Under The Veil of Night

Granted, she has always been a cold woman. But the Vena he knew was a proud and ambitious woman. The person in front of him showed a lot of hate and the unwillingness.

He raised his hand and touched the part slightly below her neck. "No matter what, I’ll find a way to take it out of your body. Trust me, Vena."

Slap!

Vena slapped his hand away. Her eyes were glaring with hatred at the man before her. For him, she had given up a lot of things and prepared a way for them to be together. Yet before she could enact them, he had gone ahead and betrayed her in the way she would never expect.

"I don’t have anyone. You should just leave this place without me, Randy," Vena said coldly.

She would never trust anyone again. After the series of betrayal from people close to her, she would no longer put herself in anyone’s hand anymore. All of her feeling, power, and everything should be entrusted to herself and herself alone. No one should ever enter her heart anymore.

Her time in this place for the past few months told her everything even more clearly. When she met with her brother, she wanted nothing but killing him. However, he had warned her one thing.

"In this place, you’re no longer a human. They won’t treat you with any kind of kindness just because you’re a woman. All they care about is the fact that you have some use for them."

She glared at her brother at that time. Not wanting to believe him, she tried all kind of ways to get out.

But then, he came again with a device in his hand. Smiling nonchalantly as always, Jon played with the device in his hand.

"You may hate me for this, but I have to put this inside your body. This will make sure that you’ll follow Ferdinand forever and never betray him."

Vena’s face flushed red. She struggled but Jon had brought a medicine with him. It caused her to feel drowsy.

"I hate you, Jon! I wish you had never been born!"

Jon chuckled. "You have told me that countless times, my dear sister. Don’t worry, you won’t feel anything different even after you wake up. However, you can never leave this place forever."

"I hate you! I hate you!"

Vena touched the part below her neck. The frustration over the fact that it was her own brother that planted it inside her caused her to feel deep hatred for him. Even from a young age, she never placed him in her eyes. He was simply unworthy for her to look at.

Only now did she realize how cruel, unfeeling, and amazing his brother was.

Randy could see that Vena was troubled with the device. He was not sure the reason, but he wanted to help her.

"How many months left do you have?"

"I don’t know," Vena replied. "And I don’t want to know. It’s better if you just leave this place before they destroy your body too with their experiment."

Randy’s eyes shook. "Did they ask you to drink the medicine too?"

"What do you think?"

Seeing the cold gaze on her face, he knew that it was true. She has been here for a long time, and the only reason they allowed her to stay was because they wanted to use her.

He gritted his teeth.

He felt annoyed to himself. How come he didn’t realize it sooner? He stayed here for a couple of weeks, so he should have guessed that Vena has to drink those medicine too,

"We’ll find a way out, I promise."

"I don’t want to go with you."

"Don’t be childish, Vena! Do you want to die in this place?"

Die?

She had thought about this option before, but never chose it before. Even though she wanted to, she never had the chance and was forced to live her life in this place. It was not that bad.

"I don’t want to get out."

Randy held Vena’s shoulder and forced the woman to look at him. "Do you truly want to stay here forever and die in this situation? What about your dream of becoming the best business woman in the city? What about taking over your family business and prove to them that a woman could do as well as a man? Don’t let me become the one who break you!"

"It’s all a dream in the past! I don’t want people’s recognition anymore! And yes, you’re the one who breaks me! Who told you to leave me alone? Why don’t you return on that day and protect me? You leave me alone and allow them to do th-ugh... so many things!"

"If you want to be angry, just lash out to me. Beat me up until you’re satisfied, but don’t you throw away your life just because of my mistake! I’m not worth it, Vena," Randy stared at the woman intensely. "I’m just a jerk who can’t properly protect the person whom I love so much."

Vena stared at Randy with her round eyes. All along, she always saw Randy as a confident and proud man, who didn’t want to admit his wrongdoing. Even though he made mistakes occasionally, he would put on a confident front. The frustrated Randy in front of her felt rather unfamiliar.

"That day, I’m scared," Randy admitted. "I love myself so much that I can’t make my move against him. I know that I’m not his match, so I can only stay silent and let them take you away."

Tears trickled down on the corner of Vena’s eyes.

"Even after that, I’m still just a blind man who didn’t know that I have lost someone so important. It was only after some time did I realize how much I treasured you and how much I want you to stay with me," Randy put on a pained smile.

Only after you lost someone did you realize how much you treasure them.

He had experienced it himself and he didn’t want to make the same mistake again. Even if the entire world was against him, he would never let Vena go again. This time, he would properly protect her and let her stay safe.

Randy raised his hand and touched Vena’s cheek tenderly, wiping her tears. "I... I don’t ask you to forgive me, I just hope you can be happy. Please get out from here and start your life anew. You’re still young, you’re smart and capable, there will be something better ahead that you can definitely achieve.

Even...Even if I can’t stay by your side like before, let me protect you. This time, I’ll protect you properly and never let you experience any pain again."

Vena looked at Randy.

They were only human beings who could make mistakes, and they did make mistakes in their life. However, he regretted the mistake he had made and decided to make things right with all of his power.

She closed her eyes. She might regret this decision in the future, but she knew her heart better than anyone. Her mind and body yearned for him much more than before. Even though they had parted ways, she still belonged to him.

"One chance," Vena muttered. "I’ll give you one last chance."

Randy’s eyes brightened. He smiled tenderly as he pulled Vena’s hand up and kissed the back of his hand. "Anything for you, Miss."

"Take me out of here and find a way to take the device from my body without killing me," Vena said in her demanding tone as if she had returned back to her proud self that was locked away. "That’ll be your first task."

"Right away, Miss."

Randy held Vena closer before picking her up in bridal style. Even though his body hurt like hell because of the fight before, he knew that he had to get out of this place as soon as possible.

As he was running, they could hear the loud explosion from below.

"Vena, this might be a bit hurt."

"I won’t forgive you if we die here."

"We won’t, I promise you," Randy replied as he ran even faster to the door, hoping that they could get out alive as the explosion came closer.