Daniela looked at Lavelle with a surprised look because, since returning to the room, Lavelle looked like someone who was having a big problem. Lavelle closed her eyes and was still silent in the doorway. Daniela didn't know what her best friend had been through but, Daniela could understand that her best friend was having a problem.
"What happened to you, Lavelle? Did you have a problem with that guy called Theophile?" asked Daniela.
Lavelle was silent and stepped towards the king-sized bed, slightly tousling her silver hair in a daze. Daniela shifted her body as if giving Lavelle to throw herself onto the soft mattress.
"What happened? Explain to me," asked Daniela.
"I really don't understand, Daniela. I don't know where to explain it, you know? I have a feeling they won't let us go," Lavelle replied in a frightened tone.
"Wait, what do you mean by that? Try, calm yourself first and explain it to me slowly," said Daniela later.
Lavelle shook her head quickly. However, she could not explain what was on her mind coherently and clearly. Lavelle was confused about what she was feeling right now. Daniela realized that Lavelle was unstable after a day of traveling with Theophile. Daniela did not understand what Theophile had done to Lavelle, but she understood that Lavelle could not control her own emotions.
"Calm down, explain to me what happened to you slowly," said Daniela, trying to hold Lavelle's shoulder gently.
"Daniela, listen to me… we may never be able to return home again. It's fun. However, we could become food for those strange creatures," Lavelle replied to Daniela's words in a hurry, "We have to do something so we can get out of this place."
Daniela tried to ask Lavelle to look at her face and took a deep breath to make up the negative thoughts now in Lavelle's mind. "Lavelle, Mark has made a promise to both of us. He will not make us their supper. What are you thinking? Did Theophile make you anxious again?"
"I don't understand," said Lavelle.
Daniela immediately took a glass of mineral water and handed it to Lavelle. "Drink. You look so exhausted. I happened to have brought some pills that you often take."
"Danie …."
Daniela walked over and took out a small plastic bag filled with Lavelle's pills. Daniela rushed to Lavelle and asked the girl with silver hair to take the medicine immediately so she could calm down.
"Nothing bad will happen to us, Lavelle. You have to trust Mark as he promised," Daniela tried to comfort Lavelle, "I know you might be a little worried about how you feel about Theophile, right?"
"I don't care what Mark promises, Daniela. Do you know why? Because humans are good at making promises and then betraying in a matter of days, it's not much different from them," Lavelle said, still like an unstable person.
"You're just tired because you're thinking too much. You didn't forget what the doctor who treated you yesterday said, did you? You need to think positively about yourself, Lavelle. You don't always have to feel that your bad past is chasing you. We have to wake up and forget our past." Daniela pressed.
"I feel like I'm going completely crazy, Danie... I don't know why my feelings are so hard to control, and it's sickening," Lavelle complained.
Daniela took a deep breath, then rubbed Lavelle's shoulder, trying to calm her down for a while and explain what Theophile had done to her to make her feel this unstable.
"How long do I have to take this pill so I don't go crazy?" asked Lavelle quietly.
"Surely until you can control your emotions well, Lavelle. Now please explain what Theophile did to you?" Daniela returned to the original topic of their conversation.
Lavelle muttered under her breath, "Do I look that pathetic in other people's eyes? Why do they always look at me like I'm a disgrace?"
Daniela was silent for a long time, and then she grabbed Lavelle's hand. "To hell with those who see you as seeing disgrace, you must be firm to your original goal, which is to recover and return to life like any other teenager. You are still nineteen years old. You still have a long way to go, and it would be so wasted if you only used it to think about people who know anything. What have you been through so far?"
"Will I be okay if I don't take this pill? Do I look insane? Why can't I feel a strange vibration like a butterfly dancing above my belly button?" Lavelle asked quietly. Even her voice was now so hoarse, like someone who wanted to cry hysterically.
"You'll be fine as long as you think positively about your own life, as Doctor Gloria said. You can live like any other teenager even though you're a little numb from the trauma you've been through. However, I'm sure sooner or later you will feel that bubbling feeling," replied Daniela.
"Right now, that's not what I'm concerned about. I'm thinking of something that really doesn't make sense," said Lavelle.
Daniela frowned, then asked, "If not that… what made you like this?"
"I find Theophile so weird and overbearing, and I don't know why I feel a feeling that really can't be described in words, but, I also don't feel so happy with him. This is so weird. It makes me sick," Lavelle said later.
"This isn't strange, in my opinion. Did you just make one guy fall in love? I think almost three men can fall in love with you if you realize it correctly, you don't need to flirt with them and those who come to you alone," Daniela replied with a chuckle and then folded her legs.
"I don't need a partner anytime soon, Danie. I'm not ready to open my heart again," said Lavelle.
Daniela chuckled. "Don't overthink about it. It will only make you dizzy and go back to dealing with psychologists. Just think of something fun, like umh… you're not stuck in Theophile's kingdom, but rather you're being invited to vacation here and forget about your annoying business in the human world."
"Danie… you understand how worried I am right now, right?" Lavelle complained to Daniela.
Daniela shrugged her shoulders then put Lavelle's medicine on the nightstand. "I see, but at least being stuck here for a while is better than hanging around in the wilderness for a week without healthy food. Let's say this is a vacation. Don't think negatively. And one more thing, it's already ten o'clock at night, you had better sleep."
"How can I sleep if my mind keeps spinning about that weird guy?"
"Close your eyes, imagine something pleasant, and sleep." Daniela smiled and immediately lay down on the big bed and pulled the blanket.
Although some butlers and servants still sounded downstream in front of their rooms, Daniela's drowsiness absolutely could not be prevented. Meanwhile, Lavella let out a deep sigh and walked towards the large window in the room.
"I wish this were the most beautiful dream I've ever had. I was honestly uncomfortable and died."
+++
"She was born into a family that is not harmonious," Mark muttered as he watched Lavelle across from Theophile's secret room, which was directly opposite the room used by Theophile.
Meanwhile, in a large and tall chair, the handsome man was playing a golf ball with a repetitive motion as if his mind was not in the room. His green eyes gleamed in the glittering light that lit up the expansive room. Occasionally he bit his lower lip and clucked erratically at the thought of something.
And that something is the life of the girl who currently makes his world helter-skelter, a human he has just met, but so makes him thirsty for love and addicted to the girl's sweet voice. In fact, it is now that Mark is being held hostage in that room.
Mark took a deep breath, then stepped his foot to look at some of the abstract paintings that were installed in the room. "She often felt hopeless and acted so stupidly as to injure herself, from getting drunk from nine in the morning to one at night, scratching her arm with a pen or knife, or maybe beating herself up."
Theophile turned to Mark, "Then? Doesn't anyone care?"
"Of course, there is. But she doesn't realize it because the hate has made her blind to sincerity," said Mark later.
"Can you tell me everything about that girl?" asked Lavelle.
Mark smirked. "What do you need from a girl like Lavelle? She is only human and has no abilities whatsoever."
"I want her," Theophile replied.
Mark was stunned, then asked Theophile in a strange tone, "Are you being serious?"
"Just tell me what you know about that girl, Mark. Don't waste so much time." Theophile put the golf ball in his hand into the desk drawer.
Mark nodded awkwardly, then he took another step forward to see a strange, lime green diamond magic ball in a small cupboard. "One thing you need to know before actually making her fall in love is… you have to understand that she is a girl who is very difficult to open her heart to, but when she loves someone, she will do anything so that the person she loves doesn't go away from her."
"Sounds like a psycho. Does she have a love sickness disorder?" asked Theophile then.
"She has only been in a toxic family for a long time. As far as I remember, she has experienced domestic violence verbally and physically since the age of eight. Of course, you can imagine how the soul of a child who has been physically abused since childhood is destroyed?" Mark took a deep breath before continuing, "She is a small child trapped in a teenager's body, mentally crushed since childhood. And she hated her Dad so much because her Dad was so evil and could not be considered a Daddy. This is what makes Lavelle a little strange. She likes men, but she is tough to interact with men."
"Then how do you interact with her?" Theophile knitted his beautiful eyebrows.
"We've known each other since childhood. Of course, Lavelle can be close to me,"
Mark replied later.
Theophile snorted. "By the way, what did her Dad do to make Lavelle hate him so much?"
Mark folded his arms in front of his chest, sighed, and then walked back to look at some of the decorations in the antique cupboard in the room. "Should I explain it in detail?"
"Of course, because it is an important matter."
"Okay… I'm just pretending I don't know what secret Lavelle and Daniela are keeping. I could tell Lavelle was crying bitterly at her Dad because the strange older man compared her to the boy who was staying at their house. Doesn't this sound so annoying when Dad compares your abilities to the abilities of an animal from which clan you don't know?" Mark raised an eyebrow.
Theophile sighed in exasperation. "Of course, it sucks. Even if it happened, I wouldn't hesitate to eat the animal."
"Well, that's how Lavelle feels. Broken, tossed, and broken by the first love that should have been her wings," said Mark.
"Surely Lavelle can't control her emotions because of such a cruel environment," Theophile guessed later, "This hurts so much, but how come she can be so strong until now?"
"Strong?" Mark asked with a questioning face. "I don't think she was tough enough because she tried to kill herself so many times. And once, she was in a coma for three months because she had a stomach bleeding because she drank too much wine."
Theophile was silent for a moment, then looked back at Mark. "Can't she drink too much?"
"Probably yes… however, Lavelle and Daniela still drink wine whenever they feel annoyed," Mark replied.
"Umh… regarding Lavelle's love affair, has she ever dated before?" asked Theophile again.
Mark smirked. "Yeah, she's been dating a few times. But the last time I heard it, she and her boyfriend broke up because Lavelle was so possessive and childish. And the funniest thing is that her ex-boyfriend can't forget Lavelle and instead becomes a same-sex lover."
"I thought only vampires could be crazy about Lavelle's charisma. In fact, quite a lot of men are trying to have her," said Theophile.
"Now you're competing with a guy from Vietnam," Mark said with a laugh. "But you don't have to worry, dude. I firmly believe that man will never possess Lavelle."
Theophile raised his eyebrows to ask why the man Mark was referring to couldn't have a relationship with Lavelle.
"I've made the guy stay away from Lavelle because I think it's useless for them to be in a relationship if Lavelle has to hurt herself every time, she gets jealous," Mark replied.
"Then how should I make her mine?" Theophile rose from his seat.
"Are you serious?" Mark asked uncertainly.
"Of course, I'm serious. Have I ever been not serious in front of you?" replied Theophile.
Mark gave in and nodded. "This sounds quite strange since this is the first time you want to have a girl from the human race."
"Does that sound so weird? I think Lavelle could be a match that was destined for me," said Theophile.
"Then, what if Lavelle rejects you?"
"I'll make sure she accepts me as I am," Theophile replied confidently. "How to make it mine?"
"Make her a beautiful universe she has never felt. Make her feel so comfortable with you. She loves novels, drama, chocolate, roses, music, and martial arts. You can use that topic to chat with her," Mark replied.
"Pretty lovely to hear. I'll make sure she gets what she wants," muttered Theophile.