Abyss(1)

Author: Wan He Chui Yan

1

I first met Christopher Simmons at the house of my dad's best friend, Oscar Simmons.

It was my favorite snowy day that day. Snowy days gave me an excuse not to join those children playing outside, so I could stay on the couch and watch TV shows.

However, there were just some children who couldn't even let me enjoy my drama in peace.

"Get out!"

"Hit him!"

Annoyed by the noise in the yard, I opened the door. Immediately, a snowball hit me. I pursed my lips and felt the urge to lash out at them.

However, I was used to acting like an elegant princess since I was young. In the end, I rubbed my head, pulled on my sleeves, and complained, "Can you guys stop being so rowdy?"

The children's leader was Henry Simmons, Oscar's son. He was a chubby boy with a fierce look.

With a frown, he turned around and said, "This is my house, and you're in no place to order me around!"

I was shocked.

"Henry! What are you doing? Apologize to Becca!"

Oscar appeared before I could get angry. Instantly, Henry surrendered and apologized, "I'm sorry, Becca."

I couldn't help but laugh secretly as I responded, "Yeah."

The children then entered the house. I was about to follow them when I saw a young man quietly brushing the snow off himself out of the corner of my eye.

He was around my height and looked exquisite. Though his body was covered in snow from the snowball game, he didn't look angry. When his eyes accidentally met mine, he forced a smile.

It was a faint smile, but I felt somehow sad seeing it.

"Becca, hurry and come in. It's too cold outside."

It was Oscar.

I froze momentarily before glancing at the young man outside the door. "Mr. Simmons, there's still someone outside," I said softly.

"Come in."

Oscar called out, his tone sounding perfunctory. It felt as if he was calling a dog, but the young man lit up and quickly walked over.

The young man's breath was mixed with traces of cold air. As he came nearer, his neat features grew clearer in my sight. Upon arriving at the door, he looked at me with his iridescent eyes.

Only then did I realize that I was blocking the door. I smiled bashfully and entered the house with him.

2

The snow became heavier at night.

Once all the Simmons family gathered, Oscar set up a banquet. My dad, Calvin Yalden, also attended.

However, I wasn't a fan of socializing and only wanted to lie somewhere alone. Thankfully, my dad didn't make things difficult for me, and Oscar arranged for a maid to care for me.

"Ms. Yalden, what would you like to eat?"

"I'm not hungry. I just want to sleep. You should get some rest too."

I threw myself on the bed and slept through most of the night. In the middle of the night, my stomach started rumbling. I was so hungry that I had to head to the kitchen to look for food.

"Oh..."

"Be gentle! Ha..."

Obscene voices could be heard from the dim living room, and I was so frightened I could feel my scalp tingling. I quickly withdrew my hand which was inches away from the light switch. Just as I was about to run for my room, I bumped into someone.

At that moment, I felt like I was about to scream. Fortunately, that person covered my mouth.

3

"I didn't scare you, did I?"

At the corner of the corridor, the young man's gentle voice rang in my ears. I looked up and met his beautiful and deep eyes, my heart pounding with fear.

"No," I spoke in a low voice.

"You'd better hurry back to get some rest."

The young man's voice was soft.

Although it was quite dim at the corner, it couldn't hide his beautiful and noble features. I couldn't resist taking another look at him after glancing at his face. I only averted my gaze in a panic when he turned to me.

"Rebecca!"

Just then, I turned and saw my brother Dylan walking over. I immediately hopped over to him happily, but he dragged me away mercilessly. I was so embarrassed that I quickly turned around to bid the young man goodbye.

"Dylan! What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Stay away from someone like him!" warned Dylan.

"What are you talking about?" I pouted, unable to understand what he was up to. "He's good-looking!"

My brother raised his hand and slapped my head. "All you know is looks!"

I was tongue-tied.

Dylan added, "He's being raised by the Simmons family for business purposes."

Confused, I whispered thoughtfully, "Is he studying finance like you?"

Dylan hit me again.

"How dare you hit me again! I'm telling Dad!"

"You're going to die of stupidity if I don't hit you!"

Upon hearing that, I huffed and turned on my fighting mode. Dylan and I kicked up a ruckus as we headed for our rooms.

Back then, I was too naive. I didn't understand what Dylan meant until later.

4

It was still snowing hard the next day. That was a great thing for someone like me, who liked using the snow as an excuse to rest. On the other hand, Dylan was troubled.

He had come over to meet me last night and didn't expect it to snow harder today. As a result, he wouldn't be able to rush home before his partner's birthday.

I then called his partner, Annie. "Annie! We're at Mr. Simmons' house! Yes, Mr. Oscar Simmons."

"Mr. Simmons?"

Through the video call, I could see that Annie was slightly surprised. Nevertheless, the disappointment on her face slowly disappeared, and a faint smile appeared. I figured that she was able to cheer up quickly because I was the one talking to her.

I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw Dylan's helpless expression as I spoke to Annie on the phone.

"What is it? I didn't ask you to come. You were the one who came here on your own!" I told Dylan.

Dylan ignored me and said to Annie, "Sweetie, I swear I'll rush back to your side today."

He glanced at me before taking my phone away. After chatting with Annie for some time, he turned to me and said, "You're going home with me."

"No!" I refuted.

It was snowing heavily, and it was freezing outside. Wasn't it better to stay where the heater was?

However, Dylan clearly had no intention to negotiate with me. He immediately started dragging me away.

Good thing I was smart enough to call Dad.

Dad showed up in an instant, but he seemed drunk and wasn't so clear-headed. He pulled Dylan to the side, and they exchanged words in low voices. Dylan then said something, while Dad nodded with a serious expression in return.

"Becca, from now on, you'll attend school in Jacaster. I've bought you a house. You can choose to live in the school dormitory or the house. What do you think?"

Dad showed me photos of the new house as he spoke, but I felt somehow upset.

I knew that the house was not the main point here, but the school.

Besides, I could guess which school I was going to attend.

It must be the university Oscar had invested in.

I didn't want to attend that school as I had heard a lot of things about it. They had many outstanding students, but a lot of them were condescending, vain, and troublemakers.

"I don't want to attend that school." I tried to reject the idea.

"Then where do you want to go? Up the sky?" Dad retorted.

I was rendered speechless.

5

However, I guessed wrong.

Dad had arranged for me to attend another school. My new school wasn't as famous as the one Oscar invested in, but it had an excellent environment and great facilities.

One week into my time at this school, I met that young man again.

"Everyone, this is our new student who just transferred from Xavier University. Let's give him a warm welcome."

When I heard Oscar's school name, I instinctively looked up and saw the young man.

Sure enough, good-looking people were beautiful wherever they were. Even the blackboard looked more pleasing to the eyes with his appearance.

"Hello, everybody. I'm Christopher Simmons. I hope we get along well."

He spoke gently and had a sincere look in his eyes. Instantly, the class became lively.

I thought he must be Oscar's relative since his last name was also Simmons.

Back then, I was foolish for not pondering why he transferred to my school.

6

The counselor randomly pointed Christopher to a seat, which happened to be beside me.

I wasn't familiar with Christopher. Apart from smiling politely at him when he got into his seat, I didn't talk to him.

From his conversation with others, I discovered he was younger than me by a day.

In fact, it wasn't my intention not to talk to him, but I didn't know what to say to him. I could discuss what to have for lunch with my new friends, but they only wanted to discuss how handsome Christopher was.

"I think he must come from a wealthy family."

"What about me?"

I said it casually, but my friend told me I didn't look like a child. Instead, I looked indifferent and aloof.

"That's not true!" I felt sorrowful, as I wasn't an aloof person. I was bad at knowing what to say and terrible at socializing. I also enjoyed being alone.

"Rebecca, I think Christopher's been staring at you."

My friend laughed and poked me.

I didn't pay much attention to the excitement in my friend's eyes. I pouted and said, "What are you thinking?"

I walk home alone after school every evening. When I stepped out of the school, I immediately headed for fried food sold by a street vendor.

My favorite was fried fish fillet and fries!

"Give me your money!"

I knew it was our school's gangsters from listening to their voices.

They bugged me not long after school started. Unfortunately, they extorted me back then.

I was flustered and pretended to remain calm as I threw 15 dollars at them. I was about to ask them to stop bothering me, but they started searching my wallet before I could say anything.

Well, I only had 15 dollars in cash and a few dollars in my phone's balance because I had topped up my meal card.

I told them the truth. They stopped bothering me after seeing how sincere I was. They left with 15 dollars and threatened me not to tell anybody before leaving.

Without a doubt, I was furious.

However, who was I to go up against them? I immediately agreed to their conditions.

Later, they never came for me again, thinking I was a poor student. I also didn't want to cause any trouble for 15 dollars.

After all, I was Dad's favorite. He would've killed them if he had learned that I was threatened.

I didn't know if I was a coward or an idiot.

All I knew was that I didn't want my family members to worry too much about me.