Vote/ Comment/ Enjoy! That's the secret♡
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Katy was lying in the patient bed. Bandages covered different places of her body, and she was dressed in a white hospital gown.
Her expression was a peaceful one, and her eyes were closed.
Her pretty eyelashes and full lips still looked pretty despite the bruises stamped on her face.
Her eyes snapped open, and followed me as I entered.
She said nothing.
"K-Katy..." I barely started.
Wow. I don't know what to say.
And hey! Where's Jaden?! Where's anybody to do some holy ice breaking!
She said nothing, but simply looked into my eyes.
One, two, three...
Her expression fell. It only took her three seconds.
Her expression resembled that of a five-year old girl, who just failed at an exam and was about to tell her mom the bad news.
Her eyes fell, and her mouth curled, as the muscles of her forehead and neck tensed.
She sobbed, and eyed me through her tears.
"Ch-Charlotte!" She choked.
I quickly came closer, and hugged her.
She whined softly.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry!" I gasped.
She moved her hands painfully, and hugged back.
She sobbed again, and buried her face into my shoulder.
"It was all a lie!" She groaned, and sobbed.
"He had lied to me!" She breathed, I grimaced.
"Katy─" I patted her head.
"I was an idiot!! A shitty tool!!" Another sob, "He used me!!"
I hugged her tighter, and kept patting.
"Katy, ple─"
"I was so stupid!" she groaned in regret, "I didn't know anything ughhh!"
"Ka─" She just won't let me continue.
"It's been years since I've cried this much, Charlotte! And tears just won't stop!!" She sobbed.
"The son of a shrew! Damn him to hell! Ughhh!!" She groaned as if she was being stabbed in the heart.
"It was because of me, Char... I-I caused─"
"ENOUGH!" I yelled.
She gasped, and blinked.
"The last thing you were about to say ─don't even think of it!" I frowned.
She looked at me weakly.
I kept my eyebrows furrowed, and hugged her tighter.
A pained look passed my face.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for any of what had happened!"
I cupped her face.
"It's not your fault!! It's not anybody's fault!" I demanded, "What happened has happened, and we're all safe ─that's what truly matters!"
A suffering expression passed her face.
"But... Charlotte, you don't get it..." she pleaded.
"You're right!" I assured, "I don't get it! Because I know I'm not in your shoes, and wouldn't understand what you're thinking!"
She blinked at me.
"But what I know more than anything," I clenched my teeth, and tried holding my boice together, "is that you've suffered enough from all of this... Stop torturing yourself any further!" I cried softly.
She barely lowered her head weakly.
"I was never an emotional woman... I rarely cried after my break ups. I viewed them as part of my life cycle." she sobbed, "But this was different... It was too fast. Too sudden. Too unexpected. And too... deep. God!!" her groan felt like it was from deep her core.
My heart ached.
"I watched people suffer. I caused people to suffer ─no matter how much you say I'm not to be blamed, I am. I watched him torture you. Torture that Sarah women... He tortured me. And I was helpless through all situations." She bit her lip so hard, "Harvey used me as the main bait for all..." Her voice was miserable.
I bit my lip.
She's been blaming herself for all three days.
I sighed loudly.
What can I say now?
What are the words for this situation?!
Can I ask her really not to blame herself?!
Had I been in her place, wouldn't I have blamed myself?
I would have, for sure. I know that.
I finally shut my eyes for a second, and then breathed frailly.
"Katy, I want you to calm down a bit, and listen to me."
I whispered softly, and gently brushed my fingers through her hair.
"It is a deep injury that usually leaves a scar rooted enough to become your flesh and blood."
Her breathing started becoming lighter again ─the head-patting thing is very soothing, I knew it.
"I will not ask you to forget Harvey. Because he is a scar that will remain engraved in you for some time ─if not forever. However..." My voice was shivering.
I shot my orbs to meet hers directly.
"Don't deepen the scar any further." Tears strolled down my face at that, and my voice cracked, "I know it's already painful as it is."
She gasped, and tears spilled from her eyes vulnerably.
"Ch-Charlotte─" she started.
"It was not your fault ─I'll keep repeating that until you're convinced!" I assured, softly, "Because I know you are not a wicked person... Harveston!" I growled the name!
Yes, I knew she was not at fault. I wouldn't know what I would think had I been in her place, but I do know that the truth is that she's at no fault!
"Harveston wanted to see all of us suffer! Harveston is a person who wants to vent all of his problems and psychological insecurities into people! And that's got nothing to do with you!" I huffed through tears, "People like that can only feel content when they see others hurt! It's not your fault! Understand that!"
Katy breathed unevenly again.
"Can I, Cherry? Can I really believe I'm not at fault?" her voice was like a broken child's, "Can I believe that when I look at your bruised cheek?!" she eyed my cheek through tears.
I sighed again, loudly.
I closed my eyes again, and took a deep breath for a second, thinking.
Wow. I'm doing that a lot lately.
A flash of Harveston's face when I refused to bow to him came to my mind, and I smiled softly.
"I did not get this bruise because of you, Kat." I started softly, "I got this bruise because of a certain stand I made."
I grinned at her.
"And I don't regret my decision. So, don't regret yours, either, because just like mine, your bruises will become part of you. A part that you should forever take pride in ─because it helped you learn. It opened your eyes to the light, Kat." I smiled tearfully at her.
"The decisions we take, whether wrong or right, are no things which we should regret. Because your decisions might define who you are now, but they can never define the 'you' tomorrow, or in the future." I slowly explained.
"Please, Katy." I leaned to kiss her forehead gently, "Let's start again together. Harveston could not make us his stepping stones," I tightened my grip over her, "So, now it's our turn to go ahead, and try to make all what happened with him a step towards the future!"
She just eyed me tearfully.
"I know it sounds so cliché, but Katy, you can't stay caged in what happened forever! No, I won't allow that!"
My best friend went silent for a moment, and then shifted to hug me back tighter.
"You have no idea how much I love you, you idiotic human being." she voice gruffly.
"I think I have: More than Harvey?" I mused.
She let out a soft, almost inaudible laugh.
"I want you to be the first person to hear me when I say this."
She parted her lips, and took a deep breath.
"Forward!" she yelled.
I jumped in surprise.
"G-Gah!!" I didn't get what was with her.
"Forward!" she yelled again.
I almost peed in my pants because of her deafening voice.
"Shhh!! Katy, there are sleeping patients!!" I signaled with my finger over my lips, hoping she'd lower her voice.
"FORWARD!" Her voice came out from the pit of her stomach.
"I. Want. To. Move. Shitty. Forward!" she cried.
I blinked at her, and a loud laugh escaped me.
"So that's what all the screaming was about!" I grinned.
For the first time since ages, a giggle escaped my best friend, and she breathed loudly.
"I guess!" she huffed, a grin on her bruised cheek.
I smiled meaningfully at her.
"I missed your smile, Kat."
She looked at me, taken aback by my reply for a moment, and then grinned at herself.
"I guess I missed it, too!"
We laughed loudly, as the voice of my childhood friend echoed through my ears, and we turned towards the door.
"Wow! I finally saw her smile! Good job, service doggy!!" he chuckled, and came closer, as he nudged my forehead.
I simply pouted, then smiled at him, as my eyes snapped to the door again.
And they were there.
They stood there, blocking the view outside the door.
Both with a height to be envied for, and model-like bodies.
Rickard Ellington stood in his 'casual' Armani black suit, which wrapped around his body selfishly.
Damn you, greedy suit!
Gah! I'm blushing!
Mr. Leonard Beards, on the other hand was not wearing a formal attire, not even a button-up chemise.
He was wearing v-neck blue shirt, which mirrored his sky-blue eye color, and a dark jeans.
Gosh! He looked... hot!
And so, they were standing there. Like a duo of Gods.
The Golden Duo was standing there.
I gulped.
"You two..." I started.
"Oh, I met up with them when I went up to check on Miss Dowell." Jaden explained.
So they were visiting Sarah, huh? Wow, I somehow feel so... envious?!
Crap Char, you utterly don't!!
And plus, what am I even thinking?! Sarah is shot!
"I-Is she okay?!" I exclaimed, worried.
Mr. Leonard flashed me an utter, forced smile.
"She is." He barely voiced.
His voice was strangled, and pained.
Mr. Leonard was extremely down, even though he was trying to hide it, I could tell.
"M-Mr. Leonard," I approached him slowly, "Are you... Okay?" I questioned softly.
His eyes widened for a second, and he looked at me momentarily.
His orbs deepened, and a suffering expression crossed his face.
He reached for me, and patted my head softly, as he pulled me towards his chest for gently.
"Uhh-Um..." I blushed, and didn't know what to say.
"I'm so sorry." he murmured, his voice deep, low, and strangled, "Even you got bruised, Miss Kitten." he sighed.
I blinked.
So that's what the gloomy expression was about.
That's what the pained expression is about.
He, too, felt guilty.
The vice-president blamed all what happened to his old thing with Harveston.
I fidgeted, and raised my head from his chest, meeting his eyes.
"Please stop this, Mr. Leonard!"
His eyes widened.
"Huh?"
"The frown does not suit you. So, stop it!" I frowned, as I tried putting a strong façade before him, "Sarah is alive. Katy is alive. I am alive. And Mr. Ellington is alive!" ─and even looking as handsome as ever.
No! Scratch that!
"So, stop looking so gloomy! Because none of us blame you for any of what happened!"
My eyes watered, and I grinned at him.
"You are a loved person, so don't think thay any of us believe it's your fault!" I blurted out.
"For whole three days I have been in Harveston's grip," I gestured at him, "I never thought of it as your fault for a second!" I huffed.
The vice-president parted his lips to speak, as he flashed me a weak, painful smile.
"There's no need to worry about me, Miss Kitten, I'm completely fine."
My eyes widened.
Huh?
God...
What is this man?!
Does he really deal with things this way?!
He hides problems, and leaves them to scar inside him?!
He does not plan to share his pain!
Why?!
Just why?!
I opened my mouth to protest, but he was faster in speaking.
"Miss Katherine," he voiced, cautiously, his voice void of emotions.
He knew that Katy disliked him, and with his current self-blaming, the last thing he probably wanted was to get her any further angry.
"We have a proposal for you."
Katy looked into him cautiously, but then blinked.
"Proposal?" she echoed.
I felt his majesty shift just then from behind me, as he passed across me, and approached towards Katy's bed a few steps.
He pulled a paper out of the file he was holding, examined it for a second, and then...
He threw it right over Katy's lap, which was covered with white patient bed sheets.
Katy's eyes widened, and she blinked at the papers, and then at him.
"Katherine Martins." the name escaped his lips so seductively, "You disappeared four days ago, and have been tortured for also four days by Harveston Hamlington."
Katy just gawked at him, as she moved her hand to slowly pick up the paper from her lap, and eye it with wide orbs.
"Wh-What's thi─"
"Although you had nothing to do with all this," Mr. Leonard Beards started, his voice strangled, "You suffered most."
Katy flinched at him.
"What are you say─" the president cut her off.
"The paper between your hands is a contract which decides Harveston Hamlington's destiny." Mr. Ellington voiced, coolly.
His eyes deepened, and he fixed Katy with their intensive power.
"If you sign on the left blank space of the paper, Hamlington receives a normal punishment, just as the British law deems. However," his eyes darkened deeper at that, "I cannot guarantee he receives no aid in such case, the man has connections."
Katy breathed shiveringly.
"Y-You're..."
"If you sign on the right blank space, however," his whole expression became that of darkness, and mercilessness.
For a second I shivered, as I eyed his powerful expression.
"I will personally see it that Harveston Hamlington never sees the light of the day again."
His voice came out superiorly, and utterly powerfully.
God! How can he sound so powerful!?
"Y-You'll kill him?" She swallowed, "Or just torture him?"
The president gave a cool, and slight shrug, as his dark eyes glowed with dangerousness.
"Depends. Everything is possible."
Katy simply nodded, and eyed the contract between her hands again.
A shiver passed through my body, and I came a step closer to the president.
"S-So, you're leaving the choice up to Katy concerning Harveston's case?!"
He eyed me for a second, and then deliberately nodded.
"Sì."
**Sì: yes**
I turned to Katy at that, and she was still eying the paper in her eyes thoroughly.
God.
Where will she sign?! Could it be possible she'll throw him in prison forever, or agree to kill him, or...?!
He deserves it! B-But... I can't imagine Katy doing that to a person!
I sighed.
I don't want to interfere.
Don't open your mouth Charlotte! Don't interfere!
I bit my lips.
It's Katy's choice.
"Give me a pen." Her voice came dead serious.
My eyes widened.
"Huh?!"
She's gonna sign?! God! Please don't let her sign on the right blank space!
I don't want her to become the dark player.
Mr. Leonard handed Katy a pen.
My best friend held the tightly between her fingers.
I opened my mouth to comment, I couldn't bare my thoughts any longer.
"Don't." his order came out absolute, and unbreakable; it was in the form of a whisper ─which only I could hear.
I looked into his eyes, with wide shivering ones.
"What?" I whispered back, uncertain.
"I know what you were going to say ─and don't." his orbs burned into mine, and he had backed a step away, so we were standing beside each other now ─clearly hearing one another.
"How... did you know what I was going to say?! And-And how are you so sure you even got it right?!" I exclaimed, a blush over my face.
"The woman," he gestured with his head at Katy, "has passed through thrice what you've passed through. She has been severely tortured with no crime." he voiced, darkly and lowly.
"Leave her to choose what she sees right at the moment. It is within her right to seek revenge ─probably."
I jumped in my place at that, and my wide eyes snapped up to meet his.
"Katy would never do that!" I whisper-yelled, "Despite all what he's done, she shouldn't be worse than him!"
"You're sure?" He let out calmly, coldly, and I shuddered.
"Agony brings out dark sides of humans."
His dark orbs were calm, and so damn mature; they were also freezing below polar level.
I fidgeted, and my expression probably mirrored my chaotic mind.
"I-I don't know," I whispered. Goodness, will she do it? Is it really possible?! My Kat... Would she ruin the life of a person?!
Mr. Ellington then breathed lowly, as he shut his eyes for a moment, and turned away from me.
Get a hold of yourself, Charlotte, and don't you gaze at the excessively long eyelashes, and very manly temple.
Crap.
"Whatever she chooses, I have given her the choice." he started, "Don't interfere, because there comes a time where individuals need to take decisions by themselves to distinguish what's wrong from what's right."
I eyed his confident eyes, and unwavering gaze, fixed over my best friend.
So he knows what's right, and what's wrong.
He just wants Katy to reach the decision on her own, with full conviction.
Katy then held the pen, and signed.
She signed over the right blank space.
My eyes widened, and tears welled up to them.
"Katy, no─" the president's hand gestured at me, and my voice trailed off.
"Are you sure?" he questioned, his voice cold, and professional.
My best friend's expression could not be seen, as her head was lowered to eye the paper, and her bangs masked part of her face.
I swallowed my tears back.
What am I thinking?!
It's normal she'd sign there.
Harvey had tortured her. He hit her. He called her a stepping stone. He kidnapped us. He made us live through hell.
Of course she would choose him to live a life with no light. Of course she would wish him death. She is human; she is not saint, Char.
I bit my lip.
So, don't fall off, my tears, please!
I then heard a sound, and my wide eyes snapped to the source.
A laugh.
A loud, throaty laugh.
A laugh from the bottom of her heart.
Katy was laughing loudly, cheerfully.
She gave the contract between her fingers a last glance, and grinned at it.
Her fingers hardened on both its edges from either sides, as she slowly, nonchalantly tore the piece of paper in half.
She huffed out loudly.
"God, I really felt like continuing with all of this." She grinned at the president.
"But sorry, I don't think I want to!"
I blinked through tears at her, "K-Katy?"
She smiled at herself for a moment.
"What Harveston did to me was something I can never, ever forget." She started slowly, "But that's no excuse for me to become worse than him."
"For once," she looked straight into the president's eyes, and gave him a meaningful smile, as he regarded her coolly, "I'm actually grateful for you, Proud President, but I'd rather let go of it all."
A smile broke through my lips.
"Forward." she smiled widely, tears welling up her eyes.
"I choose to move forward."
________________________________________________________________________________.
Heyo, bellos and bellas!
Hope you're enjoying your Sundays! This was Chapter 58 for you :)
So what do you think of it?
What about Kat's and cherry's chitchat at first?!
And also, thoughts about the contract and Katy's choice?
And what about Ellington boo, isn't he one hot and wise owl? ;)
Comment and make us feel if you love this :) Vote and share too, Nec's went out of the romance rating this week :(
Now, follow us on our Social media too:
Twitter: 3cupcakes123
Instagram: 3cupcakes_123
TONU: Alpen Rose
One chapter left of this arc ;)
See you next Sunday!
Love,
3cupcakes