TW: This chapter may contain triggering scenes such as assault and violence. Please do not read this chapter in case it's triggering you.
He was waiting for me, leaning on his luxury car, wearing a suit, crossing his arms. He was waiting for me. As soon as he saw me, he quickly straighten his body and walking closer to me. I was busy, panicking, thinking how on earth he find me. How? Why? When? And how again?
Until he stands right before me, smiling, more like smirking, mockingly. I was stunned, confused and my legs won't move. Something inside me, like a switch, flipping on, as I'm too scared to move.
"Pack your things, Maddie," he said. And I was confused. What the fuck, what I thought. I finally realised that that wasn't a dream. Because I could feel the heat from the scorching sun.
"Pack your things, Maddie."
"How?" Those were the only things that escape from my mouth. I was hopelessly pathetic.
He shows his phone and glanced at my apartment building. Just a phone call and he found me. Is that what he meant? "This will be the third time I said this, pack your things, Maddie."
I was confused but every single emotion that was left inside my body rushes to my brain. I was disgust, fearful, anger, and broken. I couldn't believe he was my son's father, a man I hate the most, I despised him.
"No," I said, finally able to move, so I walked past him, climbing the stairs, rushingly. And of course, he was behind me.
"Should I make you pack your things, forcefully?" he said, laughing. "Or is it that you already playing house with Jade? You fucked him already? Because he all bulky now."
I stopped and looked at him. What the fuck?
"Pack your thing, Maddie. That's the fourth time I told you so."
"If I said no, would you beat me like you used to? You will rap*d me? Or what? There are few CCTV here, sir. You better leave before I called the police."
He laughed. Hard. He was bending, laughing hard. Like I just tell him a joke.
"CCTV here's are just for shows, Maddie. It's not even blinking. And how on earth are you going to call the police? Screaming? You don't have a phone! And what do you mean, I rap*d you? You love it when I do you rough, honey. You love it."
I could feel my tongue getting numb, I'm speechless. What the fuck is this man saying. Is something wrong with his brain, is his brain dysfunctional.
"How on earth did you think I love it? Are you crazy? You rap*d me! And come to my room every single weekend night! When I fought you, you beat me! You abused me. And how did you think I like it? How on earth? You rap*d me, you mother fucker rap*st!" I yelled. I was frustrated. And god, he didn't take what I said, nicely. He is crazy. He frowned. Clenching his jaws and pushed me on the wall. God, he's going to kill me. And I have nothing left to lose, he can do that now!
"Did you yelled at me?" he asked. And I spitted on his face. "I asked, did you yelled at me?" I thought that he will be mad because I called him a rap*st, but he was mad at the fact I yelled at him. He is crazy.
And I felt the heavy full slapped on my face, I fall on the floor like a freaking doll. It's hurt, my head started to ring. I couldn't hear anything, I thought I will be dead. And he grabbed my hair, dragging me to my house. How the fuck he opened the fucking door?
He slammed my head on the floor, giving me another whole pain. He even kicked me on my stomach, I can't stop groaning and coughing.
"Why did you yell at me, Maddie? I talked nicely to you. You know I hate that kind of thing." he said, crouching and grabbing my hair, lifting my head. I looked at him, I'm tired. He's insane.
He slapped my face one more time. And I'm too tired to fight him. My head keeps ringing and I can't help but remember my dad. I will rather be beaten by my dad, at least he apologised.
God...help me. Please…
"How's your dad, Henry?" I asked. And I could see his face reddened, veins popped out from his forehead, as he clenched his jaws tighter. He looked murderous. "Did you know...your father…" I laughed, I can't believe I'm going to piss him off like this. He will kill me, and I don't care anymore.
"...I sleep with your dad too. Funny, huh?" I laughed. That was a lie. He looked at me, with darkened eyes and darkened face. "He's pretty good, better than you."
He suddenly stood up, kicked me on my body, I could hear something cracking inside me, and the pain was unbearable. He grabbed my hair and dragged me to the bed. My head's keep thinking, trying to processing what's happening.
And what he's going to do to me? Fucked me? I laughed. Maniacally. I struggle some more as I dug my nails into his skin, making him jerk and abruptly letting my hair off. My head bumped into the floor, hard as my head starting to ring. But I stood up quickly, ran to my kitchen and grabbed a knife.
"Drop the knife, Maddie," he said. And I yelled at him, hard.
"Get out!"
He straighten himself, sighed heavily. Before he looked at me with a sneer, he is mocking me. "What are you going to do? Kill me? I like that, go ahead! Kill me!"
He said, laughing out loud. I frowning. He is literally, fucking crazy! But I know something that he knows well. He wants me. He comes here to pick me, for whatever reason it is. He wants me.
"Fuck you!" I said, cutting my left wrist as the blood spurred on the floor and my face. He looked at me and ran toward me, taking off his clothes but he stopped when he heard a voice from the door. Han!
"What the fuck are you doing, bitch!" Han ran toward him, punching him on his face before he turned to me, and started to panic. "Fuck! You always in trouble, Iyves!"
Thus, that was my fourth attempt. Call me a suicide maniac cause I would do it to save myself from another pain.
When I woke up from a deep sleep, I heard that he was arrested by the police, thanks to Han.
----
"Of course, he was released on bail. His dad is rich. Han said his dad sent him to Canada. I think." I said, glancing at Ayden's face. He was frowning, clenching his jaws tightly.
"Han said? How did he know?" he asked, a bit cold.
"He was the one who helped me handle the case. So he was the one who hired the lawyer too. He paid the bill. He handles everything. Jade wasn't around, he went to London for work. And I was hospitalised. I broke my ribs."
"He was released on bail after that?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Money is everything nowadays."
He let out a curse under his breath.
"What happened to this one?" he pointed to my palm, and I laughed.
"Nightmares," I said, smiling. He looked at me with a frown. "I'm broken, and I was hopeless. I thought I was dreaming, all the pain. It's just a bad dream and I need to wake up. But when I wake up, I was at the hospital. I used to go see a psychiatrist. But, I got harassed instead. He said a method to heal' but he sexually harassed me. So I hated going to the hospital since that day. Jade know about it and he went to beat that man into a pulp. Of course, no money, no case. And there's no evidence that I got harassed. So knowing that I stop telling Jade that I still get harassed. And I asked for money, as compassionate money. Like the one you saw at the restaurant."
"Then why are you so afraid to use lift?"
"Harassment by a group of drunks men." I shrugged.
"And the end," I said, slowly rubbing his forehead, trying to get rid of the wrinkles between his eyebrows. But it gets deeper.
"Don't smile…" he said, his voice shaking. "Maddison…"
He stared at me and I stared at him. We both keep our mouths tight, clearly awkward.
"I...Remember the night you tried…" he looked down on my neck and bite his lips. I nodded, getting what he tried to said. "And I asked you to move in the next day, and Jade just agreed, kind of, and we both went to your house to handle things."
I nodded. Still listening.
"I saw some, uhh...footprint, shoe print. Faintly but I wasn't sure. I told him the next morning, So, both of us went to your house together and it's still there, there, the shoes print. Along with a pharmacy plastic bag. Your doorknob was broken, which means someone broke into your house. We both were stunned, and ran to the security office, checking the CCTV. And we saw the figures, the footage is a bit blurry, we couldn't see the face. But we saw that he broke your door. And a few hours later, that man walked out from your house, and soon later, I arrived. And I carried your out, and we went to the hospital, right after five minutes, we saw that guy coming into your house again, but he ran out. Probably searching for you."
I just keep quiet. I knew it. It's not a dream. I glanced at him, wondering what he's going to say next. I'm speechless.
"My friend...Andy. He's currently uhh...investigating it. And now, we have the footage from here too. So what I'm trying to say...I will make sure he paid what he did to you, princess."
"Are you comforting me?"
"Yes..no, it's the fact but yes." he struggled upon his words. "I thought I should tell you about it. Since you're having a hard time telling me about you," he said.
"What happened to we must talk to each other, on every slightest detail? You should tell me that night, that that wasn't a dream." I asked him, I didn't mean to sounds sarcastic. He looked like having a hard time arranging his words.
"You're having a hard time because of that, Maddison," he said, glancing at the newest scars on my neck. "How could I tell you about that? And for what? To see you in pain again? I was afraid that night, afraid of losing you. And knowing that I played the part of it, I couldn't forgive myself. And knowing that it wasn't a dream, I just couldn't bear to tell you. But if this man is that mother fucker, then, I will hunt him down."
I smiled, it just sounds funny. "Wow, so aggressive," I said, and he flicked my forehead. "Ouch! That hurts, dude!"
"Did you just dude me?" his eyes widened and he pinched both of my cheeks. "I'm all serious, and your smile? Did it sound funny to you?"
"Yeah, it sounds fun!" I said, giggling. I think my humour broke.
"Maddison!" he scowled. "I'm a serious, babe." He suddenly covered his eyes with both hands. His voice is getting shaky, and his breath is getting heavy. He curse under his breath and turned around against me.
"Are you crying?" I asked as I saw his shoulder shaking, and I heard him whimpering. It's a faint sound, maybe because he's trying his best to muffle his voice. I quickly stood up and sat in front of him. He is biting his lips as he rubs his eyes aggressively.
"It just hurt to hear it," he said, grabbing his shirt to wipe his face. More likely to hide it. "I wish I was there." He said, wiping off his tears, and stared at me. He rubbed my scar on my forehead.
"There's only one scar here," he said.
"From my dad."
His eyes slowly trailed down on my eyes, and down to my neck. His rough hand slowly wrapped on my neck and the other on my hand. His thumb struck the scar on my neck and slowly looked down on my hands.
He sniffles, but seeing him crying over me, surprisingly, makes me touched. Am I being weird?
"Don't cry," I said, wiping his tears off. He abruptly hugged me, tightly, stroking my head softly, desperately. He whimpered, even more, it's the second time I saw him crying. He squeezes me tighter, and closer. "Ay-Ayden?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say. But I will never forgive that fucking bastard. I will never forget every single thing he did to you. Him, the orphanage and the church. If I ever come across him sooner, I would probably snap and kill them." he said, slowly pushing me, cupped my cheeks with both of his hands, his eyes searching deep inside me. "I–I will protect you, Maddison. I will protect you at all costs. I'm sorry that I brought up any of the bad memory before. I'm sorry that I made you remember. I'm sorry that I wasn't there before. I'm sorry that I'm late. I– I'm sorry!" he sobbed.
Looking at him, crying desperately for me, make me cry too. I burst into tears and he pulled me into his chest. And I cried my lungs out. Pouring all the things out.
"I was terrified. No one listens to me. I was scared. What if I'm not a good mom. And it's turned out, I am not a good mother. I'm lost. And what will happen next? I was scared. It was painful to even breathe." I cried. His rough hands keep squeezing me tight.
"I'm here now, baby. It's okay. You're safe now. I'm here to listen to everything you say." He kissed my forehead and wiped my hair off from my face, staring deep into my eyes. He slowly smiled at me, "Look where you are now baby, you are the most amazing woman I've ever met. You are doing a great job! You're so...amazing."
I laughed, "I'm doing a good job." I said, repeating what he said. "I'm doing a great job…" I whimpered, "Thank you for listening…"
"No...thank you, baby, for choosing me. Thank you so much for telling me about you, knowing that it will break you apart. But you're still telling me. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm late."
"But you're here now." I laughed again, and he smiled. Pulling me closer and kissed me on my forehead, patting my head and back softly.
"I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. And I will always be here. No one is going to hurt you, ever again. Not even me."
I closed my eyes tightly, hugging him back. His heartbeat beats a good rhyme. It's calming.