Download App
62.5% Just Press Ctrl Z / Chapter 10: Hello Stranger

Chapter 10: Hello Stranger

"We're leaving now. Thanks for the drinks, Raine."

"Ah."

The voices startled her wide awake. Had she fallen asleep? 'Way to go, Zen', she scolded herself with sheer disappointment. For how many hours was she asleep anyway? She wasn't the type to fall asleep anywhere and at any time; she was more responsible than this. How could she let this happen to her?

It was eerily dark when she got up and took a roundabout look at her surroundings. [I can't see anything.] 'Of course, you can't, it's night-time, genius', her brain yelled back. [But seems like the dog is gone.]

"Get up both of you. Let's go... These two are totally wasted. Damn it."

Her hair stood on end when she heard the voices. She wasn't alone in the abandoned building. Though she couldn't see anything in detail, she could spot a staircase adjacent to where she was standing. There were people on the first floor. But what were they doing there inside an abandoned building? And why on earth did her university have so many deserted buildings on campus anyway?

"Hey, Raine?" Zen closely listened to the voice.

"Yeah."

"I need to get these two to my apartment. They can't go back to the dorm like this. Will you be fine on your own?"

There appeared to be four of them up there. Were they students from her university? Zen was dying to know what they were talking about yet, at the same time, was scared to go upstairs and investigate.

What if they turned out to be bad people and attacked her? Or worse, what if they were rapists? She immediately covered her mouth with the palm of her hands. She wasn't afraid of ghosts, in fact, it had always been her dream to have an encounter with a real ghost someday, but when it came to rapists, it was an entirely different story. She was terrified of them. Better just hope and pray she didn't dig up her own grave by entering the doorway to hell.

"Yeah. Just go."

"What about you? It's nearly 11 pm."

[What the fu-] Zen stopped herself from cursing out loud. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. 11 pm? She had been out for that long? 'I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions, but I'm so desperate here', she said to herself as if another part of her would answer back to ease all her worries.

"I can go back home. My parents are away on a business trip."

"Is it nearby?"

"Mm."

"Will you be alright? You seem pretty drunk."

"Kai. I'm fine. Just go."

"Okay... I guess this time we'll take the stairs instead of jumping through the window like how we came up," the person muttered.

The sound of tottering footsteps echoed in the old building. Zen immediately gathered her belongings off the dusty floor and dashed under the stairwell to conceal herself. A wave of relief washed over her when she saw three figures leave through the door.

Five minutes later, she gathered her stuff to leave but came to a halt when she heard a noise coming from above. The sound of ruffling clothes, clinking of glasses, and an irritated groan reached her ears. She'd assumed everyone had left but someone seemed to still be up there, and whoever he was making all those noises didn't seem to be doing well on his own.

As much as she dreaded running up the stairs to access the situation, her legs told her otherwise. In the blink of an eye, she found herself standing on the first floor right in front of a young man who had his feet sprawled wide apart on the dirty ground with his head sunk low. The moonlight was the only source of light in the area. Four empty bottles of alcohol lay undisturbed beside him. The man was as drunk as a skunk.


Chapter 11: A Beautiful Tyrant

If there was any humanity left in her, she wouldn't abandon this poor guy. "Hey, are you okay?" Zen called out and immediately regretted her decisions. She had this unhealthy habit of poking her nose into other people's affairs –now a drunkard of all people – when it didn't require her to. And as a result, would often get herself tangled up in their mess and in the end, incarcerate herself. She thought she'd left this habit in high school but nope, it had been sitting in silence all for this moment.

"Who are you? Are you one of Kai's friends?" the man asked.

"No. Who's Kai?"

"Strange. I don't recall you drinking with us," he continued, trying to get up once again and failing miserably.

Like the kind angel she was, she hurried in to help the poor man who looked to be the same age as her in getting to his feet. "I'm just a nobody. Let me help you," Zen said. It had taken all her strength to lift his body off the ground without losing her balance in the process. She took a step back to support his weight and, unfortunately, stumbled over an empty bottle that just had to be lying around at the exact same spot where she tripped, as if it knew she was heading in that direction and was secretly scheming to punish her for reasons unknown.

"Ah!" Zen screamed, reeling back together with the man until her waist hit the railing from behind. Just as she exhaled a breath of relief, she turned her head back from the side but was not prepared for what she saw next. Her eyes were unconsciously drawn to his lips that were mere centimetres from her own. He had the most alluring lips she had ever seen in a man.

Streaks of moonlight filtered through the glass window above, and like a skilled painter painted his face with a gentle stroke of its brush, leaving her awestruck with the soul-gripping masterpiece. Midnight black hair in a ragged undercut style streamed down his head with front bangs obscuring half of his face.

He was an embodiment of a summer storm, with a tinge of spice thrown in for good measure.

"Fuck," the man cursed, snapping her back to reality.

Zen rapidly blinked her eyes, her mind unable to come up with an explanation to wrap up the feelings she felt for the strange and majestic individual.

"I'm feeling dizzy," he said, his body swaying and leaning backwards.

Zen clung to the man's sleeves in a desperate attempt to keep him from falling, but for a man who had an athletic body and height that could pass for a model, his weight was too much for a petite girl like her to handle. She eventually fell on top of him, her lips dangerously crashing into his unexpectedly soft ones.

For a moment, time froze. Then she realized the position they were in. Her left hand laid flat on the ground while her body was sprawled on top of him like a lizard looking for prey and her other hand seemed to have unconsciously wandered farther down an intriguing part of the man's body and had invaded a very private property that should've otherwise been closed off to strangers.

"Get off of me," the man shouted, shoving her away from his body.

Shocked, frightened and guilt-stricken, Zen abruptly stood up and apologised repeatedly. "I'm really sorry. I was just trying to help."

"Stop with your excuses. You think I don't know what you're trying to do," he yelled at her angrily.

"What?"

"This is why I hate gays like you."

Wait, what? Hold up. Rewind.

"Gay? Me?" Zen pointed a finger to herself, taken aback by the accusation.

"Yes. You. Just so you know, I'm not gay. You think you can take advantage of me when I'm drunk?" He wobbled to his feet and then glared at her with full intensity.

"Excuse me," Zen tried to appease him. "You got me all wrong. I'm not-"

"Shut up!"

The words instantly struck a nerve. Zen's once calm and collected face was replaced by a murderous scowl. "How dare you raise your voice at me? I don't even know you!"

"I don't know you either. Stop bothering me."

"I tried to help-"

"You tried to take advantage of me, you worthless gay."

[I can't, with this guy and his obnoxious attitude.] Zen darted her eyes towards the ceiling, hands gripping her waist in fury. The thought of hitting the guy in the face and breaking his entire front set of teeth felt very tempting, but she had so many problems piling up at the moment and didn't want to stack more on top of what was already there.

"Listen here, you homophobic asshole." [ What's the use of being handsome if he's worth only this much?] Zen pointed a finger at him. "I'm not gay. I was just-"

"You're gay. Don't you look at yourself in the mirror?"

"Stop cutting me off!"

"You're just ooomfhhghh-"

"Don't tell me you're about to throw up right now?" Horror was written all over Zen's face at the possible upcoming disaster. "Don't get close to me," she yelled, but her words fell on deaf ears.

The man stumbled in her direction, almost as if he was intentionally aiming for her. Trapped and frozen on the spot, Zen watched wide-eyed as the man seized her shoulders in a vice-like grip, and without giving her any time to prepare, he puked his intestines out all over her tiny body, showing no remorse for his sickening misconduct.

Zen could only close her eyes and wince in disgust, and would continue to do so until that supposedly warm welcome gesture from the homophobic stranger was over. She should never have come here in the first place. [Curse that dog, curse that warden, curse that bottle, curse everything!]

"That's enough!" Zen shouted, pushing the man who later fell on his butt. And without a word, she spun on her heel and skipped down the stairs, quickly grabbed her things and dashed out of the building.


Load failed, please RETRY

Weekly Power Status

Batch unlock chapters

Table of Contents

Display Options

Background

Font

Size

Chapter comments

Write a review Reading Status: C10
Fail to post. Please try again
  • Writing Quality
  • Stability of Updates
  • Story Development
  • Character Design
  • World Background

The total score 0.0

Review posted successfully! Read more reviews
Vote with Power Stone
Rank 200+ Power Ranking
Stone 0 Power Stone
Report inappropriate content
error Tip

Report abuse

Paragraph comments

Login

tip Paragraph comment

Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.

Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.

GOT IT