Always Broken (Book 1 and 2)

Chapter 5: I Hate You (Book 2)

Firstly, I want to say I am alright. My brother is too. It was not that big of a deal and I just panicked. He fell down the escalator in the mall and he passed out so he had to go to the doctor. But he is well now and I was just panicking too much. I was just letting stress get the best of me. Anyways, I'm back in the ballpark and I think I am back for good. Finals are over and so far I have received A's on all of the graded ones and one C.

Previously...

After about 10 minutes, my face had been properly treated and against my stubborn will, I started to cry. I knew it was wrong and I was not supposed to cry in front of my sworn enemy.

I also knew that I was not even supposed be with Sahem right now. However, that still did not stop me from crying my heart out.

"I am scared," I admitted to Sahem as I cried.

He took me into a hug as he said in a determined voice, "Do not fear. I will protect you. Joseph will not live to see daylight. He will be dead."

Little did I know, Joseph was far from dead.

Lorena Eliakim

"You know, if you want me to be able to help you in any way with this situation with Joseph, then we have to at least come to good terms. This means you cannot keep calling me your enemy. How about we make an agreement? We can be something called friends," Sahem said, in a sarcastic way and I crossed my arms when I answered him.

"I hope you realize that what you are proposing is never going to happen," I replied, stubbornly. Secretly, I would love to be friends with Sahem but my father hates him and if I were to be caught even talking with him, I would be deemed a traitor.

I figured the best way to keep Sahem out of my life was to be rude to him. Even though I had just cried out my guts in front of him, he was still my enemy. What if he was just being nice to me so that he could capture our kingdom? That being stated, I had no choice but to act as if I did not like him because it was the only way to ensure that he was not taking advantage of me and it would also ensure that we would not be killed for being traitors. Not only that, he would stop harassing me.

"Why? Give me a good explanation why we cannot be friends," he said, never taking no for an answer.

"For one, you are my enemy and my father hates you. For two, I hate you and you need to stop harassing me," I say, lying to him. I do not hate him but this was the only way to save both of us. We could be killed if we were caught talking and he needs to stop following me. One day, we are going to get caught. So, I had to pretend like I hated him even though it killed me.

"You just cried your heart out in front of me and now you hate me? I do not believe you. Look at me in the eyes and tell me you hate me," he pressed, grabbing my hand roughly and I swallowed my emotions, saying one of the worse things I could have ever said in my entire life. But this had to be done.

"I hate you," I said and I felt so horrible because I did not mean anything I was saying but he was now convinced. His dark irises looked so hurt, so pained and I wanted to take everything back but I bit my tongue to keep myself from saying anything. Little did he know, I was doing this for our own good.

"So after all that just happened, you hate me? After I spared your people and treated you as though you were of my own kind, you hate me? I knew I should have never trusted you. It was a mistake from point one. Fine, I will not make any acquaintances with you from now on. What are you going to do about Joseph?" He asks angrily as he packs up his armor roughly to get ready to leave.

"I will handle it myself," I said in my best voice that involved no emotions.

"Goodbye then, princess," he said in a angry voice. "I hope you feel good about treating someone like dirt."

"Sahem, just leave," I demand and even though I know it was very wrong of me to do something like this after all the kindness he had showed me, I knew I had to do it.

I had to break all ties with him. I had a small moment of realization dawn upon me and I know that a warrior never cries in front of the enemy. I do not think of Sahem as an enemy but my kingdom does. It was best for the both of us to have no association with each other because it was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Sahem finally leaves and he was very angry. Despite knowing what I did was a good decision, I still felt so bad for doing it. I wanted to scream for him to come back and tell him I did not mean to say any of the things I told him but I knew my duty as a princess could never change. I knew I could not follow my emotions, no matter how hard it would be.

One thing I learned from this whole situation involving Joseph was that you cannot trust anyone, no matter how much you want to. I know Sahem is nothing like Joseph but the same concept applies for everyone.

I start to walk home by myself and on the way there, I cry. I cry because I do not know how I am going to tell my parents that Joseph hit me. Will they believe me? Will I still be forced to marry him after I tell them? Will my father think I am lying to get attention? So many questions ran through my head and I did not know the answer to any one of them.

I arrive home late for supper and my mother quickly comes to the palace gates to chastise me upon my arrival.

"Where have you been? Everyone has been-"

She stopped talking instantly when she saw the bruise that was now forming on my face.

"Lorena, what happened to your face?" She asks, in a shocked voice.

"Nothing, I fell from a tree," I lied and a frown formed on her face.

"You really expect me to believe that? Lorena, if you lie again, I will take you to the Rabbi and have him pray for you one hundred times over. Follow me to my chamber. We will not continue with supper until you tell me the truth," she demanded.

"Mother, it is alright. Truly, I will be fine. Nothing happened and I just need a good night's rest," I try to convince her.

"That Assyrian Prince did this, right? It is okay, daughter. You can tell me anything," she referred to Sahem while jumping to conclusions and my heart leaped for a moment.

"No, Mother. The prince did not do this," I try to reply calmly but I end up breaking out into sobs again.

"Good Heavens! Child, what is wrong? Do not cry. Honey, tell me what is going on," she urgently grabbed me by the shoulders while she enveloped me into a hug.

"Promise you will not tell anyone until I figure out what to do," I make her vow and she quickly agrees, while nodding her head.

"Joseph did this. Joseph hit me," I admit to her and her eyes become wide.

"Who did this?" She asks, slowly and in shock.

"Joseph," I breathe out and my mother slowly backs away from me and she stands up to her feet in a hurry.

"We have to speak to your father," she says.
***
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Love, China.