[Ongoing]
"Why is being myself harder than anything?"
Qing Lin closed her eyes. A girl whose smile gave off the effulgence which seemed to light the diminished world around her. A girl who held such purity in a world surrounded by happiness. A girl...
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Chapter 37 - The Return (2)
A room with two single beds on either side and beside each bed was a desk with a cushioned chair placed near it. Both the desks were the same yet looked entirely different; the one at the right had a heap of books placed, scrambled and scruffy, torn, blank pages fallen on the cushion of the chair, with two drawers opened at different levels and one closed, while a faulty lamp kept flickering on the corner of the table. On the other hand, the desk on the left side was empty, except for a few parchments and a bottle of ink inside the drawer. The lamp on the table was severely cracked, or rather, almost broken.
To Esperanza's astonishment, the table with the heap of books was hers; nobody had the courtesy to arrange its state when she left it six months ago. The books, as Estrella described, were exactly in the same position before she fell into a coma. Esperanza guessed that her previous self must've been careless and reckless.
This was Esperanza's dormitory, a dormitory she shared with the only girl in the Serenitas empire who could match her status and power; Précieuse Letale Obscurité, the vicious-tongued, dominant serpent of the society.
Esperanza lay back on her bed and snuggled in the bedsheets, which were one of the first things that ever felt familiar and cozy in this world.
You have kept this bedsheet with you for the entire twelve years, you know? You used to be a sentimental fool.
Esperanza was surprised to know. She looked at the bedsheets. They didn't seem old at all, which meant, they were dearly treasured by her careless, reckless self. Esperanza couldn't help but agree with Estrella- she could still feel those damned attachments. But---- with a snap of her fingers, the bedsheet turned into ashes that scattered the floor. The wind slowly lifted them and carried them away, away from her. This time, she was adamant. Adamant to get rid of them.
No past attachment could hinder her, not any longer, this time.
The leaves of the eucalyptus trees right at the backside of her dormitory rustled, the cool breeze carrying away their felicitous fragrance, filling the world with unobtrusive serenity. Esperanza lay back on her bed and closed her eyes to feel that serenity. Perhaps, even if it was a momentary phantasm, Esperanza promptly grasped the image of a person in her mind. A woman with dark brown hair tied in a bun, dressed in black overalls. Although her back faced her, the heartache was somehow visible. Something told her to open her eyes, yet, curiosity overcame her. She waited for the woman to turn around, but the woman stood there, still and frozen as her clothes swayed.
Then, something hard struck her forehead, and she clutched it. The pain was obnoxious yet she held back her scream and managed a small whimper. She then noticed her glowing wrist through her sleeves. She pulled it up and gasped, as a chain-like mark appeared on her wrist, blazing silver, like sophisticated silver chains.
/This mark was never here before though?/
The silver mark disappeared in barely five seconds, leaving her perplexed. She lay down again.
/The woman and the silver mark.... does it point out something from the past of this life or.... my previous life?/
But it wasn't long before she slowly fell asleep under the enchanting fragrance of the eucalyptus trees, drifting into its tranquillity, oblivious that this tranquillity wasn't meant to last long for her as a satanic gambit brewed in the depths of somewhere, which implicated her.
...
"I hate you." She muttered under her ragged breath as she stared down at the broken pieces of the hairpin in her hand. The hairpin looked delicate and aesthetic in its broken shape, anybody could've guessed that it would've looked sublime in its intact state. Though tear-stained, her face at the moment couldn't have looked any less cynical at the moment.
"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." She muttered incoherently under her breath as if it was a new sentence taught to a young child. But it was a deep, resonated whisper, laced with virulence. Amidst the darkness, a pair of emerald eyes glowered above her as footsteps drew closer. A figure bent down at one knee, cupped her face with one of his hands, and forced her to look up at him. She bit her lower lip, perhaps trying to hold back the numerous curses she might let out at his face.
"What have I ever done to you?" He asked, his voice deep and impassive. "What have I ever done to deserve this hatred of yours?"
"Hah!" She let out a sarcastic laugh. "This is supposed to be what I should ask. Why, just why am I your target again and again? I owe you nothing, I did nothing, I did not sin against you! Instead, I've aided you repeatedly!"
"I didn't mean to target it." He said as he withdrew his hands. "It was a coincidence---"
"A coincidence?!" She growled. "You expect me to believe this lie again? Every time, it is just a coincidence. My mother, my sister, my spiritual beast, my powers, and--" She choked back a sob. "And Lumière...." The voice held forlorn tenderness in that name. She clutched the hairpin tighter.
The man said nothing. He simply stood there, his green eyes gazing down at her while the girl sobbed at the reminiscence of that name. She inhaled a deep breath and slowly stood up with an unsteady balance. Her face glowed with unwavering determination under the luminous moonlight amidst the darkness.
"Congratulations." She sneered. "You've reached it, my limit. I will not be a pushover for the sake of the relationship we share any further. This is," She removed a ribbon from her hair, resulting in her hair falling down on her shoulders, and thrust it into his hands. "Just the beginning you've been waiting for, just the beginning."
She turned around and walked away unsteadily. The man's eyes remained fixated on the ribbon- a delicate, silk-made, yellow ribbon. He didn't even realize that her footsteps had receded and he was the only one there, standing alone. It wasn't long after he clasped it and looked up at the luminous moon that cast its solitary light on it through the window. He closed his eyes, feeling the desolate silence of the room fall on him, the rustling of the leaves somewhere far away.
