Chapter 15

Levi looked at her with his mouth slightly opened in surprise. He didn't expect her to hit the bed frame when he threw her.

Plumeria gasped and whimpered in pain while holding the back of her head, when she suddenly had a flashback.

•••

Her mother slapped her on the face with all her strength.

"You disgraceful brat! Is this how you repay us?! By being with that hideous, lowlife son of a bastard?!" her mother scolded her furiously.

She felt a stinging pain on her cheek. Tears of pain rolled down her face. Rather than the physical pain inflicted by her mother, her heart ached more for her lover because she knew that he was having it worse than her.

She fell down on her knees, grabbed her mother's dress and looked at her with a pitiful express.

"Mother, please let him go. I love him." She begged her, but her mother got even more furious when she saw her begging for him.

Her mother slapped her again, but this time harder. Her face stung and was slowly getting redder.

"Look at yourself begging for that insignificant insect, Evelyn!" Her mother bent down and grabbed her face in her hand harshly. She was holding her face so hard that it hurt her. "Love, you say? That's just a fantasy, my child. The reality is he just wants to get between your legs and get your riches."

She shook her head quickly, with tears falling down.

"He's not like other men, mother. He would never touch me without my permission." She told her and got slapped again.

For the first time, she looked at her mother with hate and glared at her.

"How could you do this to your own daughter?!" she asked her in an angry tone.

"Mind your tone, young lady! I'm your mother, not your servant!" Her mother snapped at her.

"Have you never fallen in love with someone yourself?!" Evelyn asked in the same hateful tone.

"Oh, I have and I'll tell you this. Men want nothing from women except for their bodies. They are vicious animal that would do anything to get what they want even if it were playing romantic for a while." Her mother told her. "Love is nothing but a fantasy created by the weak."

Evelyn got up without breaking eye contact with her mother.

"Other men may be like that, but Noah is different. He would never harm me or hurt me." She told her.

"You love him that much? Fine. If you love him so much, then you can stay away from him for his own sake." Her mother told her in a hateful tone. "Follow me. I'll take you to him."

Her mother turned around and walked away. Evelyn wasted no second and followed her closely. She was extremely worried about him. About how he was getting treated.

Her mother took her to their barn. When she went inside, she looked in horror as he was beaten by her father so badly that he looked half dead and her father was still beating him with a whip. Her heart shattered into pieces knowing that it was her fault he was in this condition.

She was going to run to him, but her mother grabbed her wrist and made her look at her.

"Now, unless you promise us that you will do exactly as we say and stop seeing that man, we will let him go. And you will marry whose ever feet we decide to throw you at. If you decide to run away or rebel in any way, I'll have your father kill him in the most horrible way possible. Do you understand?" Her mother asked her.

She realized at this moment that she had no choice. Her life never truly belonged to her and would never will.

Her mother placed a hand on the side of her head.

"One day you will have a daughter of your own and you will realize that all that we did for you is for your own good. Now go back to your room and I'll tell your father to let him go." Her mother told her in a calmer tone.

Evelyn looked at her mother with tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

"I wish to never have kids if I am supposed to become parents like you two." She told her.

Her mother's expression changed into anger, but before she could say anything to her, Evelyn walked away with her heart completely shattered in her chest.

She knew it was a pain that she could never recover from. She blamed herself as she walked towards her house.

'It's all my fault. If I never met you or approached you, then this would've never happened. You would never have had to suffer.' she thought.

She suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy. It didn't take her long before she fell on the cold grass, losing her consciousness.

•••

Levi watched her stare blankly into space while tears streamed down her face.

"I didn't mean to throw you that hard." He told her and came in front of her, but she was still staring blankly into space.

He sat down in front of her and waved his hand in front of her eyes, bringing her back to reality.

She looked at him with her heart clenched painfully in her chest.

"Did you go stupid when you hit your head?" He asked her.

She remembered his face this time. His face was exactly the same as she just saw in her flashback. He looked exactly like the guy who was getting beaten.

She didn't know what she just saw or why it felt so real like she had experienced it firsthand but she knew that the pain and relief she felt seeing him was real.

"Plumeria?" He called out to her with concern as her tears wouldn't stop flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry." She told him in a low, strained tone.

"What for?" He asked her with a deep frown as he looked at her, confused.

She lightly shook her head

"I didn't know. I just feel like I had a lot to apologize for." She told him.

'Did she mean that incident?' he thought and looked at her hatefully. 'It's too late for that. I can never forgive you for what you did to me. Never.'

But for some reason, he wanted to forgive her. He curled his hands into a tight fist in frustration and anger.

She suddenly leaned towards him and hugged him, taking him by surprise. She closed her eyes and let herself absorb what she was feeling.

He felt warm and comforting. Everything thing from his scent to the feeling of touching his skin felt comforting and strangely familiar to her. It was like she had known him for a long, long time.

"What are you doing?" He asked her.

"I don't know. I just felt the need to hug you." She told him.

He didn't say anything back, but strangely, his heart was reacting to her.

'Just this one I'll let you have your way.' he thought and hugged her back.

Axel poked his head to check if everything was alright when he saw Plumeria hugging Levi.

It's looked like she really loved him. He smiled, feeling happy for her that she found someone else to lean on. He silently closed the doors and went away.

A part of him felt sad because he felt that he would lose her to him.

After all, she was his first love.