They were so cruel, they even had a picture of her pasted at the end of the livestream.

Corrine covered her face and cried her heart out.

Beside her name, they called her a monster... a murderer... a demon.

Hot tears streamed down her face as she grabbed onto whatever hair remained on her head and wished the ground would swallow her whole this very moment.

But she didn’t do any of what that girl claimed she did.

But who was going to believe you didn’t when you weren’t even sure yourself? A cold, cruel voice attacked, causing her arms to wrap around herself as she rocked back and forth in tears.

Just when she thought she was strong enough to face whatever and whenever...God decided to mock her again.

Now, how was she supposed to face the world and fight for herself when there was nobody else on her side?

No one believed her.

Who would?

She stared at her hands and trembled once more when she saw blood dripping down her fingers.

The blood of the entire Green family she killed.

Maybe she indeed killed them all that night with the gun and she was too afraid and guilty to accept it.

’’Oh God...’’ She covered her mouth to hide her shame and stifle her sobs.

She was an evil, cold-hearted monster!

Does she even deserve to cry and feel guilty for herself?

Shameless!

She slapped herself.

Wicked!

She turned to the other cheek, breaking into another painful sob.

Hell, you deserve not to have anything going on well with your life!

How can you still even wish for a good life when you have destroyed the lives of so many?

A quiet ringing cut through the silence and the sound of her cries. Rolling in right on time as her eyes flickered wildly to the phone.

Corrine backed away quickly until she had her back pressed against the wall. The sound of her phone ringing triggered every cell of fear within her body as she thought maybe they had reached her.

The one billion views had grown arms and legs, each face thirsty for revenge.

They had come already to claim their pound of flesh and there was nowhere she could hide in this world that they wouldn’t reach her.

They were going to take her and punish her for what she did wrong.

She gasped again, becoming one with the wall as her legs moved, scraping against the ground, begging that the wall would receive her and she wouldn’t have to face this when they called again.

Suddenly, it died but she was at least at ease.

Then, slowly, she crawled towards the phone and picked it up, turning it over to see two missed calls from a strange number.

As if the caller knew she was near and could no longer avoid her fate, it began ringing again.

Corrine collapsed on the ground in defeat, leaning against the foot of her table, staring blankly at the starless sky before picking the call and bringing it to her right ear.

For a moment, the silence that followed after told her who it was before she heard his voice.

’’This is what happens to ungrateful children.’’

A sad tear rolled down her cheek as she stared blankly at the space before her.

’’Undeserving ones.’’

Her lips parted softly as he said in a voice she didn’t live long enough to remember.

’’I told you long ago that a fight with me is always meaningless.’’

’’I’d always win.’’

She said nothing.

’’This is me being very kind to a stubborn child refusing to accept the life already planned out for her. ’’

For a moment, she felt both weightless and unbearably heavy, as though breathing itself had become impossible.

’’I can do much worse than this to you if you keep asking for it .’’

She blinked.

’’You have a day to come home if you do not want to be called a murderer all throughout your life. I am sure it will be harder now achieving that silly dream of yours. No one will ever want to read or see what a murder writes.’’

’’There is no place for you out there now, is there?’’

’’It’s only foolishness Anais fighting your own family.’’

’’Come home. And I will make everything normal again for you.’’

He promised and ended the call on her.

☆ ☆ ☆

{THAT VERY NIGHT. AT A GENERAL HOSPITAL.}

’’I told you not to order anything that has pepper in them again. Why won’t you ever listen to anything that I say?’’

Berry hit him playfully at his side and Lin sprang up, faking a hurt look.

’’Ow,’’ he cried out, turning around to be burned with Berry’s heated glares on him. She settled back onto the stool beside his bed. It was a single, armless and backless round stool. Berry sighed as she watched her hardworking bean get strapped around by multiple IV tubes.

She stared at the ugly hospital gown he wore and frowned with a disbelieving sigh.

’’I can’t believe I’m stuck here with you all day instead of being out in the sun making memories.’’

Lin flashed her a grin, while trying not to be so expressive with the burning pain in his abdomen.

’’I can’t tell which is uglier. The gown or you?’’

’’I doubt there are any of them. You are just taking out your anger on me.’’

’’Exactly!’’ Berry stood up a bit, staring at his face in utter disbelief. ’’You could have really died this time. And what was I supposed to say to Boss and even your family if Stylie and I hadn’t reached you on time?!’’

Lin frowned, turning his head away to avoid being scolded by her further. He should have known better that she wouldn’t take this issue lightly. That has always been their loving and kind hearted Sassy Fruit. Always looking out for each of them and bringing them back to their senses with hurtful words if she needed to.

’’You realize there really isn’t anything on the other side, do you?’’

Lin knotted his brow as he turned to stare at her strangely.

’’Relax, Sassy fruit. I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I just got tired of eating carbs without anything spicy.’’

Berry blinked at him as her face hovered close to him on the bed.

’’But I got to admit, the pepperoni pizza and fries with hot sauce on it was really good.’’

Berry turned to grab her purse, the one that has hard leather plates at the bottom and began to hit him severely with it, bringing him out of his senses. The other patients and visiting families in the general ward all turned around curiously to watch as a patient got beaten with a handbag by his angry girlfriend.

Or was that his wife? Did she find out that he was being unfaithful to her or what was the reason behind this?

As Lin cried, begging her to stop, promising her to be more responsible while trying to escape being whipped by a bag, Stylie entered the general ward and rushed towards them with Berry’s phone in one hand.

’’I hope your entire gut gets fried with all the hot sauce.’’

Lin pouted as he rubbed on his stomach, pleading with her to have mercy on him. Then she hissed, throwing her bag away before taking a deep breath. Then she turned to Stylie who handed her her iphone.

’’Thank you, dear. Is it fully charged now?’’

Stylie nodded, moving to the side to settle on the chair placed beside Lin’s bed and asked him if he was feeling better now.

Lin shook his head before eying the Sassy fruit before him.

’’She’s crazy. Who beats up a critically ill patient with a handbag?’’ Lin whispered to their old intern. Stylie only smiled, covering her mouth as they both turned to Berry in amusement.

But their smiles disappeared at the uneasy look their Sassy fruit had on her face as she scrolled through her phone.

’’Hey, Stylie,’’ Berry turned to them. ’’Were you near my phone when Boss called me an hour ago?’’

Stylie blinked as she tried to remember if she ever heard Berry’s phone ring when she was beside it and charging it at the reception hall downstairs.

Stylie shook her head that she didn’t remember. Lin sat up immediately, staring between them in confusion.

’’What’s wrong?’’

’’Boss called?’’ Lin asked, trying to follow.

’’Yeah,’’ Berry nodded, ’’And...she even left me a...voice message...’’

Stylie found herself rising from the chair as the mood changed into something slightly ominous as Lin said nothing but stared, looking tense as they stared at each other.

’’Boss doesn’t leave voice messages. She’d rather text or call back.’’

Lin and Stylie tried not to overthink anything. There was always a first time for everything.

’’Maybe it’s urgent and I felt the only way you would respond back to her better was through a voice message rather than a text,’’ Stylie said and Lin nodded quickly.

But their hearts still remained unconvinced as Berry’s polished fingers hovered over the screen of her phone before deciding to play the voice message.