Author’s pov

Wendy awakened from her dream, only to meet darkness all around. Silence, pure silence that was so sickening, it filled Wendy with so much hatred and anger. Irene... The woman whom Wendy has been longing for and yearned to even catch a glimpse of her. She missed Irene so much and the endless dreams of Irene that would never again be reality were haunting her hollow mind. 

She stared at the empty spot on the bed longingly, how Irene would be curled up on the bed as Wendy hugged her from the back because Irene insisted that she slept better like that. Wendy’s arms would be sore in the morning from being in that position for so long but she never complained. 

Having Irene in her arms was the closest Wendy could ever get to heaven. 

She reminisced about how Irene would be staring at her with so much love in the morning, as if Wendy was the answer to all of Irene’s problems. Irene would lay there on her side, a smile splayed across her lips and greet Wendy with a morning kiss. Wendy missed that. She missed how her everyday life always involved Irene. It started with Irene and ended with Irene. She missed Irene. She missed Irene so badly. 

Wendy sighed deeply. She wished for herself to be dead, for her to disappear from the face of the Earth. She wished she had never met Irene for she had brought too much pain to the girl she promised never to hurt. She wondered about how Irene was doing. Was she eating well? Was she okay? Did Irene miss her? Did Irene think of her?

Her fingers wandered about her phone, keying in the numbers she knew far too well. Desperation flooded her mind, she was eager to hear her lover’s voice. She badly wanted to hear the voice that has never failed to shake her heart. Even a simple ‘hello’, Wendy would be contented. She wanted to hear Irene call her name one more time, just once more. 

She nearly presses the green button before her conscience got a grip of her and slapped her back into reality. Wendy stared into nothingness, as melancholy started to strangle her. 

“Who are you kidding? She’s better off without you.”

Wendy walked towards to the bathroom, passing by the mirror. She turned back to look at herself, and saw a monster looking back at her. Unkept hair, dark rings under her dead eyes, potruding bones, hollow cheeks, chapped lips, crumpled clothes. Wendy looked atrocious. Who was this person in her reflection? Where has the lively, happy Wendy gone to? Who was this ing monster in the mirror? All she saw was sadness, anger, disgust painted all over herself. 

“Just look at yourself, Wendy! You gave a woman everything and here you are, left with nothing!” Wendy bewailed, breaking into tears. She brooded over her plight as she then began laughing at herself, tears still streaming down her sunken face. 

“You pathetic thing. You ing pathetic thing! Why are you still breathing?!” Wendy shrieked, feeling hysteria taking over her body. She smashed her fists against the mirror, cracking her fragile vessels as the glass turned red with her blood. She continued relentlessly, for the pain in her heart was greater. Her skin split opened and she screamed at her reflection that she has grown to hate. 

Irene was gone and Wendy had no reason to love herself anymore. 

—

“Tyler, you got a minute?”

Tyler looked up and saw the person he least expected by the door. How the tables have turned. A contented smile ghosted on his lips, glad that he has finally broken the Shon Seungwan down. 

“Look who do we have here? The one and only Shon Seungwan.” He said mockingly, folding his arms. 

Wendy threw the remaining bits of her ego, taking deep and slow breaths. She had to keep calm at all costs. 

“I need you to do a favor for me. Please, Tyler.” Wendy lamented, keeping her eyes to the ground for she knew that she would lose herself if she looked into her eyes. 

Deep laughter filled the room as Tyler clutched his stomach, bending over his desk to keep his stance. Wendy tightened her fists and tried to think of Irene. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Wendy stared at his back, boring through his dark soul as she thought of numerous ways to end this dirtbag’s life.  Wendy steadied her breathing, she couldn’t lose control. 

Tyler finally came to a stop as he turned to look at Wendy, scrutinizing her entire self. That sickening smile remained put on his face and it ticked Wendy off. 

“And why in the would i do that?” He simply questioned, smacking the back of Wendy’s head. 

Wendy hissed in pain. 

“Please. You’re the only one who can fix this.” Wendy managed to say calmly despite the emotions raging in her body. 

“And what would that be, my dear daughter?”

“Please make amendments in regards to your daughter and I. I refuse to accept that she’s my soulmate and i refuse to abide by this ed up government’s rules. I love who I choose to love, and I don’t want any system to determine who i should be with. I apologize but i am not going to accept Joy as my soulmate. So please, just stop all this. Please assign me to Bae Joohyun. She’s the one whom i love. Please..” 

Tyler’s smile fell. 

“Please Tyler.. I can’t love your daughter.” Wendy begged, dropping onto her knees as she grasped onto Tyler’s feet. Wendy was already crying uncontrollably, the mask she’s been putting on for so long has now been ripped off. 

Tyler stood rooted to the ground as his mind tried to comprehend Wendy’s words. 

“It was you, wasn’t it?” His voice broke the silence. 

Wendy looked up with questioning eyes. 

He faced her, with eyes that were blazing.A burning rage fired up within the pit of his stomach as his vision went red with rage. He felt his senses come alive as the fury flowed through his body. 

Wendy felt a boot step down hard on the side of her face, the heel cutting sharply into her jaw as her head was pressed to the floor. 

“You ing !” Wendy heard him yell as he increased the pressure. 

Wendy felt a gut-wrenching fear take root as numerous profanities escaped his lips and the blows kept thundering down. 

Wendy tried weakly to cover herself, hearing the sound of her arm breaking. 

Tyler pulled Wendy by the hair before slamming it to the cold ground, the impact stunning the smaller girl.  Her vision was getting blurry. Wendy slowly tried to grasp onto the fact that she might not make it out of the room alive. A part of her was happy for she would be doing the world a favor. Irene and Joy could finally be free from her hold and be happy. But a part of her was screaming and yelling for she never had the chance to say goodbye to her world, Irene. 

“You thought I’d never find out did you, you son of a ? You treated my girl like a ing doll and you expect me to do nothing?!” His words go unheard as Wendy tried to hold on to her last memories of Irene. Wendy has encrypted the latter’s smile on her mind so that she never had to go a day without that image. A happy Joohyun was a happy Seungwan. 

Tyler slapped Wendy hard across the face, and Wendy knew she had deserved it. She knew she deserved every ounce of pain that was being inflicted on her body. She knew she deserved to be treated like this for she had brought harm to Joy. As much as Joy was simply an innocent human being, it all led back to the fact that Joy was indeed her stepsister. She shut her eyes closed, as she braced herself for every impact. The pain was ing unbearable but knowing that Irene could finally move on with her life, Wendy was nothing but grateful. 

Tyler held up the weak, bloodied girl as she slumped against him. He immediately pushed her to the wall as if she was dirt and Wendy struggled to stand on her own. She caught a glimpse of Tyler’s red face, taking note of the anger painted across his face and his bloodshot eyes. She shuddered but proceeded to stare at him with half-lidded, swollen eyes. 

Tyler glared at the girl, disgust clogging his every pore. He wrapped his large hand around her slim neck, inhibiting her from breathing. Wendy couldn’t even bring herself to fight against his stronger self anymore. 

He pulled out a black object out of nowhere and Wendy knew that this was indeed the end.  There was nowhere to run 

The gun pointed at her head appeared huge, crowding everything else from her vision and her bowels suddenly went watery. 

All she could think of was Irene, Irene and Irene. 

“ers like you deserve to die.” Tyler remarked spitefully as he pressed the gun further into the girl’s temple. 

Wendy simply responded by staring dead into his eyes, as if taunting the man. 

“Do it, i deserve it.” Wendy replied. 

“Don’t you ing hurt her!”

“Stay back!”

Two gunshots were rung.