"Don't you think you're just using him?"
The voice echoed through the darkness.
"HUH? WHO?"
Dream Natalia spun around frantically in the empty void, searching for the source.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT???!!!! I ACCEPT THAT I USED HIM, BUT... BUT... WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE?! HE DIDN'T ACCEPT ME! HE DIDN'T SAID ANYTHING TO ME!! I DIDN'T KNOW IF HE LOVED ME OR NOT! I... I..."
"Did you have fun playing with him like a doll?"
The voice remained emotionless, stating facts rather than asking questions.
"NO! NO, I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THAT! I JUST WANTED HIM TO BE WITH ME!"
Dream Natalia's voice cracked with desperation.
"You like to control him. You desire his goodness while keeping him at arm's length."
"I... I... I..."
"You took his presence for granted."
"I... I WILL DO BETTER! FOR SURE! PLEASE!"
"You didn't take him seriously."
"I WILL! Please, stop…."
"You humiliated him."
"I... DIDN'T MEAN TO..."
Dream Natalia's voice broke completely, her defenses crumbling.
KRRCHH... ZZZRRRR
.
"What a dirty place this is…. Why do we have to come all the way here? He'll come to you anyway."
One of Natalia's male friends looked around the lower-class school building with obvious disgust, his nose wrinkling as if the very air offended him.
"Hey, this is OUR school, don't speak nonsense!"
A tall, beautiful Natalia walked proudly through the corridor, surrounded by her group of elite friends. Her expensive uniform and confident stride marked her as royalty among commoners.
As they entered Zack's classroom, they found him sitting at the front, giving a lecture to a group of students. The students stood in a semi-circle around him, listening intently with focused expressions. They hung on his every word, taking mental notes of his explanations.
"Hey, hey, your friend sure likes to give useless lectures. Let's listen to him, I also want to know why everyone love to hear him talk."
The guy grabbed Natalia's arm with amusement flashing in his eyes, he pulled her closer to the group.
The students were surprised at first by the sudden arrival of upper-class visitors, but they didn't move. They kept listening to Zack respectfully.
Zack noticed Natalia and her friends and gave them a polite nod of acknowledgment before continuing his explanation.
As they stood there listening, some of Natalia's friends started yawning dramatically, making it obvious they found the whole thing boring.
"Hey, check her out. I guess even in the lower classes, there are still some beauties presents."
One of Natalia's male friends grinned while talking to his friend then nudged a girl from lower-class who stood near them and winked at her suggestively, trying to flirt with her.
The girl visibly felt uncomfortable, her shoulders tensing as she tried to inch away.
But the man reached out and grabbed her waist, pulling her roughly against him.
"KKKKYYYYAAA!"
SLAPPPPP!!!!!
The sharp sound of her palm connecting with his face echoed through the classroom. She immediately moved away from him, hiding behind her friends with a terrified expression.
"HEY, BITCH! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THAT?! DID I HURT YOU OR WHAT?!!!!"
The man's face twisted with rage as he saw his friends laughing at him. He glared at the trembling girl and lunged forward, his hand raised to slap her back.
But Zack appeared between them instantly, catching the man's wrist mid-swing and stopping him cold.
"HUH?...HEY LOYAL FRIEND MOVE AWAY IF NOT THEN I WILL NOT HESITATE TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!!!"
Zack didn't say anything and just looked at him with serious eyes.
"KEKE FINE FINE"
The friend clenched his other fist and…
"BOTH OF YOU, STOP IT!!!!"
Natalia rushed forward, trying to de-escalate the situation, positioning herself between Zack and her friend then pulling them apart.
"TSK!"
The friend couldn't do anything more since Princess herself stopped him, he just looked at the trembling figure an shouted "YOU BITCH! I'LL SEE TO IT THAT YOU NEVER SEE ANOTHER DAY AT THIS SCHOOL! DO YOU KNOW WHO MY FATHER IS?!"
The man went completely crazy, making threatening gestures at the trembling girl. His face was red with fury, spittle flying from his mouth as he shouted.
The girl shivered, her whole body shaking with fear.
"GEEZ, STOP IT!"
Natalia tried to calm him down, placing a hand on his chest.
The man looked at Nat then slowly stopped shouting but still he couldn't fathom that she slapped him in front of everyone.
He shoved past Natlia and moved forward, grabbing the girl's hand tightly, his fingers digging into her wrist hard enough to bruise.
"I'll forgive you if you kneel here right now and say: 'I AM SORRY, MASTER! FOR THE CRIME I COMMITTED I AM WILLING TO SERVE YOU FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME MASTER!!!!' Say this….then I'll leave you alone."
His voice dripped with venom as he licked his lips in excitement.
"If you don't, then I guess I'll have to tell my father that a lowly rock district girl isn't treating the people who run this city seriously."
He turned to Natalia with a cruel smile.
"Natalia, your citizens sure are ungrateful.... My father will be very disappointed to see this."
Natalia's frown deepened as she processed his words and the threat they carried, not just to the girl, but to her reputation as princess. She turned to look at the frightened student, her expression conflicted.
"Just say sorry... No need to serve him."
Her voice was strained, trying to find a middle ground.
"I guess that would be enough, right?"
She glared at her friend, silently hoping he would just give her a face.
He squeaked a little under her intense stare, then shrugged dismissively.
"Fine, fine. Just kneel down and say sorry."
The girl stood there shaking with fear, clutching her school outfit tightly with trembling fingers. Tears welled up in her eyes as she processed what was being demanded of her.
Slowly, agonizingly, she began lowering herself to her knees…..
THUP!
But before she could kneel Zack's hand shot out and caught hers, stopping her descent. He pulled her back and made her stand straight.
Then he turned to glare at Natalia's friend, his eyes filled with a cold, dangerous fury that no one had ever seen before.
Without warning, Zack lunged forward. The Crown man didn't react in time as Zack pinned him down on the ground and raised his tightly clenched fist.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His fists connected with the guy's face repeatedly with brutal, unrestrained punches fuelled by pure anger. Each impact made a sickening sound. Blood sprayed from the guy's nose as Zack's knuckles turned red...whether from his own skin breaking or the other man's blood, it was impossible to tell.
AAGHHHH!!! THUMPPPP!!!!
Finally, the man collapsed unconscious on the floor, his face was fully brutally beaten up, his previous handsome face was nowhere to be seen right now, he just lay there like a beggar.
Zack stood over him, breathing hard. His school shirt, his pants, his sleeves….everything was covered in blood splatter. His hands shook slightly from pure rage that was making him harder to control himself.
He glanced back at Natalia.....just one look, not saying anything. His eyes held something she'd never seen before: disappointment, anger, and a deep, profound feeling of sadness.
After looking at her for a moment, he simply walked away, his footsteps echoing in the stunned silence of the classroom.
Natalia felt something strange twist in her chest. For the first time in her life, she felt small, as if she wasn't in control of the situation. As if the ground beneath her feet had shifted. She didn't understand what this feeling was, but it made her deeply uncomfortable yet at the same time it was making her heart race for some reason….
.
"It's fear.... You were scared."
The voice returned in the darkness.
"That Zack boy is more than his good-looking, gentle personality. You feared he has the power to shake everything inside you despite you being the one in control…... So, you gave him punishment for it. Zack didn't come to school for many days after that incident, but he never stopped coming to YOU. You felt you won, right?"
Dream Natalia didn't speak. She was still staring at the memory, at the scary face Zack had made that day, the cold fury in his eyes that she'd never witnessed before.
After a long silence, when the memory faded, she finally spoke quietly:
"YES... I WAS SCARED. VERY SCARED…..BUT ALSO…..I FELT…. SOMETHING ELSE…..I…I… DON'T KNOW….. AND YES I FELT LIKE I WON...…."
"Yes….And you also realized he had a soft spot for you. So, you became more brazen."
KRRCHH... ZZZRRRR
.
"You partied hard. You started enjoying your life more and more, while Zack was always present as a shadow, protecting you from the background."
The voice narrated as Dream Natalia watched memory after memory flash by.
"You always spoke about how you loved him, but you never did anything to show it. Why is that?"
Dream Natalia saw herself indulging in parties, wearing sexy, revealing dresses that hugged her curves, dancing with multiple men, drinking, laughing loudly, soaking up attention like it was oxygen. Her eyes occasionally does flickered toward Zack, who stood in the shadows, watching silently. But he never spoke up. Never stopped her. Never pulled her out of the madness.
"I TOOK HIM FOR GRANTED," Dream Natalia whispered, her voice hollow. "I thought his feelings would never change. He is mine. He will be mine. Always."
KRRCHH... ZZZRRRR
.
The memory shifted again in a dark cold room.
"Zack... what should I do?"
Young Natalia's voice was broken, fully shattered. She sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest, her whole-body trembling.
"He... he touched me everywhere. I failed to control the machine during the test. I'm useless now... What should I do, Zack??? Is my future same as my mother??? Will I just be a show piece for another man???"
Her voice cracked as tears streamed down her face.
"I can't become the princess like this. He violated me Zack, and everyone just laughed! They stood there and watched and LAUGHED!"
She looked up at him with desperate, pleading eyes.
"Tell me, Zack…..what can I do? What should I do?"
Then her expression twisted into something uglier, pain turning into blame.
"SEE, ZACK?! THIS IS HAPPENING ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!!! YOU NEVER LOVED ME, AND NOW SOMEONE ELSE IS TAKING ME! ARE YOU HAPPY, ZACK? ARE YOU HAPPY?!"
Her voice rose to a scream.
"TELL ME, ZACK!!!!! WHY ARE YOU STILL SILENTTTTT????!!!!! SPEAK SOMETHING! SAY SOMETHING FROM YOUR GODDAMNNNNNN MMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHH!!!!!"
She grabbed his shirt, shaking him to any reaction.
"WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW????!! MY DREAMS, MY GOALS....EVERYTHING IS RUINED ZACK!!!!! AFTER TWO YEARS, HE'LL COME BACK, AND WHEN I COULDN'T MAKE THE HEART MACHINE WORK….. HE'LL MARRY ME AND BECOME THE RULER OF THIS CITY OF EIRS!!!!!! AND I'LL JUST BE HIS WIFE WHO DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO BUT JUST LIVE MY LIFE AS HIS TROPHY!!!!"
She collapsed against him, sobbing hard against his shoulder.
"I've lost, Zack... I've lost!"
Zack held the broken Natalia in his arms without saying a word. After what felt like hours of crying, she finally cried herself to sleep, her head resting on his lap.
One of his hands gently stroked her hair. The other was clenched into a tight fist, his knuckles white with tension.
His eyes didn't shed a single tear, but they glowed dangerously in the darkness of the night promising violence, promising retribution, promising to save her from this sitaution.... and promising to KILL THAT MAN!!!!
.
"HE IS ANGRY." Dream Natalia looked at him in teary eyes.
"Yes... he is. For you..."
"AND HOW DOES THAT CHANGE ANYTHING? HE WAS ALWAYS ANGRY WHENEVER I WAS WITH OTHER MEN" Dream Natalia spoke while trying to touch his face in her hazy memory.
"This time it was different"
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SAY."
"Dreams don't make sense, dear."
KRRCHH... ZZZRRRRR
.
"Natalia, you should stop for today. It's already night. Go home."
A male voice spoke gently from beside her.
In the library, a more mature, fully developed young adult Natalia sat hunched over books. Her body had filled out completely with curves in all the right places, the softness of full womanhood replacing the lean angles of adolescence.
"I'm fine…... I'll just rest a bit, then I will complete this chapter."
She bent down on the table, and within seconds, exhaustion claimed her. She fell asleep instantly, her breathing evening out.
"Sigh... you don't have to work so hard... I'll do everything for you."
The man, her study partner, gently slid her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on the soft strands. In a trance, he touched her cheek with the back of his hand, feeling the warmth of her skin.
Then, slowly, he brought his face closer to hers. He lifted her face slightly, tilting it toward him. Her rhythmic breathing touched his skin, making him feel ecstatic in his whole body.
CREAAAKK
Suddenly the library door opened.
"Hmm..."
The man paused when his lips mere inches from Natalia's.
"TSK!"
Frustrated, he gently let her head rest back on the table and stood up. He walked to the door with calm steps, not bothered by getting caught while trying to kiss the Princess.
He walked closure then looked up to see Zack quietly standing in the doorway.
"Zack, Zack, Zack... the man who doesn't know when to give up."
The guy's voice was condescending, dripping with false sympathy.
"Can't you see you're useless in her life? She's born to be great, and you being with her is only limiting her potential. Give up, Zack. The sooner, the better."
He patted Zack's shoulder patronizingly and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hall.
Zack stood there for a moment, then slowly walked toward Natalia. He sat down beside her silently, just looking at her peaceful sleeping face. After a long moment, he picked up her textbook and started marking important passages, writing notes in the margins to help her understand the complex material better.
When he finished, he quietly stood and left without waking her.
"Ummmm... yawwwn..."
Natalia woke up later to find herself alone.
"Geez, did he just leave me here?"
Then she noticed the marked pages and notes.
"Hmm? What's this? Hehe... thank you for helping me."
She smiled softly and started reading the book, studying late into the night with the help of his annotations.
.
"ZACK! YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST SAID SOMETHING!!!!! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SNEAKY?! DO YOU LIKE STAYING LIKE THIS?! IF YOU LOVE ME, THEN SAY SO! WHY..."
"Haha, says the girl who made him feel so small from the start."
"SHUT UP!"
"What? I'm just showing you the truth."
"FINE! I HUMILIATED HIM! I USED HIM! I MADE HIM FEEL USELESS! I PUT ALL THE WEIGHT OF MY EMOTIONS ON HIM! BUT STILL…..I LOVE HIM! I WANT TO CHANGE AND LOVE HIM PROPERLY!"
"Oh, good thought. But how would you do that after this?"
KRRCHH... ZZZRRRR
.
"Little man, stop!"
"NNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!"
"Gloomy, break down the door!"
"NO! THIS IS WRONG!!!! THIS IS ZACK'S VOICE!"
BOOOOOM!
The door exploded inward.
Zack entered the room and saw Natalia standing there half-naked beside a Little man with is upper body fully naked.
"NO, ZACK! IT'S A LIE! THIS ISN'T THE TRUTH! PLEASE BELIEVE ME! I DIDN'T SLEEP WITH HIM!"
But the scene didn't change. It just stayed frozen, Nat saw what she feared the most...DISGUST!!!
Zack's eyes opened fully, the whites visible all around his irises. His eyes turned blood red with rage. He looked at Natalia with complete disbelief, like she was a stranger, like everything between them had been a lie.
Then he just turned around and started walking away.
"NO! DON'T GO! COME BACK! ZAAACKK! ZAAAACKK!"
Natalia ran after him desperately…..
SIZZLE... SIZZLE...
"AAAAHHH!"
Suddenly, hot magma began flowing from above. A stream of molten magma hit Natalia's shoulder, burning through her skin and muscles, the flesh melting on contact. The pain was beyond anything imaginable, the white-hot agony stole her breath from her soul, she could hardly breath now, the pain was something imaginable she ever experienced in her life.
But she didn't stop. She kept running forward, chasing Zack's retreating figure.
SIZZLE... SIZZLE...
"AAAAHH! STOP! ZAAACKK!"
More magma poured down from invisible sources above. It flowed over her arms, her legs, her back. She couldn't run anymore. Her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground.
She watched in horror as her own body began to melt, skin bubbling and sliding off, muscles liquefying, bones beginning to show through, she watched her arms losing all the shine of a Princess and she just closed her eyes while giving a last glance at Zack back which was slowly vanished into the horizon...
KRRCHH... ZZZRRRR
.
KKKSSSKKAOJOJOJFAFA
WHOOOOSSHH...
SHIVER... SHIVER...
"Zack? AGGHH...Where are you?"
Natalia found herself in a completely different nightmare…..a cold, dark, lonely desert with violent winds howling through the emptiness. The wind cut through her like knives, bringing violent shivers to her fully naked body.
Her naked skin started freezing in the frigid air. Ice crystals started forming on her arms and legs, spreading like a disease on her whole naked body.
But she didn't care about anything, she just wanted to see Zack, her eyes kept looking for him for a long time in this cold lonely desert...….And suddenly, she saw a dark figure ahead in the distance.
"Zack??? Zack is that you??? Zack…. please! I'm sorry! I... FOR EVERYTHING, I'M SORRY!"
She stumbled toward him desperately, her frozen feet barely able to move now.
Zack suddenly turned around and opened his mouth to speak.
"NAT…."
WHOOOSSHH!
KRRCHH!
STAAAABBB!
A massive ice pillar materialized out of nowhere and impaled Zack straight through his middle, creating a huge hole in his body. The spear stuck through him completely, blood gushing from the wound and freezing instantly in the cold air.
Zack's eyes turned blood red. His mouth opened again, trying to speak his sentence.
"I... LOOVV…."
WHOOOSSHHH!
STAABBB!
BOOOOOMM!
Another pillar of ice came crashing down and completely blew his head off, separating it from his body in an explosion of frozen blood and thick wet tissue.
"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!"
.
ZZZAACKK!!!!
"HUFF! HUFF! HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!"
Natalia jolted awake in her bed, gasping for air like she'd been drowning.
"AGGHAAAA!"
Her head exploded with pain….a sharp, stabbing agony that felt like her skull was splitting open.
"Huh?.....What? What was I dreaming?"
She clutched her head with both hands, trying to make sense of the fragments.
"AGHH! Zack? I..."
"SOB... SOB... ZAAACCKK..."
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
Natalia lay in bed, her hand pressed against her forehead. Her entire body was soaked in sweat, the sheets beneath her damp and clinging to her skin.
She threw away the blanket with a ragged movement.
Her naked upper body was covered in droplets of sweat. Her soft belly looked smooth and vulnerable in the dim light, small beads of moisture trickling down the curves of her stomach, sliding from her ribs down to the mattress cover.
Her bra was completely soaked through, making her feel uncomfortable and restricted. The swell of her breasts was covered in sweat droplets, some staying balanced on top while others rolled down the curves of her cleavage.
Her tears wouldn't stop. Her chest moved up and down heavily with each ragged breath.
She just lay there lifelessly, staring at the ceiling, not knowing what to do or how to fix any of it.
Her body shivered, not from cold, but from the emotional weight crushing down on her.
Suddenly feeling the chill, she grabbed the blanket and rolled it back over herself, curling into a tight ball beneath it.
She lay there in the darkness, crying silently, haunted by the dreams that felt too much like truth.
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END OF CHAPTER
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Author Blabbering
Hmmm...sometimes I think I should not write this Author part because it can break the flow of a chapter emotions but...then I thought I should annoy my readers more since I love them ( in friendly way )...hehe
I am hungry.....Since I didn't cook today so dear tasty food stalls here I COME!!!
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