THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 21 – 30
BY SIR ZACH
CHAPTER 29
Valen got on the bed and pulled a blanket to cover himself, ready for the agonizing pain that follows after he takes the pill.
In a short while, the child started to stretch as beads of sweat slowly gathered on his forehead. The pain he was expecting finally hit him in full force. It was so unbearable that he let out an ear-piercing scream.
Valen rolled around in bed and sometimes tears at his skin with his left hand, still, the pain was excruciating.
The walls were soundproofed which was why no matter how much he hollers, no one but the four walls in his room would engulf his screams.
Valen’s tinted windows are soundproof and bulletproof.
It was Mulan’s idea, saying it wouldn’t be nice for a child like Valen to hear the sound of gunshots outside the house whenever war erupts.
The three musketeers’ houses never cease from unplanned wars. Maverick takes a fight anywhere and everywhere, provided the territory belongs to his enemies, the same way his enemies bring fights to his house.
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 21 – 30
After five minutes of distressful howls and screams, Valen finally calmed down… Unmoving and fell asleep with sweat all over him like he just came out of the pool.
Inside Jeslyn’s room, the lady was still quaking. Pink couldn’t watch her suffer so much anymore while they wait for doctor Matt, so she gave Jeslyn a blow to her temple to help her sleep in a dead faint.
Jeslyn found herself in a pitch-dark place. She couldn’t see anything but only heard the dripping sound of water hitting the surface of something.
The sound travels and bounces back in echoes.
“H– hello… ” Jeslyn found her voice sounding awkward.
She cleared her throat and repeated a few times, “hello, anybody here?”
Silence engulfed the space. Jeslyn couldn’t see where she was. She deliberated for a long while before choosing a destination, hoping she wouldn’t lose her way.
Walking forward, she came face to face with hardness… Probably a wall. She touched it. The surface was smooth. With the support of the smooth wall, she started to walk forward.
Jeslyn walked for a long time until she felt sore in her legs, so she sat with her back to the wall to take a rest.
She had done that countless times already. She felt her throat going dry, but she wasn’t hungry or thirsty.
She tried to search around to see if she could get a hint of how far she had gone. Even though her eyes has adjusted to the darkness surrounding her, Jeslyn still couldn’t see anything.
“Hohohohoho…”
Jeslyn jerked in shock and got up to her feet. She looked around her but nothing was there, however, the echo of the sinister laughter was just fading away.
“You are finally here, Jeslyn!” The voice came again, much louder and more mysterious than before.
Jeslyn got frightened and hurriedly asked: “W– who are you?”
“I am… YOU!… Hahahaha…” The voice got creepier and spookier. The voice filled the whole place and traveled into the darkness.
“W–what do you mean?” Jeslyn managed to ask with difficulty.
“ARE YOU STILL ASKING ME THAT?!”
” I… ” Her voice failed her out of fright.
Jeslyn was scared witless and worse of all, she doesn’t know what was going on.
“It seems you can’t remember me anymore… It’s been a long I visited you anyway.
A few years ago, you made a vow to protect those you love, to keep them from harm, and would give everything to protect old man Lee. But what happened?
You watched him die slowly, you couldn’t do anything for him and you even gave his property AWAY!”
The voice boomed, making it sound like a thunderclap had just occurred.
“I didn’t–”
“You unfilial child! You were the cause of your mother’s death, it was also your fault that your grandfather died!! All the misfortunes that happened to the Lee family are all your fault! Yours alone!”
“I’m innocent!!” Jeslyn screamed. She was terrified by this accusation, but she refuse to shoulder it.
At Jeslyn’s scream, the other voice quieted down and only Jeslyn’s echo could be heard.
“You talk as if the Lee family isn’t mine. I am also a child of the Lee family! The woman you speak of is my mother and the man you talked about is my grandfather!
Everyone knows how much I treasured my grandfather and the revenge I intend to seek for him, I must fulfill it.
My mother died when I was in a coma. They told me she died because of a long-time malady she had been hiding from me, so how am I the cause? How am I unfilial?”
“Jeslyn, I know you better than you know yourself and that’s because I am your conscience. Everything you just said is a lie and you know it.
Even if you get rid of all your enemies, will your family come back? The only way you can rid yourself of your guilt is by killing yourself.
End your miserable life, Jeslyn, and go reunite with your family. The world doesn’t love you and it will forever hate you.
Spare me of all the burdens and just die. You can never uplift yourself, only darkness and sorrow will embrace you–”
“You lie!” She screamed as tears ran down her cheek. “Everything you said is not true. I–”
Before Jeslyn could finish, bright light assaulted the dark place from above. She shielded her eyes from the light and slowly made her eyes get used to the illumination before looking around her surroundings.
Jeslyn came to realize that she was inside a huge tank all this while. To top it all, she has been walking around in circles, thinking she can never reach her destination when the smooth round tank gave her no option of a destination in the first place.
There was no one else but her. Just when she was about to start thinking of why her so-called conscience would say all that rubbish, she heard from the opening on the top of the tank, “come home with me.”
Jeslyn couldn’t grasp that voice. She had never heard that voice before. It was soft, soothing, and almost hypnotizing. This was the first time she heard such a voice.
Jeslyn looked at the hand stretched towards her. For some reason, the hand was super long, or should it be… stretchy?
All she needed to do was to accept the hand and leave the tank, but somehow, she loved to remain in the tank, like she was waiting for something, so she shook her head.
“I– I don’t want to.”
Just when she said that, a figure wearing black with his face concealed appeared out of nowhere. He opened his hands like he was expecting a hug from Jeslyn without uttering a word.
Jeslyn suddenly felt excitement coursing through her the moment the person appeared and without further thought, she took the first step to run towards him, but before she could take the third step, she was yanked out of the tank by the stretchy hand.
Jeslyn jerked awake on her bed with sweat all over her. She looked around at the people surrounding her bed.
Both familiar and unfamiliar faces.
“Y– Yellow?” She asked in doubt, but her voice was almost inaudible.
“Good you are awake. You should relax for a while before eating something. Your treatment will commence tomorrow.”
Jeslyn turned in the direction of the calm voice and saw it belonged to a young handsome man with white hair.
From his words, Jeslyn could tell he is a doctor.
She shook her head, “I’m fine doctor, it’s a normal occurrence.”
Nightmares of her walking or running in darkness have always visited her once in blue moons ever since she was 16 years old. Her family had tried all they could. Even the best doctors they knew of in Country A couldn’t do much to help her.
Therapies and all the stimulation or whatever she went through, failed. So she believed that this doctor would also find nothing.
Matt said curtly, “Your sickness needs to be treated, or else you won’t–”
“You should get things ready for her treatment. You’re talking too much.”
The sound of footsteps could be heard from the door after that and a few seconds later, Maverick walked into the room wearing all black… like always.
“Boss,” Yellow greeted with her head bowed.
“You are early,” Matt said.
Maverick stared at the pale-looking Jeslyn with chapped lips for a brief moment before he turned to face Matt, “come with me,” he notified.
Before he turned, he glanced sideways at Yellow, “get her something to eat.”
“Yes, boss,” Yellow responded while still bowing until the two men left.
“Older sister, Yellow,” Jeslyn tried to smile but her lips wouldn’t stretch to her desired length.
“Hey, don’t smile yet. I bet you’ll start crying after knowing what you did.”
Jeslyn’s smile instantly evaporated. “What are you talking about?”
Yellow sighed before she walked towards Jeslyn’s bed. She picked up a telephone that wasn’t there before and dialed a number.
“Butler, get the kitchen to prepare something healthy and light for your madam. It should be ready before…” she glanced at her wristwatch, “…30 minutes.”
She dropped the telephone once she was done and sat on the bed beside Jeslyn.
“Little Bunny, how did you manage to get here?” Yellow asked while staring at Jeslyn’s face.
Her usual playful air was gone and her multi-colored hair with Yellow outline that she had always left messily on her head was combed and trimmed into a bob, resting below her earlobe.
She looked like a stone-faced businesswoman facing her rival.
Jeslyn wasn’t liking this new personality so she turned her face away and sighed.
“You face… Ahem!” She cleared her throat. Her throat was dry and her sweet voice felt weird.
Yellow turned and poured out water into a glass then handed it to Jeslyn.
“Thank you,” she received the glass cup, and the minute the water got onto her tongue, she almost spat it out but Yellow stopped her.
Jeslyn swallowed before she looked pitifully at Yellow, “it’s hot.”
“That’s right, your voice needs warm water…” she raised her hand to stop Jeslyn from protesting. “Drink it all and don’t say anything.”
Jeslyn pouted and obediently finished the warm water. She felt the inside of her body warming up and her sore throat getting relief.
“You were saying something,” Yellow reminded her.
Jeslyn nodded, she wanted to complain about Yellow’s new personal but decided against it, so she shook her head, “don’t bother.”
“Still as confused as ever,” Yellow said with her eyes smiling but on her black-painted lips was a cold sneer.
“Hey, don’t sneer at me like that,” Jeslyn smacked her hand playfully.
Yellow didn’t laugh as she would have, but the wicked air around her diminished.
“How did you bring yourself here, little Bunny?”
Jeslyn sighed. She understood that the country wasn’t for people like her, but what can she do?
“Do you know the man you married?” Yellow asked.
Jeslyn nodded. “He’s Maverick Lu,” she said with confidence.
“Just that?” Yellow asked, a little perplexed.
“Yes.” Jeslyn looked at Yellow and thought for a while before she asked. “Or does he have another identity?”
Yellow curled her lips into a wicked smile and responded, “why should I tell you? It’s a price to pay for your stupidity.”
Jeslyn sighed and rested her back on the headboard. “I thought you were a little nicer than older sister Pink.”
“Certainly I am,” Yellow immediately answered.
“But, Older sister Pink wouldn’t do this to me,” Jeslyn said with conviction.
Yellow suddenly burst out into a puddle of laughter, surprising Jeslyn and also making her smile.
‘Good that she smiled’, Jelsyn thought.
“Guess why Pink isn’t here,” Yellow said with a playful smirk.
“She must be busy…”
“Yellow shook her head. Your older sister Pink is more upset at you than I am. She doesn’t know how to face you. Pink had promised to… Let it be.”
Jeslyn didn’t know what to feel at the moment. Her emotions got complicated.
Yeah, they are right to be angry at her. Maverick had made her believe that he wasn’t the regular guy, but her desperation didn’t let her focus on what was in front of her.
She sighed in resignation and held Yellow hands in hers, ” Older sister, don’t worry, it’s only for a year. We signed a contract to get a divorce after a year and we can return to our lives. In addition, I can pursue my career and my revenge after a year’s break.”
Yellow looked at her with pity in her eyes. If only Jeslyn knows that getting a divorce would make her already complicated life even more problematic.
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 21 – 30
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