pearl was not about to make a fool of herself and ask the person that is keeping her captive here for more food. (Where would be her dignity at if she did that? Hell no!)
And third reason: Pearl still doesn't trust Venus and she wants to avoid being way too nice around her. Asking for more soup would make it seem like she likes the food and she doesn't want to praise Venus about it. (Although, she has to secretly admit that the chicken soup was exquisite and she would probably eat the whole cauldron if she could.)
"Okay, then. Just stay here and rest. I'll be going back to the living room." Venus turned her body around as she about to stand up, but Pearl gripped her wrist abruptly, making her sit back down on the bed. Venus was not expecting this to come.
"Wait, what happened to you? Why is your face like that?" Pearl didn't know why she was asking this out of the blue, but she couldn't help but to worry after noticing the terrible state of Venus' face when she had turned around.
There were faint palm marks on both of her cheeks and small bruises at the corners of her lips. Pearl knew perfectly well that she shouldn't be getting concerned for her, however she couldn't help it. She was still curious to know what could've happened for it look that bad.
Yesterday Venus only had one side of her face bruised after being hit by her father. But now it was both sides. Did the leader of the minor family come back to scold her again?
Venus let out a deep sigh, not really wanting to remember what happened earlier with her father. It was something that was going to hunt her for the rest of her life. She didn't want to reply but at the same time she wanted to let it out from her chest. Maybe talking will make her feel better, right?
"It was my father. He left an hour ago after scolding me again." Venus said as she held her own face with a hand, wanting to hide the marks but she couldn't.
Pearl had guessed right. It was really the leader of the minor family who did this to Venus again. Why would he treat his own daughter like that?
Venus interlaced her own hands together and rested them on her lap before she proceeded explain everything to Pearl. "He was angry at me for being a loser and for sucking at everything I do. He hurts me whenever something goes wrong. Since I was a child until now, he has always beaten me up whenever he is pissed." There was a short pause in her words as she exhaled some air from her nose and added, "Well, to be honest...I kind of deserved all of that. No matter how hard I try, I never seem to beat Kai the way he wants me to. And I'm sure that I'll never be able make him proud."
Pearl was listening quietly, trying to analyze the situation. She could kind of understand how Venus was feeling. Pearl is not the type of person who likes to assume or make assumptions, but this treatment didn't seem to be fair.
The leader of the minor family sounded like an abusive father by the way Venus was describing him. One thing is to scold, and another thing is to mistreat your children. He was certainly abusing his daughter.
Venus gets beaten up for not being able to defeat her cousin. She gets belittled every time she is not able to make her father proud. All of this was about competiton and it sounded kind of childish, but it was the sad truth.
Why would Venus even think that she deserves this kind of treatment from her father? She definitely doesn't! Nobody deserves to go through something like this!
"Why do you have to compare with Ms. Kai all the time? Why don't you just be yourself?" Pearl was feeling a bit sorry for Venus after hearing what she has to go through with her own family.
If they were both in good terms, Pearl would probably go hug her to console her. However, at the same time, she knew that Venus shouldn't be using her pain to hurt others. She needed to strive to become a better person. Venus shouldn't act like a child without warmth and let her emotions take over her, or else she would be no different from her father.
Venus lowered her gaze with a dispirited expression and answered, "I wish I could be myself, but that's not easy because everyone knows that I'm from the minor family. Which means that I will be constantly compared to Kai. My family will always be inferior to them, and I will always be the one to be blamed whenever something goes wrong. I didn't ask to be born into this family. If I could, I would rather be part of the major family. My cousin has everything that I have ever wanted. She was born with luck and doesn't have to endure the humiliation of being inferior to anyone."
Pearl thought for a moment before speaking, "Well, I believe that everyone in this world has good and bad in them. We just have to be ourselves no matter how good or bad we are. In your case, your pretending to be someone you're not just because you want to make your father proud, but that's not who you truly want to be. However, it also makes you be a good daughter because you are obeying your father, right?"
"Pffft-" Venus snorted at this. "You only look at this world from the bright side. I bet that you've never gone through something like I have. That's why you don't understand me."
Pearl shook her head with a strained smile before replying, "Who said so? Of course that I have."
Venus lifted her brows with a serious expression, "You have?" She didn't seem to believe Pearl.
"Mhm." Pearl nodded and proceeded to tell her story to Venus. "My mother passed away after giving birth to me, and my father was the one who raised me after she died. He was not the best father we could say. He used to force me to go to church every day so that I could one day join the choir even though I wasn't even that good at singing. When I failed to get in, he would beat me up as a punishment. But one day, I proved him wrong. I was able to get in and I was able to sing a song with the choir group. I didn't miss a single note, and my voice didn't crack even once. I remember being so happy that day."
"So was your father proud of you after you made it in?" Venus asked.
Pearl was silent for a while before she shook her head. "No, he continued to beat me up for no reason after that." She met eyes with Venus for a split second and kept explaining, "I later found out by my grandparents that my father wanted to be at the church's choir too when he was younger. The difference is that he was never able to get in because back then, men were not allowed to sing at the choir. He basically kept that pain inside of him for years and later took it out on me and mistreated me so much that he ended up in jail after the police found out about the abuse. That's why I was left with my grandparents who took care of me for the rest of my teen years until I went to work for the major family for the first time."
Venus was quiet all this time, listening attentively. She only spoke after Pearl finished. "Then, are you trying to say that my father is being abusive and that he sucks just like yours?"
"Uh, well...yeah, I guess." Pearl shrugged. "They don't beat us because we suck. They just beat us because they themselves suck. They lend their anger on us to make themselves feel better when in reality they are the ones who lack."
After their long conversation, Venus mused for a while, finding what Pearl said reasonable. It made a lot of sense, and it also made her feel better somehow.
Who would have thought that a person like Pearl would be able to comfort someone like Venus who has a heart full of resentment?
This was the first time that Venus was able to connect with someone this deeply and she was surprised that it was with Pearl. She was the only one who truly understood her when it came to her father. Maybe she was not a fool like Venus thought she was.
If Venus could've met Pearl sooner, she'll probably never lay a finger on her. But it was already too late. Their relationship was a mess, and the things that were already done will never be able to be erased.
⊰᯽⊱┈──╌❊╌──┈⊰᯽⊱
Author's Note: We have officially unlocked the first kiss scene between Venus and Pearl in this chapter! (Well, I guess it could be considered a kiss, right? Lol!)💋