Hadyan's cold hands made Tasia shiver, she immediately pulled her arm from his grip. Not wanting to prolong the problem made her wasn't interested in replying.
She just stepped back and pressed the doorbell with her eyes looking back, where Hadyan was still standing while staring at her. An obvious horror ran through Tasia's hump, considering what he could do.
Tasia kept pressing the bell button. She rang it a few times impatiently.
Not long after, the main door opened and a friendly-looking granny came with a key to unlock the fence. She was Tasia's grandmother.
"I'm home, Grandma." Greeted the round-eyed girl, with a friendly and warm smile.
This girl was cool. She could change her mood and facial expression in just an instant, making Hadyan even more amazed at her.
Hadyan slowly stepped closer, intending to be polite to greet Tasia's grandmother as well. He smiled sweetly even though no one responded.
The fence opened and at the same time, the grandmother's light hand landed hard on her granddaughter's soft cheek.
Hadyan flinched, then swiftly pulled Tasia back a few steps to protect her behind his back. He was shocked at what he had just witnessed. Hadyan did not expect the friendly-faced granny to slap her own granddaughter so hard for no apparent reason.
"You b*stard don't know how to be grateful! Why did you come home at this hour?! I know you didn't go to school, but instead went to play around! Roaming like a wild animal! A wild animal waiting to be hit by a car! Just get out of here! Get away from this world!" the grandmother snapped.
Tasia was still silent with her head looking down while holding her cheek which felt sore and throbbing. Half of her face was covered by her smooth hair, covering how the tears flowed out of her eyes.
"What were you doing?! Why did you hit Tasia?!" Hadyan asked angrily. He did not accept his –soon to be empress- to be hurt like this. If it wasn't Tasia's grandmother, he would have made sure that this person had lost her hand before even touching the girl.
"None of your business! Go home, you punk!" Said Tasia's grandmother, then immediately stepped back into her house with a mumbling mouth.
"A-are you okay?" Hadyan immediately checked Tasia's condition, who covered her sobs. Even so, her shoulders shook violently, making Hadyan both uncomfortable and even more annoyed.
Hadyan bent down to look at Tasia's cheek which had been slapped. But before he could see it, Tasia immediately brushed away Hadyan's hand that was trying to touch her hair-covered face.
"Just go home, Hadyan. I'm fine." She quickly passed him.
"No, Anastasia. You're not okay. Your grandma just hit you. That's not right at all." He answered, unwilling to let Tasia get into the house with a crazy granny who has the heart to hurt her own grandchild.
"Just go home, Hadyan. This is none of your business." Her voice went limp. Her hoarse voice that seemed to be running out feels like a hammer hitting Hadyan's eardrums.
"B-but, Anastasia! Wait!" Hadyan called to Tasia who stepped inside, ignoring him, and disappeared behind the main door.
'What is actually happening?! Her grandma is a crazy woman! How dare she hurt my empress-to-be?!'
'Gosh, Anastasia.. What the hell happened?'
Suddenly, Hadyan's cell phone rang. He took the cell phone from his grey pants pocket and picked up the phone after seeing the name 'MARYA' on it.
"Yes? What is it, Marya?"
"Hadyan?! Where are you? Miss Lensy is looking for you. She suspects that you ran away after dropping Tasia home. Come back soon, I'm worried about you."
"Okay, I'll be right back. Thank you," He said.
"Ugh! I hate this kind of situation! How can I leave when Tasia's situation is so worrying like this? Sometimes, I regret impersonating a human and being bound to their limited worldly life." He mumbled in frustration.
He sighed in annoyance and then looked away from Tasia's room window and quickly walked away to the bus stop in front of the residential complex.
Tasia pulled back the curtain that she had opened a little earlier so she could peek at Hadyan's whereabouts. She breathed a sigh of relief, still rubbing her sore cheek. Finally, the crazy guy had left.
"By the way, how did he know this is my room? Oh, right, I forgot he was a black magic-user. His good attitude made me forget what kind of person Hadyan really is." Tasia muttered.
She stepped into the bathroom and stopped in front of the sink, turned on the faucet, and washed her sticky face that was covered with tears, sweat, and the warm air outside. Then she looked at the mirror hanging in front of her face. The slap left a reddish palm print on her soft cheek.
"Grandma's condition is getting worse. Why? Why is she even able to hit me now?"
Tasia's tears started to flow again. She couldn't hold back the pain in her chest. A pain that was bigger than the slap mark that was still throbbing.
She felt that her time to be happy was running out. She felt that she would never be happy again. Her happiness had stopped years ago and slowly began to fade with time.
Her eyes glanced at the bruises on her waist. The bruise was fading, more drastically than she expected. It reminded her of Hadyan's figure.
"What should I do with Hadyan? He really is a black magic-user. He can even control me, making me sick and weak. I'm in danger! What if he dares to go any further? Use that magic to make me fall in love with him? "
Tasia grimaced, "Oh my God! Help me! How many more problems do I have to go through? Can't I live in peace?!"
After she finished washing her face, Tasia immediately changed her clothes and lay down on the bed. Her head throbbed from crying too much and her cheeks hurt even more.
She held her cheek as she stared up at the ceiling.
The strange thing was, Hadyan's face always appeared whenever she blinked. It seemed Hadyan's image filled her head after that incident.
"Arrggghh!! Get out of my head stupid Hadyan!!
What a perverted criminal! Even you who made the mysterious bruise on my waist and made me suffer from dizziness for days! And you still dare to ask about the bruises?! What a brainless boy?!" She growled.
Suddenly, Tasia immediately sat up with wide eyes. She just realized something very strange.
'Wait! Wait, wait a minute!! There's a strange thing! A very strange thing!
That bruise! Wasn't that bruises already there before I met Hadyan?!
The bruise was there even before we started school. It appeared after I.. drowned and disappeared at Scale beach, right?!!'