1

Thud!

A frail-looking, perspiring youth possessing rustic-brown hair and green eyes knelt and bowed his head before the two almost identical ladies seated on the red couch in the fancy living room. One of the females was older than the other and had red hair in contrast to the black hair of her daughter. However, both donned a sinister look as they stared at the trembling youth.

"Madam, please believe me," the youth pleaded in a small, shaky voice.

With a displeased look, the younger female spoke, "Lykai, my grandmother took you in, and what did you do? You not only caused us to drift apart, you made her die!"

"But I…"

"Silence!" the older lady said with a scowl, "You stole my daughter's precious necklace. Do you know how much it's worth?"

Lykai shook his head in denial, looking anxious, "Madam, I didn't steal…"

"Shh! No one asked you to speak," said the older lady in a warning tone.

Lykai could only bite his lower lip, uncertain of what to do to make them believe that he didn't steal.

"Young man, I want you out of my abode this instant!"

Hearing this, the youth became even more anxious and prostrated, "Madam, please believe me. I would never do such a thing. I'm not a thief," he cried.

"Are you saying that my daughter is a liar?" the infuriated older lady rose from the couch and landed a tight slap across his right cheek.

"Madam…" Lykai said softly, his eyes demonstrating the deep pain he felt.

"Get lost!" the younger female spat in ire while also soothing her irate mum.

Lykai saw that they weren't willing to believe a thing he said, so he slowly got to his feet, "Thank you for everything, I appreciate it. If we meet again and I'm still alive, I will do my best to pay the favour,"

With that, he turned around, trying hard to withhold the tears struggling to escape the captivity of his right eyelid. No, he must shed a tear in the presence of these despicable people.

"Wait!" the older lady suddenly said and Lykai obeyed, slightly hoping that she would say she believed him even if the possibility was almost none.

He turned to look at the older lady who had risen from the couch, "What you have on your body was bought with my mother's money. You had nothing when you met her and you will leave my house with nothing," she heartlessly said.

His eyes widened at her decision, "Madam…" he couldn't say more as his lips were trembling. He fell to his knees and tried to hold her leg with both hands but she quickly kicked him in the face.

"You dare defy my order? Leonard," she called and a hefty, tall, bald man in a black suit rushed forward with a solemn face.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Strip him of all he's wearing. Beat him up if he resists. Dump him wherever you wish," she commanded.

"No, Madam. Please don't do this to me!" Lykai cried and tried to struggle out of the guard's hold, to no avail.

He could only be dragged away with the ladies heartlessly harrumphing at his pleas for mercy.

***

9:00 pm

Lake Southvern Road.

It was raining heavily and thunder rumbled from time to time. A black jeep suddenly pulled over near a deserted structure on this lonely road.

The back door of the vehicle opened and a figure was harshly cast out before the door got closed again hurriedly. Then the vehicle zoomed off with breakneck speed, its tires screeching.

Left alone, the figure lay on his belly on the shoulder of the road covered in various injuries and buck nude.

The blood on his body got washed off by the rain and he couldn't even lift a finger.

He began to weep, his tears drowned by the seemingly never-ending rain that beat harshly against his already feeble body.

Memories of his past began to resurface.

He'd lost his parents to a fatal car accident at 13 with him being the only survivor. He ended up living with his maternal uncle who died a year later. Viewing him as a jinx, his late Uncle's wife who'd loathed him from the start mercilessly threw him out on a cold night with practically nothing but his underwear.

A kind old lady who was passing by found him walking in the rain hugging himself due to the cold. Freya Rucchell was her name and she took him in out of pity, adopting him as her grandson and he lived with her for 2 years before she passed away.

He then ended up residing in Freya's rich daughter's house and there he had to take on the role of servant, often going for days working his ass off with little food and rest. He even had to give up the properties that Freya had willed to him last year but couldn't complain since he wasn't related to her by blood.

And he had nowhere to go so he endured all the harsh treatment in Sandra Ruchell's home, in hopes of a better life.

But today, he was suddenly framed by Katrina Rucchell, the young miss of the residence for the theft of her necklace that was worth ten million.

He denied it and even offered for his room to be searched. But to his dismay, the necklace was found under his pillow.

No matter how he pleaded his innocence, none of them paid him any attention and now, here he was, abandoned on this deserted road with the possibility of seeing tomorrow's sun very bleak.

'So this is how I'll die, huh?' he bitterly thought as his body trembled, 'What's the use of me even coming into existence in the first place if this was my determined end? Life, why're you so cruel to me? You took all the people I loved away from me and now you want my life too? Well, you succeeded. I'm done living,'

 With that thought, he crawled with great difficulty to the road and lay there out of exhaustion and pain, hoping some miracle car at high speed would just run him over and send him to his parents.

He soon saw the light of an oncoming car and closed his eyes, bracing himself for his death as heavens had answered his prayers. But a minute passed but he didn't feel anything run over him as he'd hoped.

Was he hallucinating just now?

He suddenly didn't feel the rain beating down on him anymore. What was happening? He could clearly hear the rain falling and thunder even rumbled just now.

He opened his eyes and saw costly shoes instead. Raising his head up with difficulty, he saw it was a tall, ripped man wearing glasses and holding a big umbrella that prevented the rain from further bathing him.

Puzzled, he asked weakly, "Who are you?"

"I'm Arnold Sebastian," the man replied with a rough voice and then did something shocking. He went on one knee with the umbrella raised higher, his head slightly bowed.

"W-What are you doing, sir?" the bewildered Lykai asked.

"Greetings, Lord Alpha!" the man surprisingly said with a solemn face.

"What?" Lykai said in disbelief. But he was dead tired and couldn't say anything else before seeing black.