บท 5: A slap to the cheek
"This cake is perfect, Bob," I squealed a little as I ate the last bite of my chocolate cake.
Bob appeared to be the best cook—or should I say baker, I've ever met in my life. The chef back in my house couldn't even compare to Bob's skill. I usually only keep my thoughts to myself, but this... this cake tasted way too heavenly and I needed to voice my appreciation. I couldn't thank Bob enough for bringing this cake into my life.
Bob sent me a proud smile and offered, "Do you want me to bring one more cake, miss?"
"I would... love to," I felt my cheeks blushed a little at my gluttony, "But if I eat one more cake today, I'm afraid my stomach will burst. Thank you for the offer, Bob," I said, receiving a small chuckle from Bob for his reply.
I sighed while I looked up at the bright sky. The sun was shining so bright that it pierced through my eyes, and the birds were flying freely across the continent. How would it feel to live like those birds, I wonder? To live free from all the burdens this world gave you, to just live the life I wanted to live, away from all my worries. I was jealous of those birds.
What should I do now? I mentally face-palmed myself. I didn't have any home to go back to, nor any friends who could possibly help me out of this mess I was in. I was lucky enough to meet Sir Luke, who let me stay in his house for free. But I couldn't stay here forever. What would my mom do if she were in my shoes? I pondered in silence for another minute, then suddenly, memories of my mom flashed through my mind.
"Violet, remember, if you are in any sort of trouble, come here," my mom said, giving a pointed look towards the small hut in front of us. "They will offer you the help you need."
"But who are they?" I asked my mom while looking up at her, tilting my head.
"Someone who loves you, and will be glad to bring you to safety," she smiled.
That's right! How can I forget about this? My mom told me about me being in danger and coming to that hut to seek help. But... that hut was located in the middle of the forest where those wolves killed my mom. How am I supposed to go there? And besides, I'm not sure whether the hut was still there or not... or who exactly was inside. I silently groaned. But still, it was better than nothing. At least now I know where I'm headed to.
I stood up, immediately started to walk to the library. Now, I'll be leaving in two days. Most of my injuries were already healed because of the treatment Luke's doctor gave me, so I will be okay. Maybe I needed to ask for some knives to protect myself if anything comes out in the forest—not that I'm confident with my skills.
I opened the library door and started searching for some books about self-defense and martial arts. Maybe I could teach myself a little self-defense and some basic knowledge about how to fight through these books. I have only been beaten by someone, not fighting with someone, so I'm a little clueless about how to fight or defend myself.
I scrolled through the bookshelves and found a book called 'Read This To Be A Good Fighter'. The title didn't sound very convincing, but I took it anyway. I sighed because the things written inside didn't really help as it was mostly useless.
"What are you doing?" I heard someone ask in a very amused voice.
Surprised and very embarrassed by someone's sudden presence, I turned my body around and found Andrew leaning his body against the library's door while giving me his lopsided grin. I must have looked like a complete idiot punching and elbowing the harmless air.
"H-how long have you been here?" I asked, feeling my face reddens as time goes by.
"Long enough to see you elbowing the air," he chuckled.
I turned around towards the book I was holding, hiding my redden cheeks, "Y-you should have made some noise."
"Then I wouldn't have caught you acting like an adorable dork," he said while laughing. I sent him a little glare but let him away because I couldn't look at him in the eyes for long without feeling blood rushing to my cheeks from embarrassment.
"Are you practicing self-defense?" He walked inside, closing the door behind him. I nodded to his question and another question came from him, "Why?" He asked, taking a book from the bookshelf uninterestedly.
"Because... I might need it," I said.
"We can protect you here," he placed the book back into the shelf, giving me all his attention, "But I suppose it would be good if you could defend yourself too. Anyway, you can't possibly learn anything from books. You need to experience it."
"Experience what?" I asked, oblivious to what he said.
"The fight, the real situation?"
"But I did learn something from this book," I said while holding up the book I have been reading.
He laughed the moment he read the title, "You really think you can be a good fighter after reading this book? How cute." I snorted at his reaction. I knew the title sounded weird. "I will ask Luke if you can learn how to fight later if you want to," he said, still holding his laughter.
I frowned after hearing what he said, "Why do I need to have his permission to learn something?"
He opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it back. Then he opened his mouth again and said, "Well... maybe because you are going to train on his grounds?"
Oh, he's right. I nodded, agreeing with what he said. I looked up at the clock on the wall and my face lit up, realizing it was close to five in the evening now.
"I need to go," I said, before leaving Andrew alone without even hearing his response.
I walked towards the forest where I met the wolf yesterday and looked around to find nothing. My smile immediately disappeared from my face with the thoughts of not meeting him today. I sat down and leaned my back against the tree, waiting for him to come out. After a few minutes, I heard rustling in the bushes. I turned towards the bushes and saw the black wolf I was waiting for.
"Wolfie," I called, the smile returning to my face.
The wolf slumped his body beside me and put his head on my lap. I couldn't resist not patting his head, so I did. "Though it's quite unexpected, meeting you must be the happiest moment I've had in a while."
He perked one of his ears up, as if telling me that he was listening. It was weird, but I felt comfortable talking to him. I felt comfortable sharing my worries that I have kept to myself for all this time. Even if it was only to a wolf, at least I could finally talk without feeling burdened.
"After my mother was killed, everything went downhill for me," I smiled sourly, remembering all the things that happened. "I was tortured almost every day by my own father. I had to endure how people treated me as if I was worthless, and I also had to hear a lot of painful words from people I didn't even know."
Wolfie raised his head up and stared at me deeply. It was like he wanted me to share my pain with him. His bright red eyes looked like they were filled with tears, and I also felt myself tearing up.
"It's all in the past now," I smiled at him, patting his head, "All I need to do is to stay away from my family and I will be fine." A single drop of tear rolled down my cheeks, and seeing it he licked the tears away from me, making me chuckle. "Stop, it tickles."
Should I tell him I'll be leaving in two days? On second thought, maybe I should tell him tomorrow if we meet again. I don't want to end today's meeting on a sour note.
We stayed there for a few moments longer, watching the sun get off work and being replaced by the moon. It was the first time in a while that I'd felt this calm, this peaceful. I also couldn't believe that I'd befriended a wolf. I just hoped that Wolfie wouldn't ever feel hungry when he was around me—in case he decided to make a feast out of me one day. That won't happen... right?
"I'm going back now, Wolfie. You should go back to your home too," I said, patting his head for one last time.
He stood up, nudging me to go first. I walked away from him and I could feel his stare piercing through my back until I went safely inside the house. Before getting inside the house, I waved my hands at him, and he soon walked back into the woods.
I strode down the hall, heading to my room while also hoping I would find the comfort of my bed. I pressed the doorknob to open it but my hand was snatched from the door by someone else's hand roughly.
"Who are you?" A woman asked me while pressing her fingernails deep into my flesh, causing me to squint my eyes due to the pain.
"Ow! Can you please let go of me? You are hurting me!" I pleaded with the woman to let go of me, but she instead pressed her nails deeper into my flesh, which let my blood ooze out, staining the marble floor I was standing on.
"I asked, who the hell are you!" She shouted, "How dare you ignore my question?! And you even dare to order me to do something?!" Before I could even answer her, she slapped me with all her might on my left cheek, causing me to stumble backward. She yanked my hair roughly and said, "How dare you lowly human sneak into this manor?! I need to teach you some lessons so that you will not dare to try to do such a stupid thing!"
"I didn't sneak in!" I defended myself, annoyed about the situation I was in.
"Look at you! Who told you to talk back to me?!" She growled loudly, giving me another slap on my cheek.
What the hell?! I just wanted to lie comfortably in my bed, but what is this?! Feeling mad and unfair at her sudden attacks, I yanked her hair back and slapped her cheek with every ounce of energy I had.
"Ow!!" She sent me a death glare and shouted, "This bitch!"
Just when she tried to hit me one more time, a loud scream was heard. This time, it wasn't the sickly high-pitched scream I heard before, but it was a heavy and powerful scream. It carried so much power that it shook the whole house and made me shudder at the voice.
"DENISE!! LET GO OF THAT HAND RIGHT NOW!!" His voice roared loudly, causing everyone in the house to quickly run to the scene. A few gasps left their mouths, but they didn't dare to do anything, moreover, interfere.
The girl who attacked me looked towards the source of the scream, "Alpha!! I caught this girl sneaking into Luna's room!!"
"I SAID LET GO!!" He shouted one more time and yanked her hand away from me.
Looking at the reaction she got from the man, she called out nervously, "A-Alpha, I-I just–"
"Leave. Before I fucking kill you," he said while glaring at the girl. He really didn't look like he was joking.
"B-but!" She was cut off by another loud scream.
"LEAVE!"
With that, she scrambled away, running like a mouse caught stealing cheese. Look at that, not so tough now.
Luke looked at my hand and cheeks worriedly, then dragged me into my room, careful to not hurt me further. He closed the door and pulled me towards the sofa. He took the medical kit that was stored in the bathroom, then kneeled in front of me.
"Are you okay?" he asked, staring at me with so much intensity that it made me look away from him.
"I-I'm fine. Thank you for making her go away," I gulped the lump at the back of my throat, feeling my heartbeat accelerating as if it was ready to jump out of my chest. Is he mad because I caused an uproar in his house?
"Violet, look at me," he called me, noticing that I was avoiding his eyes. I hesitantly turned my head towards him, feeling nervous that he would be mad at me, "I'm sorry."
What? Why is he apologizing?
I was taken aback by his apology. Wasn't it supposed to be me who apologized for causing trouble?
"For what?" I asked him, confused by his sudden apology.
"For letting you get hurt," he said, holding my hand tightly. He sighed and moved his gaze away from my eyes to my cheek, then to my hand. He stared at it for a few seconds, then suddenly licked my wounded hand. Surprised, I quickly took my hand away from his hold.
"W-what are you doing, sir?!" I asked him bashfully, surprised at what he just did to me.
"Healing you," he said, taking my hand back to him and then proceeded to go back to licking my hand. I let out a little yelp to which he ordered, "Stay still."
How am I supposed to stay quiet when he was licking my hand?! No sane person would let someone else do this to them! I mentally screamed but stayed in place as I didn't dare to move my hand away from his hold.
He continued to lick my hand for a few minutes, and by this moment, I knew for sure that my cheeks were as red as a tomato. I couldn't hold it any longer, so I asked him, "S-Sir, are you done licking me?" I cringed at my own words but continued, "I don't think I can stand being more embarrassed than this."
He smiled at me and said, "You are all healed now."
I was confused about what he meant by healing me, but when I saw my hand, I felt my mouth fell open. The wound that the woman left me before was gone. Now my hand was as smooth as a baby's butt. No blood, no scars, no wounds.
"H-how did you do that?" I asked him, not believing what had just happened.
"You can say I can heal you with my saliva?" He answered calmly, "I would gladly do that to your cheek too, but I don't think you will want that, right?"
"N-no..." I felt my cheeks flushed again at the thoughts of him licking my cheek.
He chuckled and handed me an ice pack, "Hold this against your cheek, it will help." I took the ice pack away from his hand and held it against my burning cheek. But before the ice pack touched my cheek, he gave me a quick peck on my cheek. "This will help too, but not as good as me licking you," he smiled, leaving me dumbfounded by his action.
He stood up and said, "Now... I need to punish a certain someone who hurt you," his eyes turning a shade lighter than before. "Will you be okay if I leave you alone?" I nodded at him, and when he opened the door to leave my room, he added, "If you feel like you can't sleep tonight, I'm next door, okay?"
I shrugged at the thoughts of me knocking on his door in the middle of the night just because I couldn't sleep. There was no way I would ever do that. It was too weird for me to do it to another person. But then again, it was also weird being licked and pecked by someone to heal my injuries!
I finally did what I had planned to do before. To lie down on my bed, minus the burning cheek I had right now. I didn't know what was wrong with her. So, she thought I was sneaking into someone else's room?
She should have just talked about it with me to clear up the misunderstandings, but she really went straight to slapping and yanking my hair. I rolled my eyes at the event that happened before. What will happen to her now? I didn't think anything bad would happen to her as I'm not really anyone important in this house.
She said something about this room being Luna's room, but who is Luna? My eyes wandered around the room and I found my eyes staring at the portrait hung on the wall. I shuddered when I remembered her eyes that stared back at me before, so I quickly turned my gaze away from them.
"It's only my imagination. Don't worry about it," I said to stop myself from thinking about the world of the unseen. "Let's sleep."
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