Inside a garden whose entrance was blocked by several luxurious cars, from limousine, Range Rovers to Mercedes-Benz, surrounded by several men wearing glasses and black attire belonging to bodyguards.
Moonlight was accentuating two figures inside the garden, one of them seated on a bench while another one knelt, holding the other’s hand.
“Please tell me, Hesme, did I do something wrong?” Rio, sitting on his knees and looking upward at the woman with a saddened expression, inquired.
“….No,” she mickly stated with a broken voice, shaking her head.
“Then why? I want to marry you, live with you. Can’t I deserve this much?” His fingers entangled with hers, his eyes holding his deep pain at her sudden rejection.
drip drip
“I fear losing you.” The woman’s eyes broken in tears, falling without any rest, drenching both of their hands holding each other.
Moonlight’s glow reflected the grief and pain hidden inside those tear drops.
“…do you still believe in that superstitious prophecy?” Rio’s face reflected the same pain mixed with slight anger toward the fortune teller who had predicted their relationship to be cursed.
“…It is not superstition.” A whisper-like voice emerged from her trembling lips.
“No, it is,” Rio looked intensely at her, repeating the words he had told her many times before.
“YOU COULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY!” Hesme cried out in pain, the strength in her voice evident from the visible veins on her neck, causing even the bodyguards to look towards them.
Yet, ignoring everything, tears flowed like a river. “You could have died…you could hav…”
Her hands left Rio’s finger, attempting to stop her stubborn tears, but everything was in vain. The flow didn’t cease but continued, falling and drenching her wrist as she tried to wipe them away.
“But I am alive, right?” Rio spoke with his body standing, his hands wrapping around the crying woman, pulling her into an embrace and softly caressing her head with softened eyes. “And it wasn’t some curse, but that Max bastard’s fault.”
thud
“Ow,” Suddenly feeling a light pinch on his waist, he looked downward, only to hear her soft yet trembling voice, “I told you not to use abusive words.”
“Yes, yes, I am sorry.” His hands lightly ruffled her back, the other one placed on her head, feeling her pain while his eyes reflected on their life’s journey.
“So, I was saying, it was Max’s betrayal who backstabbed me with poison,” Rio repeated himself.
“Sniff, Was it really?” Hesme corrected him with a trembling voice, reminded again of the fortune teller’s words about her being a curse to him, a jinx who would lead him to the path of death.
“Do you really forget, we had our first time that day?” She again reminded him, recalling the sudden call from the government to send him on a mission just after they first copulated.
“Hesme, that day, David died, not me.” His mind replayed the vivid details of that day.
Known by the code name 0, he was always sent on special missions, just like that day.
Accompanied by his old comrade Max, he went on the mission under his old name, David, which were the official allotted names for their identification.
But Max backstabbed him with a knife filled with Russell viper’s poison; all wounds from previous firing battles resurfaced with heavy bleeding.
“Both are the same; you can’t play with words,” wrapping her hands around him, her face buried in his abdomen, with drying tears, she retorted.
“Fine, but you idiot, don’t you see?” Tracing his fingers down towards her chin, lifting it up while meeting her eyes, he with a softened expression added, “I survived a grenade blast just a meter away.”
Slowly he leaned in, removing her wrapped hand, coming to her eye level as she sat on the bench. Making eye contact, he said, “You are that lucky for me. I am still alive, survived a bomb, and defeated even death. With you by my side, I am sure even the gods can’t separate us.”
“….Why are you making me feel helpless?” The woman’s eyes looked at him in her most vulnerable state, wet due to his words, simultaneously hating him for forcing her.
Yet those memories of his completely burned body, destroyed bones, everything resurfaced again.
The world’s best doctors were appointed to heal him, money was spent like water to somehow have him survive, with a determination that she would leave him forever if, only once, he opened his eyes.
But she lost.
He was broken, needing her support, and in such moments, when he couldn’t even support himself, how could she leave him?
She stayed, and now it’s been seven years they’ve spent together—he went through multiple plastic surgeries, healing treatments, and whatnot—just because he thought she would dislike his face.
‘Idiot’, Tilting her head, her hands lifting and resting on his cheek, which he grabbed, looking at her with those unchanged eyes, even before the surgery and now.
He was her helplessness, a weakness making her wither like flowers.
“Fine, I will marry you.” Being defeated, she accepted his proposal of marriage.
“I love you, Hesme!” The man lifted her off her feet, spinning her around as he laughed joyously. His beaming smile brought tears to her eyes, filling them with newfound hope.
A hope to always be together.
.
.
.
.
“Bye, I am going.” Leaning towards the limousine’s window, he looked at the woman who didn’t want to part ways. Despite her reluctance, he offered, “I will spend all day with you tomorrow. Please let me go.”
“….Ok, and I will talk with Dad. He would be happy.” Hesme smiled in defeat as she looked at the man, who then stood and moved towards the street leading to his house, with his parting words, “Don’t worry, with you being here by my side, no one can separate us.”
“Huh, did he forget his cellphone here?” Hesme noticed the old-fashioned model beside her seat before coming out of the car.
“Miss, let us deliver this to Sir,” one of the bodyguards proposed, but was met with silence as the woman directly moved towards the alley, causing all of them to follow behind her.
.
.
.
‘It was a relief that Max’s ass was strong enough to block the grenade,’ Rio chuckled to himself as he moved inside the alley leading to the road, his house visible on the other side.
He smiled as he took out his keys.
Arriving at the road and stopping at the traffic signal near the zebra crossing, he noticed a small girl playing with a ball while her mother seemed busy chatting.
“La La la,” the little girl sang as she threw the ball onto the road, prompting her to sprint towards it.
However, she was swiftly lifted by her hoodie by a hand before reaching the ball.
“Hey, little fairy, if you want the ball, wait until the light turns green,” Rio gently set the little girl down, who nodded shyly while fidgeting with her fingers after being scolded by a stranger.
TING
“Now you can have it,” Rio moved forward with three other individuals—two ladies gossiping while holding bags, and the little girl who grabbed his finger.
“Don’t leave—”
TING
“Huh?!” In that moment, Rio’s eyes caught the traffic signal suddenly changing to red out of nowhere, causing him to glance around at the people. “Damn it!”
.
.
.
.
“Miss, let us deliver this,” the bodyguard insisted once more, but Hesme’s response was a firm rejection as she reached the end of the alley.
‘No, why is there a crowd?’ Hesme’s hand trembled, causing that phone to slip from her grasp and crash onto the ground, her steps quickening.
“Did this young man save them all?”
“Yes, he pushed the girl and the two ladies onto the roadside.”
“How did this happen?”
“No clue.”
The murmurs of the crowd reached Hesme’s ears.
“No, NO, NO!” Hesme’s body moved faster, disregarding her bodyguards’ calls as tears began to form before she even reached the scene.
The words of the prophecy echoed in her mind.
:: You are cursed to him, your presence nearby him will only lead to his death ::
“MOVE NOW!” Her delicate hands pushed through the crowd surrounding her, her heart shattered as she passed by, her mind enveloped in an ominous feeling dragging her deeper into despair.
“EMPTY THE PLACE NOW,” the bodyguards swiftly arrived, forcibly dispersing the crowd, uncaring about the aftermath, focusing solely on clearing the path.
Drip-Drip
“R-rio?” Tears continued to flow as Hesme’s eyes locked onto the lifeless body lying on the ground, bloodied and broken, shopping bags strewn around.
Thud
“Uwwaaahh…..R-Rioo!….sob…Sob…” Hesme’s trembling body collapsed against the bloodied figure, pain overwhelming her, her heart shattered into irreparable fragments. “I-i t-told yo…..”
*****
drip
‘I told you, I am a curse.’ A single tear slid down the woman’s cheek as she stood atop a tree, her amethyst eyes gazing into the distance, her silver hair dancing in the wind, her expression vacant.
‘This time, I will keep my distance and remain a barrier, Ryuk.’ Yui’s face, devoid of emotion, concealed the pain accumulated from her past life—the torment of being a curse to the man she loved, unable to even touch him.
Even now, he nearly died the moment she requested the transfer of the Sword from the Sword Maiden to him.
It proved again that she and death were equally close to him.
Her single step was like death taking two steps; at most, she could only circle around him and protect him from external pain.
This had been her aim since the moment she first saw him: he was her weakness, but she would be his strength.
This was what love meant.
A love that was never hers and never would be but she will keep loving him, from afar.
Conclusions, if readers don’t understand what happened until now in these six chaps:
1. Every Tenebri have Silver/white hair, meaning all the girls you read about having these coloured hair are Tenebri.
2. This is regarding Alia’s Mother, and her sister ~ A Spoiler, so stay tuned to know this.
3. Esme( who is with Ryuk) possesed face of Yui’s past life who was Ryuk’s real lover but he don’t know and now, his behaviour towards her is understandable since, she posses same face which makes him remind of his past.
Unaware that, the real Esme (Yui) is also Reincarnated and knows about him.
4. I mentioned why noone came to protect son of heaven and Heroines in previous life, so, it was Yui’s work, who stood as vanguard to protect him (how she did it, will be revealed with further plot moves)
5. What will be their chemistry and if Ryuk will know about this, will be SPOILER, So, I can’t say much.
6. Max and David are from Chapter 32, Where Max Reincarnated as Edward(son of heaven) but Ryuk exactly don’t know that he is Max
7. Reason for this new privelege and six chaps, by stopping two days work- I needed to keep the flow in my mind intact while having a fluid approach to not mess the plot while busy in reading demotivated comments which is normal nowadays due to story being boring.
so, thank you, stay tuned to know, if they will even be together.
And, there is major plot twist also left out regarding that Esme.
