Ugly Perfections

Chapter 34

I pray that my blush isn't too obvious as I avoid Kai's intense gaze. It's as if his eyes can see right through me, peeling back every layer of my facade, leaving me exposed and vulnerable. Christian's raised eyebrow is the least of my worries compared to Kai's darkening expression.

I think it's time for my prayers again.

He leans in closer, his eyes gleaming with a cold glint.

"What was that?" Kai's voice cuts through the air like a blade, and I panic, my mind racing for an escape from the situation I just created. "I didn't say anything," I blurt out, a lie escaping my lips before I could stop it.

"Liar" he sneers, his voice dripping with malice

My heart pounds in my chest, and I can feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment. "Well, um... I might have said something else, like... uh... maybe you could stand being a little less harsh with people," I stammer, trying to cover up my slip.

I'm so stupid.

"Sometimes, Adeline," Kai's voice resonates with an unsettling calmness as he leans in closer, pressing me against the bookcase. 

Panic surges through me, and I glance around, hoping to find Christian for help, but he's nowhere in sight.

I don't even know why I was looking for Christian.

As if he would help me.

"Harshness is the only defense against insufferable rays of fake sunshine like you," Kai continues, his words cutting deep. "It's a great way to make people shut up"

Fake?

That hurt more than I thought it would.

"What? You suddenly have nothing to say?" he breathes out, the sneer on his lips sending a shiver down my spine. "Jesus, if I knew that all I needed to shut you up was to call you a liar, I would do it more often."

His chilling words leave me feeling exposed and vulnerable, "Fake? I'm just trying to be kind. You don't need to be a jerk about it." I retort, trying to hold my ground despite the fear coursing through me.

Kai's voice remains eerily calm, yet every word drips with harshness and venom as he leans in, pinning me against the bookcase more and more it actually started to hurt. The intensity of his gaze is overwhelming, and I feel like a tiny mouse caught in the stare of a predator. He towers over me completely, a giant compared to almost everyone. I barely reached the top of his arm. Not even close.

"Careful with the assumptions, Addie," he warns, finally pulling away and turning to leave

I don't understand. I didn't do anything. And yet, he despises me. 

Although I guess I should be used to it by now. 

But it doesn't stop it from hurting any less.

"Why... why do you hate me so much?" I regretted the words as soon as I said them

He turns to face me fully, making me feel incredibly small under his towering presence.

"People like you make me sick," he says, his tone calm yet laced with harshness

Pure hatred...

In this moment, Kai is truly scary. Not in the way that he was before. I always knew he didn't like me, and when Liam said it, I never expected the depths of his hatred to be so.... dark and intense. 

Something has made Kai Steele absolutely despise me. 

And for the first time, I realise that I, too, despise Kai Steele. Not just as a reaction to his harsh words or the way he treats me, but a deeper understanding that there is a darkness within him that I can't fathom, and it scares me to the core.