Xiran’s POV

"Haven’t you taken enough from her that you are taking away her dog as well?" Yurian who was leaning against the wall of her room sneered at me as I exited with Rony in my hands. The animosity the boy’s voice held had me stopping dead in my tracks.

Turning to face him with tears still shimmering in my eyes, I found his face contorted in anger, his hands were fisted at his sides, and he was barely restraining himself.

"I don’t think it would be a good idea to leave it behind, she has too many memories with him and I have removed them," I spoke trying to ignore the hostility Yurian held for me.

"I will gift it to her again. Dogs have sharper senses, he will be able to detect any danger faster than her, and he will keep her safe. Leave Rony," Yurian extended his hand and asked for the basket which I reluctantly handed over.

"I am taking her phone and will send a new one for her. This one has too much data related to me. She needs to be issued a new sim card too with her new name and identity," I informed him, finding it difficult to speak right now. The emotions were drowning me and I seemed to have forgotten to float. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"No need, I will get her a new phone and while you are taking things, she keeps your hair in her cupboard too. So take them as well, I don’t think I can explain to her why there is a bundle of silver hair in her cupboard," Yurian’s words were curt, opening her door he went inside with Rony and returned after a few minutes with the bundle of my hair and handed them to me.

This left me speechless, she had even kept my hair and never mentioned that to me, probably out of guilt. I just awkwardly stared at the bundle in my trembling hands. Stepping out of my dazed state I spoke:

"She will be a bit confused once she will wake up because of the number of memories I have taken from her. Some of them were core memories and taking them away has negative effects. She will experience headaches, confusion, and blackouts. You will have to be patient with her and explain everything as we have planned."

I continued: "As per Aldridge’s orders I have wiped memories of all the hunters who knew about my existence so Aselia will remain safe even if someone is caught. Only Silver Wolf, Aldridge and you know about me now. So take care of her."

"I will, I always do. Unlike you, I won’t abandon her in the name of safety. I trusted you with her Xiran, you broke my trust and her heart," he almost growled at me, his usual calm and easy-to-go demeanour was missing. The golden light which illuminated the corridor showed his hardened features. The air around us had suddenly turned stale.

"You think I wanted to do that? Do I look happy to you? You can’t even fathom the hurt I am experiencing right now, I am barely standing for I have lost the love of my life," I almost cried out at him, my heart still screaming in agony. The muscles in my neck were straining so hard from the tension building up.

"You should never have gone down this path with her, knowing who your father is. If you had kept your emotions in check and your hands by your side, nothing like this would have transpired," Yurian yelled back at me, his eyes had become bloodshot and his hands balled into fists again as if he wanted to punch me.

"Do you seriously believe I planned and fell in love with her? If you people hadn’t sent her on that dumb mission, we would have never met and all this mess wouldn’t have happened. So stop blaming me for everything. It was your organization that shoved her into my life. And I just couldn’t stop myself from falling for her. I don’t think it was in our hands considering how we bonded."

I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath to steady the storm that was surging inside me, ready to surface and drown me.

"And then you decided to abandon her and I will be left to pick up the pieces of her broken self. Well done," his tone was derisive as he sarcastically clapped and continued:

"Xiran, I want you to never return to her life again. You have done enough damage, so now that she has forgotten you, I advise you to do the same. Let her live and let her go."

His words reverberated all around me and in the corridor we stood. It was like he had punched me. I clenched my fist so tight and hurled it sideways that it landed on the nearby wall, breaking it with a loud bang and bricks tumbled out. Yurian didn’t move a muscle, his eyes still scrutinized me.

Silver Wolf came running and stopped at a distance of a few feet from us looking bewildered.

"What’s happening? Yurian you need help?" he inquired from his comrade. His scrutinizing eyes were focused on me and I glared back at him. I detested this man for some reason.

"Uggghh!" my frustration was surfacing and all those emotions I had been chaining were about to let loose and this was not the right place for it. For I already hated this place. Plus, Yurian’s words although true were hurting like hell.

"No, Xiran here is just leaving. We are done," Yurian decisively declared and crossed his arms, showing me he had said everything that he needed.

"Just keep her safe. And yes I won’t come after her, that’s the whole point of what I did. But don’t be mistaken, if anyone dares harm her I will end their life without a second thought. I will be keeping track of her. So goodbye Yurian. I leave her with you."

With these words, I left them standing there outside her room. My hands itched to open her door and peek at her one last time, to hold her one last time, to smell her one last time but after what I did, I had no right over her. I was practically a stranger to her now, a stranger that was hopelessly in love with her and who had no clue how to live the rest of his life without her in it.

For it was becoming laborious to breathe with each step I took away from her room. My heart seemed to have been left there with her, shattered and broken. The world around me seemed to have blurred for me as if it had moved at its slow pace while I rushed along without a destination in mind.

Everything had become hazy and discoloured, I lost interest and my mind refused to register what was even happening, all I could think of was her, her pleas, her tears, her last few words to me. How I disregarded all of that, how I was a monster to her. Yes, indeed I was a monster, birthed from a monster, and monsters don’t deserve love. They only deserve hatred and that was what I would have from now on.

For the light, she had brought along had flickered out with her departure and I plummeted back to the darkest pit to be left there to rot.

It was early morning when I reached back to Rivan’s place. My journey was a blur, I didn’t remember much for my mind was filled with her thoughts alone. I groggily stepped out of the car and staggered inside, before I would stumble and fall, Rivan caught me in his strong arms and his whispering was heard:

"Easy, I got you, man," his arm was around my shoulder and I finally rested my head on his and instantly began to cry, tears soaked his shirt and I could feel his whole body tense as he embraced me and rubbed my back.

"Xi! What did you do? Talk to me," his frantic voice echoed all around me but no words could be formulated. I was lost, my mind was shutting down as I screamed in agitation, a madness swirled all around about to consume my existence.

"Aseliaaa!!!!"

Only her name was torn from my lips as more tears escaped my eyes and blurred my vision. I clutched Rivan’s shirt holding on for dear life, the pain was magnifying with every passing second as my screams of loss filled the house and reverberated inside and out. My heart, I wanted to rip it out for it pained fricking so much.

He held me close, not letting me go, not pushing me any further, not asking me any more questions for I had no answers right now. My voice turned hoarse but my screams didn’t subside, I couldn’t control or stop them. Someone else was there too, someone Rivan was speaking with, maybe it was Frila or Rumail, I wasn’t sure.

The time stood still for me, I didn’t know how much of it passed. Someone arrived and something was said by Rivan but I didn’t know who or what. All I felt was a slight prick in my neck. A liquid was injected inside me and my vision tunnelled making me lose consciousness, the last thing I remembered was the drooping of my eyes and Rivan’s deeply concerned eyes staring at me.