Her previous life

The past:

Aureate Eclipse Elite Towers

Greetings of a spacious, tastefully adorned living area, resplendent with bespoke furnishings and plush fabrics. The girl lying facing the roof with a decorative chandelier. On the soft bed wearing a pretty white silk dress, her long smooth hair spread over the bed under her. 

"Your thoughts on your achievement?" a girl in straight hair and eyebrows seriously asked. A formal shirt tucked inside her emerald shorts. Her eyes staring the magazine in her hand as she rested on the couch opposite to the bed.

"It's good, I got the award for the rocky actress and honestly what's matter more to me is you. I am in love with this time," Rumi replied to her best friend Sel as she turned over the bed and laid on her tummy. A sweet grin appeared on her face when her eyes gazed over Sel. 

Uninterested, Sel let out a difficult sigh, "You are an 'A grader' and after the debut you quickly hit the peak with this award but still you are talking… come on, you even got a proposal from the young lord of Terrie house." 

The beautiful smile and radiant glow of Rumi face started to vane yet she preserved it trying to slow down the heated atmosphere. She quickly sat back. 

"Sel, he is just an eight-year-old kid. He doesn't even know what is love and that proposal is his sweetness of showing his likeliness toward my acting," Rumi kept her smile though it was getting shorter. 

Sel threw the magazine a few meters away from herself and crossed her arm, jabbing her tongue against her cheek, puffing it out in an exaggerated manner, eyes filled with irritation but she laughed, "Really. How much time a kid takes to grow? And Rumi, you know right... an 'A grader' doesn't grow old that quickly. You still have time to get a hold of a 'S' class master like him." 

Annoyed by those exaggerated and unreasonable taunt, Rumi finally had her smile vanish in air, she came to confront her, "Grade this and that. Honestly, you are talking about a kid when I already got a boyfriend! Are you in your right mind?" 

"Or else… huh… you already got it so good, you won't understand me anyway, so forget it," Sel rolled her eyes. She just tried to finish the conversation when she was brimming with rage and more words to let out. 

Rumi disliked to end the matter like this so she continued further with a serious look and eyes set at the girl, "Got it good? Don't you really know how my life was in the past. It was because of you and your parents support that I am here. Sel, you got already everything from the beginning so why are you acting this way just because of an award?" 

"Just an award! Huh… you have richness in your tone now, Rumi. And just what the hell did I get by getting a parent when an orphan like you has such a good life. A 'B grade' and a smaller number of followers than you. I would rather have a life like yours," Sel got up in rage, taunting and snarling as she gave a grimacing look to Rumi whose eyes and expression was giving out what she really thought. 

Rumi was dumbfounded. Sel did had her bad side and plenty of it but she never crossed the limit… until today. Her eyes rounded in curiousness; mouth ghastly parted as she swallowed. She shook in terrible surprise after the bell rang in midst of the dirty silence. 

Her shaky eyes finally blinked pulling her back to reality. She got up and ran quickly to open the door. The hastiness was symbolic of her avoidance toward her best friend who seemed so different from usual. 

"Babe!" a smile on her startled face lessened the tense atmosphere when her boyfriend showed his face as the door creaked open for him. 

He had a composed stature, calm expression but that was just a façade and it took a few seconds for Rumi to see through it. 

The surrounding turned ghastly as he entered inside and shut the door without a word. 

"Babe?" Rumi again called him, waiting for a response with a curious and confused look. Her eyebrows creased, the situation surrounding her felt ominous but a sense in her was subduing the feeling of alertness. How can she doubt her friend and her boyfriend. 

Till she was stabbed in her back by the sharp shades of ice, freezing her spine with an eerie, bone-chilling whisper that echoed through the depths of her soul, leaving her paralyzed in terror. 

Her trembling neck turned back slightly; eerily open wide eyes struck her pathetic gaze. She was terrified but ashamed too. She didn't believe her gut feelings and so she got what she deserved. 

Maniac eyes staring Rumi with a twisted smirk on her face, "You talk about my parents as if you know everything. Foolish and impoverished them, they can't give me anything more than food for living. If only they had money, I would have been a soaring phoenix in this showbiz world."

Rumi felt the weight of her body burdening her now that she had no strength left in her wobbly legs. She fell down, her sharp nails scratched down her boyfriend's body till all the energy parted ways with her. 

In the dying embers of her life, she found herself engulfed in a storm of emotions, the most potent of them all being an inexplicable, searing anger. It wasn't just the betrayal that clawed at the edges of her consciousness, but the cruel irony that it was her dearest friend and boyfriend, the one she had trusted with her deepest secrets, who wielded the blade that now marked the end of her existence.

She was a lifeless body lying on the ground, blood froze on the ground as a hole in her stomach was covered with ice, with only her eyes open to see the last show of her life. 

She wanted to scream, to unleash the torrent of fury building within her, but the pain stole even her voice. Instead, her eyes, wide with a mix of horror and rage, bore into the face she had once known so well, now twisted by malevolence. The betrayal cut deeper than the blade, slicing through the very core of her soul. How could someone she had laughed with, confided in, and cherished, turn into the monster before her?

"W..why?" in low voice, lips that turned black forced the words out, tears quivering down her cheeks. She wanted to know, why was going this low necessary? 

While her eyes only glanced once at her cold boyfriend face, it pitifully looked at Sel who sat behind her head and placed her index finger over Rumi's forehead, "Because I need your life force. With this my journey ahead has bright future." 

Anger was boiling inside her paralysed body. She had many questions and answers that she needs to know but as Sel started to suck her life force, her ears gave up and slowly her eyes, too. 

Death came so suddenly; she didn't get the time to feel the rage of betrayal neither sympathy for her life in luxury. It happened with a snap of a finger and everything went dark.

… 

"Beep, beep, beep…" Lydia brushed her hand roughly against the alarm, shutting it up and getting up. She had hollow of darkness under her eyes hanging dull but her eyes excited and anxious. 

Today was the day she has meeting with her soon to be employer and even at the biggest hotel of Ranthor city. 

She clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes while ruffling her messed hair, she let out a deep sigh, "Why that nightmare again? Of all the day it has to be today! Tsk!" she grimaced sitting on the mattress of her room. 

She couldn't get a wink of sleep at night and when she finally did, she was greeted with all the nightmare which was actually a glimpse of her past life. 

Her long fingers pressing against her forehead, her mood was awful but not that bad where she can forget her important work. She quickly got up, taking a towel in her hand, she walked inside the bathroom. 

Fifteen minutes and she has already her clothes changed into a more formal pair. She was ready to walk out with a little comb in her hair. 

Passing by her room door, she walked inside the living room which was actually used by her brother as his room but he wasn't there as he has gone back to their hometown to meet their parents and Lydia also has to be back there for the family celebration. 

So, without wasting any time she picked out the neatest coat, twirled it back adjusting her hands in it and finally her fingers gracefully glided through the edge of the coat as she fixed it. It exuded an aura of quiet confidence and mystery. 

She was prepared to walk out in her handsome and elegant look. But what bothered her was the rate of succeeding in getting this job since it appeared that this job was from a very rich person. What's the rate that a Richie rich person would hire her rather than an upper grade person. 

Maybe 20%... 10%... God knows! 

…

She felt restless, her hand frequently fixing her properly kept hair, head tilted down and eyes sneakily moving around. 

It would be a lie to say that this VIP room was nothing surprising. She might've gone to many beautiful and big places in her past life but honestly this place was brimming with elegance. Everything was in its place, kept properly, not a speck of dust. The couch she sat on gave her another level of comfort that her hard mattress can never give. 

Maybe it's because it's been years since her eyes witnessed the shine of richness and so it feels strange and unknown but she was glad, no one was inside this room other than her. it felt less awkward because of that. 

Her ears perked as footsteps approached the door in front of her. she swallowed in silence keeping her sharp gaze over it. Finally, she was about to meet the person who was granting her such an expensive deal. 

Her inside of stomach felt twisted, she swallowed again, the door opening in slow motion had a tight grasp over her mind and legs that kept tapping incessantly. 

The resplendence was different outside and brighter. Lydia body just followed instinctively and got up as a radiant and pretty woman wearing glasses and jewels, keeping a small purse hung on her hand stepped inside the room. She was followed by a man in black. 

A short skirt defining her curve and a light pink blouse, she has a bright and beautiful smile almost blinding like the bright sun. 

Lydia was intuitively drawn toward her. cheeks slightly red with blush, eyes twinkling while focused on the glowing lady making her entrance. 

"Did we made you wait for long?" with a gleam on her face, she asked in a sincere tone. 

Her presence was so dazzling, Lydia confusedly shook her head and then blinked wondering what she was asked just now. 

"Nice to meet you, I am Nzie Terrie, your soon to be contractor." 

An astounding introduction left Lydia in daze for a moment.