Chapter 20

Zen looked at his phone and saw the message from Aelise. "You're alive at least." He sighed and looked at the guys before going out. "Woah. You went crazy huh." Nate spoke as he looked at the boy who was covered in their blood. "They're the ones who took Natalie." He said and Nate's eyes widened. "H-How did you know?" Nate whispered. "Come on, Nate. You knew it at first look too but you didn't want to do anything." Zen smirked and Nate hung his head low. "I'm sorry but whoever hurt our sister, I am not willing to let them go." He growled out and Nate nodded. He couldn't be more thankful for Zen at times like this.

"H-Here." Nate said and handed Zen a change of clothes. Zen took it and quickly washed up, changing into them and relaxing his muscles because they were all way too tense. His phone rang and he looked at it.

'No caller ID.'

He already knew what it was. "Hello?" He answered. The person didn't speak for a while before he could hear sniffles. "Hello? Who is this?" He asked. This wasn't what he expected. "Z-Zen." He heard the weak voice of Nate's mother. His eyes widened and he rushed out. "Nate. Where's mom? Natalie?!" He asked in a panic. "They came out to get Natalie something. Why? What happened?" Nate asked. He didn't have his phone on him so Nate's mother called Zen instead. "Fuck! Let's go." Zen rushed. By now, his entire body was killing him. He was absolutely exhausted.

"Zen. Don't come here. Please. It's not worth it." He heard the woman whisper. He had put the phone on speaker and Nate could hear that too. Nate was never the violent kind. Zen had become that so he took the responsibility to deal with such situations. "Not worth it?! You're my mom and Natalie is my sister. Please." Zen spoke. Why was she saying this? "Shut up! You're not my son! Nate is my son. You're nothing! You're not a part of my family. You're that woman's son. I don't want to see you." Zen's heart broke. He looked at Nate who had the same shocked expression on his face.

He didn't care though. He just drove them all the way to where he got the signal from. He put his mask on. If the woman didn't want to see his face then fine. She wouldn't. He got out, taking his gun with him. He didn't care about being sneaky. He just barged in. His eyes immediately shifted around the building and he could spot at least 15 men. It didn't take him long to start shooting. "Get the fuck out! You're a disgrace!" He heard Nate's mother shout. She was trying to get him out of there so he didn't get hurt. It made him weaker. He stilled for a second, letting two or three bullets pass through him to get back to normal.

"I know." He whispered before shooting every single other guy over there. Nate had rushed to his mother and Natalie when they were all dead. Zen looked at them and smiled. Family. They were a family. He took steps back and eventually walked out. "Zen!" Nate called out. "Take the car. I'll walk back." He spoke and waved. The bullets in him were making him weaker but he didn't care. He stumbled all the way home.

Zen went into his room and saw Miyu. "Hi." He smiled. Miyu's eyes widened as she looked at him. She didn't say anything and just helped to lay him on the bed and started to treat him. Zen of course passed out. Cold. Lonely. Once again. 'I couldn't keep you guys safe either.' The thought rushed through his mind.

Meanwhile, "Hey, let's buy some food. I'm hungry." Aelise suggested, although she just got kicked hard in the stomach and almost got stabbed. The white-haired male sigh and nodded. "Where to?" He asked and she immediately replied. "McDonald's." He facepalmed and commented. "That's too cheap." The female almost choked on the air as she gave him 'the look'.

"One, it's not cheap. Two, I'd rather go back there in the alleyway and die than go to a fancy ass restaurant to buy food at this hour. Three, I want McNuggets. So let's go." Aelise whined, making the male roll his eyes in response. She was talking casually to him as though their 'relationship' was fine and normal and there weren't 'things' happening between them.

Ace wanted to change. To change for the better. "Fine then." The response was enough to make the female have a mini celebration as they went to the drive thru to order her precious nuggets.

However, she still had a bad feeling about those guys from the alleyway. She was surprised when Nate came and dragged them away. A part of her was sure they belonged to Zen's family. And the other part, she couldn't explain well. But, the past is past. She was so grateful that Ace arrived before they got any further. They were about to rape her after all, she was sure of that. It left her traumatized. She decided to leave it aside but it was difficult, of course. If it weren't for Ace then she didn't even think about what would have happened to her.

"Hey, stop crying." He spoke coldly, making Aelise snap out of her gloomy thoughts and look at him with teary eyes. He knew why. His eyes softened and he smiled at her softly so as to reassure that everything was okay. Her eyes widened at the sight. She never saw him smile like this. Not even once. "You're safe with me. I won't hurt you." He said calmly. As much as he didn't want to, he needed to apologize to her, for everything. Even if he didn't deserve her forgiveness.

There was an awkward silence between them, tears still escaping from the female's duo-colored eyes. Her eyes widened when he spoke. "Look, I'm so sorry for hurting you, okay? Ever since I was a child, I tend to be really violent when I'm mad over small things. I'm not aware of what I'm doing when I'm mad and I just hurt people. Never have I ever felt the love. That's why, I don't know how to show it to you? I know you're not happy with me. If you want to leave me or cheat on me, that's fine, I dese-" His so called apology got cut off by a hard slap, his cheek stinging because of that. His eyes widened in shock. He never been slapped by her.

Her expression was serious. "You know? No one deserves to be cheated on by the one who they truly love no matter what they did." Her eyes were still glossy because of the tears. "I take back my words I said to Zen. Those three words. I don't want to let you feel what I felt five years ago and now." She admitted. 'I've being such a selfish fuck these past few days.' She thought to herself.

After a few minutes, Ace confessed that he wasn't cheating on her, telling her that he just lied so that people wouldn't leave him alone. The girls he was with were the ones who asked for a collaboration with him. Apparently, he never had parents and he was immediately kicked out right after he was born. He then got into an orphanage and got adopted. A lot of things were also discussed, their conversation slowly turning into a more fun and chill one. But during that, she texted Zen. 'U okie dokie? I have a bad feeling..'

"I completely forgot about the nuggets." Aelise cursed while Ace rose his eyebrows in curiosity. "What does it taste like?" That was enough to gather her attention and stare at him like he just grew a pair of horns on his forehead. Not long after, she burst into laughter. "Y-Y-You don't know what it tastes like?!" She covered her face with her hand so as to control her laughter but it was no use. He shook his head as a no, his face flushed as he looked away. Once again, a very rare reaction from him.

'Yeah. All good.' Zen replied to Aelise's text. Just like how Nate had expected, his father kicked Zen out with the excuse of work. Zen looked at Miyu and smiled. "Thank you so much." He whispered. "Sometimes I wonder how you're alive." She giggled. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm alive." Zen scoffed as he waved to her. She waved back and left. 'Get the fuck away. I don't want to look at your face.' The words kept ringing in his head.

"Let her go. Huh. Yeah I can do that. Of course I can do that. Why can't I? I'm strong." He spoke to himself in a very low voice. His body was begging to be rested but he couldn't. His mind was put into overdrive. He knew he'd collapse any second. He was running on adrenaline. He could feel it draining him so fast. His butler got him to the studio and he laughed. "Which bitch wants a photoshoot now?" He asked and looked to see almost the entire crew there. "Oh god. Do they have no time sense?" He asked himself.

'Let's get this shit over with.'