I’M A BRAT AND I’M IN LOVE
(No more broken hearts ?? ?)
Chapter 24
(The princess in the glass castle.)
Levi dashed into his car and turned the key in the ignition.
Wait!
Where was he going? He didn’t know where Rika was.
Oh right! She had said she would go to her friend’s place. Hunter or so.
He quickly whipped out his phone and dialled Greta’s number. The old woman cheerily gave him the address and he stepped on the gas, trying hard not to break the speed limit.
He had considered calling Rika, but he knew that talking on the phone wasn’t enough to begin to explain what he had just discovered.
He gripped the steering wheel in anger.
He had to see her.
She was finally reaching out to him, and he had a gut feeling that what he had found out wasn’t the end of the horrible tale.
He pulled up at the address Greta had given him, and pressed the doorbell at the gate. A cheery female voice answered over the intercom.
“Good evening! Do you have an appointment?”
“No … I’m Levi Akabane. Is Rika Sato here by any chance?” He asked.
“Yes she is! I’ll let her know someone’s come looking for her.” The voice responded again and the intercom was silent.
The gates buzzed open after some minutes and a red haired male stood waiting for him. He recognized him as Hunter, as he had seen him once at Rika’s graduation party. The male smiled at him warmly.
“So you’re the famous Levi Akabane that has gotten Rika so smitten Hun?” He said cheekily, then extended out a hand. “Nice to officially meet you. I’m Hunter Slaving, Rika’s best friend.”
Levi shook Hunter’s hand wordlessly, as they walked into the massive Victorian style mansion.
They stepped into the living room, and Levi looked around.
“Where is she?” He asked cooly.
“In the garden. She said I should take you there.” Hunter replied as they headed deeper into the house.
They finally arrived at what looked to be the backyard of the house, and Hunter pulled open a sliding glass door to reveal a beautifully tended garden, that surrounded a little duck pond. Seated on the bench feeding the ducks was Rika, and Levi sighed as he walked in.
“She’s all yours.” Hunter said a little too excitedly, before closing the sliding glass door behind him.
Levi walked slowly to where she was seated, before arriving in front of her. She didn’t look up at him.
“You didn’t tell me before you left.” He said softly, hoping to ease her discomfort in some way.
She began to pick at her fingernails nervously.
“I….. didn’t want to wake you. You were sleeping so soundly.” She replied quietly.
Levi sighed, at a loss of what to do to ease the pain of the girl before him.
“Are you sure we can talk here?” He asked.
She rubbed her arm. “It’s fine. I told Hunter I didn’t want to be disturbed, and the sliding glass doors are soundproof.” She assured, and was silent again.
Levi sat beside her, staring into the duck pond. The ducks swam effortlessly, not a care in the world.
“I’m sure you must have a lot of questions…” She began weakly.
He sighed. “You don’t have to say anything if it’s too p@inful.”
“No. I…. I want to tell you this.” She said firmly, and then cleared her throat nervously. Levi finally faced her, his own heart breaking to match her already broken one.
“So…..as you might have already guessed from what….I wrote….my father’s been um…. sl.eeping with me since I was six.” She choked out, tears beginning to trickle down her face. Levi clenched his knuckles in white hot rage.
He could tell that what she was trying to tell him, was too p@inful a thing to recollect.
“It all started with that storybook. That….cur.sed storybook. The princess in the glass castle. Daddy always said that he loved me. For as long as I could remember. “I love you Rika.” Those were the first words I remember him saying to me. I loved that he loved me so much, and I wanted to do anything to make him continue to love me. So I was the perfect little girl. However, a week before my sixth birthday, I threw a tantrum because I didn’t get a toy I wanted. So my dad called me into his study to scold me. At least that’s what I thought.”
She paused, and swallowed p@infully.
“That was uh….the first time. I didn’t know what he had done then, I only knew that it hurt a lot, and I was bl.eeding. He…..cleaned me up, and then gave me the story book, calling it an early birthday present. He said the princess in the story reminded him of me, and that he was the prince. Although, he had said, the real present was what we had just done. He told me that we were….. c0nsu.mmating our love.” The tears fell rapidly from Rika’s eyes, and Levi was helpless to stop them.
“That was the beginning. Each time I did something wrong, or made a bad face, even if I just woke up late, or refused to eat my greens, he would call me in for a ‘talk.’ So I tried to be as perfect as possible. To be as obedient as possible. But obviously that didn’t stop him. The ‘talks’ continued. No one in the house had a clue. He was that good. That manipulative. Not even my own mother knew. But then again, she worshipped my dad, and I felt that she had always hated me, because once, when she was drunk, she told me that I had stolen her husband from her. Of course when she was sober the next day, she tried to find out if I remembered what she said, but I pretended to have forgotten. She concluded that I was too young to even understand what she meant. But no, I remember it all, like it was yesterday.”
She gripped the edges of the bench and took a deep breath, wiping her face with her elbows. She had not looked at Levi once.
“So it continued. He always did it in his study. Like it was some kind of ritual. He always told me that he loved me. Kept telling me each time we did it. Forced me to say it back to him. Told me that when I got older, he would leave mommy and marry me. Told me that I would be the mother of his children, that he’d fill me with ba.bies.”
She burst into bitter laughter.
“Each time I tried to fight back, he would remind me that he was like this because of him. He would tell me that he was like this because he loved me. That it was all my fault. Tell me that wasn’t I going to take responsibility? After awhile, I stopped putting up a fight. I was terrified of him. He spoilt me, buying me presents, telling me he loved me so much. Then he began to take pictures of me. Recorded pictures of us. Told me that those would help him if I wasn’t ever around.”
Levi grit his teeth. “So he was behind the naked pictures.”
She smiled sadly. “Yes. He was mad because he thought I was sl.eeping with you.”
Levi’s eyes widened. Once again, he had been a cause of her p@in.
“I didn’t know what to do anymore. I’m surprised I didn’t go cr@zy.” She laughed dryly again.
“So I decided to become like him. Twisted, two faced and manipulative. I wanted to understand who he was, hoping that would take away the p@in, and help me stay sane. I ended up becoming the person I despised. I thought that if I could imitate him I could beat him. But all it did was make the things he did easier to bear. So I endured it. Accepted my fate. But I resolved not to die. No way was I going out because of him. But I wasn’t living either. Until I met you. You….you made me want to live again. You made me want to be happy. You made me want to be selfish, you made me want to crave a normal life. But it was no use. I just ended up dragging you into this mess. And now…..I’m just so tired Levi. I’m tired of being strong.”
She choked the words out, holding her chest, sobbing quietly, the kind of tears that made no sound, but were the most p@inful.
Levi stared back at the pond. “He’s going to pay for what he’s done.” He muttered, not really knowing what else was the right thing to say.
Rika grabbed his hand.
“No….you….you can’t do anything. Please…you…can’t tell anyone.” She sobbed out, and Levi stared at her with incredulity.
“If you do….I’ll never be able to get rid of the stigma. I’ll forever be known as the girl that was involved in ill!cit affairs with her father. People will pity me. They will laugh at me, mock me. No! If that happens! Then I might really just give up and d!e!”
“So what are you going to do? Are you just going to keep letting him do this to you?” He asked, his voice rising in anger.
“I don’t want anyone’s pity… nobody has the right to pity me… no one…” She began muttering in a frenzy.
“Rika Sato!” He yelled, and she jolted, then grabbed him again.
“Promise me Levi! Promise me that you’ll keep your mouth shut!”
Levi stared at her like she had just grown horns.
“Why are you always making me promise to do things that won’t protect you? All I’ve ever done has hurt you Rika. Why aren’t you letting me protect you just this once?”
Rika stared up at him, shaking her head vigorously.
“No! No! That’s not it. I didn’t tell you this because I wanted you to blame yourself Levi. I told you because I couldn’t keep it in anymore, and because…. because I love you.” Levi’s eyes widened at the gravity of her words. He knew she said it all the time, but this time it felt different.
“You have no idea how much you’ve helped me live since I met you. How much you e helped me strive to be a better person. The first time I told you that I loved you, you don’t think I knew what i was saying. But, now….I do. You just being there for me when I needed you, you not sl.eeping with me even though I forced myself on you! I love you so much. You’ve helped me become human again Levi. Nothing can compare to that.” She said desperately, and buried her head in his shirt, crying like a baby.
He wanted to say it back.
He wanted to tell her how much he loved her too.
How much she had saved him, how much she comforted him. How much she shut up the dem0ns and voices in his head.
But the words refused to leave his mouth.
He had no right. He couldn’t confess love to her when he couldn’t even do anything for her.
He had never felt so helpess in his entire life.
???
Night had fallen quickly, and Levi had been urged to stay for dinner by Hunter’s family. Rika had sworn him to secrecy, and he had begrudgingly agreed, on the condition that she wouldn’t return back to the Sato Mansion for any reason at all, and if she had to, he would accompany her.
He knew he couldn’t force her or push her to reveal everything to the Police, and the air was heavy between them. He had left tge Hunter family mansion without even bidding her goodbye.
He sat in his office the next day, musing on the previous day’s events, when a call came in from his secretary.
“Mr Akabane, Mr Sato is here to see you.”
Levi’s eyes widened, then narrowed in rage.
“Send him in.”
?????
Written by Authoress Covenant.
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