"A-alex… I… I'm sorry…" she stammered as she tried to apologise and explain. "I… I didn't mean to be late. I… There was an –"

  "Abigail… I've already told you. Rules are rules," he cut through her, his voice merciless, without even a tiny trace of warmth. Abi felt like her heart was being squeezed tightly as she looked at his face. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears, so loud that it was deafening. Was all this coldness simply the result of her breaking the rules? She couldn't make herself believe it. She just knew there was something else that was causing him to become like this.

  She felt like crying, not because of fear or because she was scared of the punishment, but because she didn't like it when he became this scary. She didn't like seeing Alex looking so cold, as if he was heartless and soulless. This wasn't the Alex that she had come to know.

  Despite the suffocating look emanating from his eyes, Abi opened her mouth again. "Okay, I'm not going to ask you to forgive me," she uttered. Her voice was weak. Her lips trembled a little. "I will take my punishment so c-can you go back to normal now?" she asked. "Please Alex… I don't like you being like this. Please? Please, don't be angry anymore," she pleaded but Alex's face darkened even more, as if he didn't like her reading him.

  "I'm not angry, Abigail," he said but the girl stubbornly shook her head.

  "Then… why are you like this?"

  "You know the reason why, Abigail."

  She shook her head again.

  "No, I don't believe you. This is not only because of the rules I broke. So what else have I done?" she argued. Her voice was filled with worry, panic and fear. "T-tell me, did something happen?" Wet liquid began to lurk in the corner of her eyes. She finally remembered that look in his eyes last night and she knew that whatever happened last night had something to do with his sudden change, too.

  But Alex's lips curved up into a quick cold smile and then, he abruptly stood up. He pinched Abi's chin and stared into her eyes. His piercing icy gaze was sharp, so sharp she felt like they were cutting through her.

  "Nothing happened, Abigail," he said emotionlessly, repeating what he told her last night when she had asked him the same question.

  Abi shook her head again.

  "You're… lying… Alex…" she whispered and she saw the man's eyes dim into a pitch black darkness, as his jaws clenched slightly. "I feel that something happened last night. T-that's why you're like this…"

  A short silence passed before a wicked and forced smile curved on Alex's face. He slowly rubbed her cheek with his thumb as he spoke. "I'm like this because this is how I am, Abigail. This is the real me. I told you… I'm even colder than you could ever imagine," he uttered and Abi didn't know why, but her heart throbbed in pain. She wanted to shake her head. She wanted to not believe his words, but she could tell from those eyes that he was telling the truth;? that he was like this because this was who he really was.

  "Abigail… you're finally scared of me, huh?" he added, looking at her slightly trembling lips. And then, he smiled at her. But that smile was the most painful and devastating smile Abi had even seen in her life. "That's right… that's how you should be acting towards me, Abigail… you should feel nothing towards me but fear…" he whispered before he abruptly let go, turned his back to her and walked out of the room.

  Abi was left there, frozen. Her eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise. Every part of her went on pause. She felt like every wisp of air from her lungs had been knocked out again and she felt like she could hardly breathe. She didn't even register that she was now all alone in what had become a very cold room, despite the warmth of the fire blazing next to her.

  …


  The moment Alex was out of the living room, his aura blazed with hellfire, as if the darkness inside his soul could not be contained any longer and it was all now leaking out without constraint. He was completely swallowed by his own cold, reeking darkness.

  He stood by the door with his fists clenched into tight balls. He didn't even notice Zeke leaning by the wall right beside him until the man spoke.

  "I can't see any reason why you need to scare her like that," Zeke said. "At this rate, she will –"

  Before Zeke could finish his words, Alex's hand flew like lightning towards Zeke's neck and Alex pressed him hard on the wall.

  "Shut up, Zeke…" Alex hissed, gritting his teeth hard.

  Zeke didn't react and just stared back at Alex's dangerous gaze.

  The next moment, Alex let go of him and left, leaving Zeke leaning there watching him walk away.

  Once Alex was gone, Zeke entered the living room as if nothing had happened. He saw Abigail, still standing by the fireplace like a frozen statue.

  He quietly walked past her, heading towards his room, but then he paused, as if he had forgotten something, and walked back towards her. He stood in front of her but the girl didn't even seem to notice his presence.

  "Miss Chen," Zeke finally called out and Abi was startled. Her gaze flew towards the man before her and her senses slowly returned to the present.

  "M-mr. Qin," was all she said. She bit her bottom lips as she looked down, hiding her devastated expression from him. "Mr. Qin, tell me… d-did Alex find out something about me? Is that why he is like that?" she asked, as her fingers gripped the end of her dress.

  Suddenly, the man's hand landed on her head.

  Abi's body stiffened and she lifted her face up to him, full of surprise.

  "Don't worry, this has nothing to do with your secret," he whispered before retracting his hand.