When Spring First Came

🌸Chapter Nine🌸

She could feel her heart pound loudly on her chest, as if wanting to burst from her ribcage.

He was close. Too close.

His lips, blowing hot breaths into her ear, tickling it red. His strong arms wrapped around her waist, holding her to him, as if he was afraid she would vanish from his sight like dandelion petals. He nuzzled into her hair, taking in her scent, her everything. Her. The smell of liquor permeates the air.

He was the handsome devil that entranced her into his golden cage and held her captive. Clipped her wings and made her into a plaything. And yet here she is, conflicted of her beating heart, that seemed to yearn for this man. The man who stole her freedom.

The man who gave her passion. Who loved her passionately. Or so he claimed.

She would not believe it.

The devil could not love.

"Please," he whispered, his voice low and deep like molasses, melting his words into syrup. He hadn't even started and yet here she was, already turning into a puddle.

"Just for tonight. Even if it's lies that's coming out from your lips, and the liquor has clouded my brain. Even if you look at me with hatred in your eyes when you say it. Just this once," he pleaded, like a spurned lover, coaxing his beloved to face him again.

"Say you love me." Broken. He sounded broken, his voice breaking into a whimper as he tightened his arms around her.

He was afraid. He didn't want to lose her, to be abandoned again.

But she should not be swayed. Not when he took everything from her. She had no one left, nothing to come back to, nowhere to hide. No peace of her own.

The devil could not love. That she must never forget.

Her mom was screaming in the living room. Probably to her dad. A car just pulled up, and her phone kept pinging with messages from her school's group chat. They were discussing summer plans.

Mei's hands hovered over the keyboard. Then, she never pressed into them again. She sighed, staring at the screen intensely.

Damn, she lost concentration again. She'd procrastinate for another hour before finally pressuring herself to finish this thing and start typing some words again. It's a process. She sighed. Her stomach grumbled in quiet protest. Working made her hungry. Iit took all her time, brainpower and energy that sometimes she'd be left at the end drained but satisfied. However it wasn't at all times.

Was this good? She had no idea. She clicked her tongue in thought, scrolling through the page again and again until the letters blurred into black bars in her vision.

Hmm, probably needs work. But I don't want to edit it so much that I've completely lost the essence. Then I'd have to scrap and start over. Is this enough?

She wasn't sure where she was going with this, or the book for the matter. She was only following what she felt, the vague outline she had in her head, and the romantic endeavours she had with Rui, using them as loose inspiration for the love story it has become. But she wasn't so sure about it.

Something felt missing. Or maybe she was the only one who had a hole in her chest.

But what? Why? Why do I feel unsatisfied?

Just then her phone rang. Sighing, she took it as a sign to shut her laptop for the day and climb in her bed, giving herself the much needed rest. Despite not doing anything for most of the day. Still, she earned it.