Amber hated Pom-pom with her entire fucking soul.
The bitch threatened to beat her for a pair of sunglasses, tore out soul flowers from her head as if they weren't attached to her heart, and laughed when Amber almost died at her feet. Sure, she had remained pretty damn calm when she realised that the bitch had wiped off the evidence of her wrongdoings from the face of Earth. But there was no fucking way she didn't fantasize about killing Pom-pom.
There was just a special place in hell for people just like her.
The monstrous being stood before her, laughing prettily as Casper spoke to her, oblivious to Amber's seething need to decapitate her. Casper didn't seem to notice. But Amber couldn't blame him, he stood too far out to sense her distress in his periphery. Casper was also ridiculously tall, and she was sure all he saw from her direction was his enormous biceps and his ridiculously sexy chest.
An exaggeration of the century created by her horny brain. The true culprit was the long strands of hair that framed his angular jaw.
Amber hated Pom-pom. She wanted to explode, to drag the bitch straight to prison. But somehow, the actual sight of her didn't just bring out murderous tendencies that boiled in her chest for a year too long. Instead, Amber writhed in fear spurned chills, her brain thrumming with acerbic hatred but her body as cold and as lifeless as frozen barramundi on ice. She smiled, awkward and stiff when the bitch greeted her as if she didn't know her.
Her hand, wrapped over Amber's, a firm shake. A tiny squeeze, a polite smile. And then those hands left without giving Amber a chance to break them into two. They acted like acquaintances. They acted like first time friends. Fucking, business partners. Maybe colleagues.
And Casper was now smiling at Pom-Pom, laughing as if they were friends. He was an icy cold bastard with his mother, but a ray of warm sunshine with the biggest bitch on Earth and that fact sent a shock wave of troubling betrayal through her skin. The eyes of Pom-pom on her skin every minute or two, was a scorching scrape of claws over her back.
Claudia, her mind reminded her. Claudia.
She knew a Claudia from school. That Claudia was tough and rude. A prick with a sharp face and a mean smile. She didn't have a good impression of Claudias and perhaps it was a blessing that Pom-Pom didn't share a name with someone she loved. Because the devil didn't deserve to stand equal with humans of greater worth.
She would apologise to the other Claudias in the world later, only after she'd gotten her revenge.
Perhaps the numbness was a blessing, the gut-wrenching flicker of condolence from a God. Because Amber knew she couldn't go all crazy mad bitch in Casper's gala, not after losing her head at his mother. Nonetheless, it was difficult to ignore the pain that dug deep into her fleshy heart or the pain that wrenched gut deep and unforgiving. It threatened to bring forth whatever gurgled deep within her belly.
And fuck she did feel like throwing up now. The buffet spread that was once the most lavish, heart-warming spread now a festering hill of trash to her nose. Oh, it didn't matter what she wanted to do. She knew she needed to leave, she knew she needed to leave. She had to.
She stalked, limbs numb, head empty as she moved to Casper's side. Her mind caught words of pleasant well wishes, questions on money, offerings of aid. And for a moment her body and soul considered whimpering into Casper's arms, it considered admitting the truth to the audience that peered from behind the wall. It would rouse questions; it could momentarily sully Claudia's name. But it would be an equivalent action of smearing shit over her family, stamp a 'crazy commoner bitch' on her face for his relatives to mock.
She didn't want more reason for Casper's relatives to hate him.
"I've seen Amber in the music video," Claudia tittered, pressing long fingers to her lips as she smiled. "But considering the time you gave me I'm afraid I just had to use that image of her from high school. A shame, considering how pretty your soulmate is in person."
Amber's lips twitched, her mind flashing with the ugly picture the media had so conveniently chosen. The picture she spoke of featured her half asleep, messy-haired and with swollen eyes because her teacher had the audacity to tell her that she'd failed a big math exam right before photo taking.
Her soulmates said it was cute, and she was pretty sure she saw it in Hikaru's wallet.
"No doubt, it was still a good image to push for the image we wanted." Claudia clasped her hands together, a floaty move that her head battled to accept. It was too gentle, too damn graceful for someone that she'd seen turn mad with rage. And those words…Amber narrowed her eyes.
Translation: We needed Amber to look ugly because it would make her relatable.
"We're very thankful for all you've done," Casper hurried to assure her and God, he was just not on the same fucking page. Amber's fingers clenched into fists, her heart pounding as she begged the spirits for strength. Because she was this close to throwing a punch at Claudia's smug face.
"You've said that enough Casp," Claudia giggled, placing a hand on his arm and God whatever fear that once churned in Amber's heart vanished with a spiralling whoosh. "It was a brilliant image for the naïve, school girl that had no choice or say in the matter of soulmates." Her eyes twinkled darkly as she sneered at Amber, or perhaps it was all just figments of her angry imagination. "Good, to show that she had no place in the media."
No place. Amber stared back at her, the courage somehow rearing forth as she searched Claudia's eyes for even the hint of remorse or guilt. Claudia didn't want her here. She never wanted her here. She was the one who called her a foreigner, a whore, someone undeserving of MinJae in their society. Her brows furrowed. Did she like MinJae? Oliver?
"I assure you; we have no intention of winning the contest Grandma organized," Casper said quickly, understanding her words to be about the shares in the media organization that his family prized. And she understood the desperation. They owned the largest private broadcasting company in the entire country. "We're only here for the rules."
"You're sure?" She tilted her head down, eyes big as she fluttered false lashes. And Amber resisted the urge to puke. Did she like Casper? Her grip tightened on Casper's sleeve as horror scorched her insides. Incest might make her puke. "The rules have changed, cousin. The share price has risen, the earnings are more. I'm sure it would be good if your soulmate had a say in the national news. The way we structure our words, the way we form that slight bias, that little judgement. It could change so much for you and your little team."
The mild edge of distaste surprised Amber and she gasped out the words before she could stop them. "Don't you like IDOL?" Claudia blinked, turning to look at her. Her face was neutral, mild, open, questioning. But Amber's dreams had been plagued by those eyes and she knew how to read the bubble of thick, viscous panic. Or was there panic?