INSUFFERABLE

CHAPTER 2

He was gone the next morning I woke up. It didn’t slipped me that I awake, perfectly laying on my back and nicely tuck with a thick mattress.

I don’t even want to think he did that to me. I refused to admit any good thing he did because he is not a good man. A nice man will never go around declaring they own someone.

I look around the room that look exactly the same like yesterday, my eyes halted at the sight of new dishes on top of the small dining table.

How the hell did I failed to notice it? Someone must have come in here, I doubted that man would be doing dishes by himself. He doesn’t seem the type.

As I ate, the gear in my head worked again, this time more clear than it had been last night. I hate that man that his name I don’t even know down to the core but it would be useless if I keep on trying to fight him.

That would only make him lock me in this damn forsaken room longer which means I won’t be able to see the place better. I want to make an escape, I at least need to get a better view of this place and what is the best way other than playing nice?

I will have to fool him into believing that I am somewhat docile now and he can at least allowed me to roam around. But I can’t overdo it. That man is no fool, he’ll see right through me. A small step at a time then.

When he came back, maybe during lunch, I’m not sure about the time because there’s no way for me to tell, only the scorching heat of sunlight and because of two women trailing after him with plates in their arms.

They worked quietly without words, without a single glance my way. Simply put the new plates down, picked the old plates away and walked out of the room quietly.

The large man must have felt the burn of my stares because he turned and tilted his head towards the table. Without waiting for me, he had his filled first.

All I wanted to do was spit on his face but I know this is a good chance for me to get on his good side so, slowly I approached him and sat down. Slowly, filling my plate with foods. I saw him nodding approvingly as I took the first bite.

The way he treated me is simply revolting. Its like I was some sort of a feral cat one brought home and tried to tame me so that I can be domesticated and bend to his will.

I moan softly as everything I put inside my mouth were spicy.

He glanced sideways. “Too hot?”

I cursed his caring tone. He might be an even better actor than I do.

“I’m not used to spicy food.”

He put down the fork and spoon, leaning back to his chair. “I forgot you were from the East. For Eastern people, our food must be hard to stomach.”

He’s not exactly wrong on that. The Eastern people preferred our food sweet and sour with a mild spicy touch to it. So yes, this extra spicy meal is quite a bit of hell to me.

“I’m okay.”

He sighed softly. “I’ll let the cook knows so they can prepare something light for you later.”

I look up at him. How much cooks this whole place had anyway? No the real question should be, how many people were here? Why are we here and until when do I have to stay here?

He was about to finish his meal when I asked tentatively, “You’re going back to your work now?”

He put on his uniform back, eyes fixed on me, as if gauging my intention. “Yes. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

I scoffed accidently. “A few hours? What the hell are you expecting me to do for a few hours by myself?”

I realized I had been letting out too much of an attitude but it was too late for me to pull it back. I am naturally expressive.

He smirked, which is a first and walk closer to me. My heart skipped a beat from the way he loom over my skinny figure.

“I expect you to stay here, be good and wait until I come back.”

I called out when he was about to turn around. “I don’t wanna be alone.”

I bit my lip as he look at me again, a firm look on his face and for a second I thought he could read pass through me so I added quickly.

“You kidnapped me from my home, so be responsible and keep me company.”

I know I was being daring, perhaps way too bold from the way he raised his eyebrow like this is the first time someone talk to him like that.

Bastard, he was so full of himself, thinking that he is better than the rest of the people. I wonder what position this sneaky bastard holds for him to be so full of himself.

It came off as a shock when he agreed to take me with him but with a rule of course. I had to put on his other uniform which draped over my figure like a damn coat. It was so big that I literally drowned in it but I keep my mouth shut, even when he cast me a hard look that I can’t decipher.

He definitely not a man you want to cross but I will do whatever it takes to get the hell out of this place.

I blinked several times as the bright day light attacked my sight before adjusted to it, gaping as I saw how massive the ground is. No matter where I look, white small building like the one I stayed in came into view.

“You take a step away from me and you’ll regret it.”

There’s something dark in his voice, something that told me that it’s better not to take it seriously.

I shifted my eyes on the ground and that is when I noticed something else. This place was filled with women and young boys and girls. This is not a suitable place for kids so I wonder what the hell are they doing here.

“Who are these people?”

He started to walk so I followed like a good kitten.

“These women belongs to the rest of the armies, the kids are the products of such relationship.”

‘Ownership, you mean.’ I retorted silently, thinking how f**k up this whole situation is. These men who called themselves as the DOTE make their own rules just because they able too and force the weak to bow to the sick systems they created. I felt nauseated.

“What is this place?”

He cast me a quick glance that told me he knew I knew who he really is.

“This, is the main land of DOTE. It’s a neutral zone so we decided to use it as a camp site.”

“The government didn’t drop any attack?” The site was big but it was barren which means it would take only a single attack for the government to wipe them out. So why haven’t they?

He got quiet and I take that as an answer enough. Someone inside the government did worked for them. From the look of it, they had some insider with a serious rank. No commoner could let passed something this crucial.

He took me into a ground farther from his place and it shocked me to see how this side of the camp hold big buildings and no women and children lingered in the area. All of these men are armies and I shuddered each times I noticed the gun hanging out at their waist. Some of these men are barely adult.

His office was at the far end of the place and surprisingly it actually look like a normal office with papers and documents scattered around the place.

They might had a headquarters in the middle of nowhere but they were equipped with quite high tech machines which explained how they could be so deadly in every attacked they launched.

I spent the hours by watching him doing his things, sometimes I would lay around on the sofa, pretending like I was reading some of the documents which is bullshit because it was written in that foreign language.

He even spoke in different language each time a soldier came in. Perhaps it is better for me to know little about this whole thing. I mean if I were to escape, DOTE won’t consider me much of a threat the less I know.

As the sun come down he woke me up, saying it’s time to get back. I don’t even remember when the hell did I fall asleep. We walked in silent with the occasional men saluting him and I gathered he must have been someone important to this organization.

I vaguely catch the title they called him. Great General. Is that means he’s their leader? The man is way too young to be a leader for something this big. Perhaps somewhere in mid thirties.

The children were still yelling and laughing, playing among them as soldiers with riffle watching from the side. This is not a place for children and I felt my eyes tear.

These kids deserved better than being stuck in this shithole, wasting away their youth and robbed of their adulthood. No doubt the boys one day will turned into those men with guns and the girls would be owned by some twisted bastard, forcing to bore more young to this sick party.

A repetitive course of unnatural life cycle. It might be a weird and foreign concept for me but for them, it’s the norm.

A loud screamed jolting me in my steps. I grabbed his forearm in alarmed. The shouted was actually loud enough that it beat the children’s voices. He look at me above his shoulder and I stared back at him, pleading with my eyes to look for the voice.

“Please.” I begged as he was just about to walk again. The screaming breached my ears again. It sounded like a scream of agony and as selfish as I am, I can’t just let it.

He sighed, looking away as if battling with himself whether he should gave in to my request and I could see he was just second away from caving in. I decided to boost it up.

“I wanna see, please.” That’s all it takes for him stop thinking and walked closer to the commotion.

As we got nearer, I noticed the increasing crowds surrounding a woman. The sight churned my stomach. There was a man, short and rounded belly with a woman pushed down to the ground. He was beating her and no one did anything.

The woman scream with each blows, trying uselessly to shield herself from the violence attack with her small hands.

The man got holds of some wooden stick and started to bash her with it and I felt my legs brought me forward.

I came from a place where violence are shun upon and the perpetrator will get punished but this place played by different rules.

Before I got far, someone pulled me backward and I look up with an incredulous look.

“He’s going to kill her!”

He looks way calm than I like. No one should be this undisturbed witnessing something gruesome like this.

“He’s not.”

I glared sharply. “Look at her!” He did, looking back at me with the same bored look. “What the hell is wrong with you? Help her!”

He tightened his jaws and at different moment I might think twice about my action but at the moment I barely registered anything other than the woman crying and wailing on the ground begging not to be beaten by man masking himself as human.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“She’s not mine to intervene with.”

I let go of his arm, feeling more dumbfounded than I already had, looking around at the faces of the women and that is when I noticed. All of them stand with a man by their side, looking more anxious and nervous than actually pitying the poor woman on the ground. What the hell is going on?

Every woman is own by a man and each man had the power to dictate whatever the hell it is they wanted to do with their woman?

Even if they beat them half to death, no one can interfere just because it was their woman? Then, does that mean my fate solely hold by this man and if he decided to beat me up for fun no one would help me just like that woman?

This is the most absurd things I had ever heard of the whole 27 years of my life. A distorted scream brought me out of my wits.

“Help her, help her!”

He just watch me, indifferent.

“Please, he’s going to kill her! How could you just stand there and watch?!”

Tears run down my cheek, chest heaving as I stared at him, praying that this ice man had some humanity restored in his hard stone heart.

He finally look ahead, whispering something to a young soldier and I let out a breath of relief as the man walked up and stopped the ongoing attack. The old man retaliated, mad at being stopped from brutalizing his woman but before I could watch more I was being dragged out of there back into his place.

Maybe I had been asking for too much. In a way I still don’t understand the whole this ownership things worked but maybe it was more than just that. He actually look distracted, taking off his uniform with more force than necessary.

I gulped. I don’t want to do this but I need to be in his good grace, for this short moment.

“Thank you.”

His jerky movement stopped and he turned to look at me slowly.

“I’ve done something I shouldn’t have for you.”

I nodded. “I know. Thank you for that.”

He gritted his teeth and for a moment a dark look appeared on his face, a look I never saw but it went away quickly and replaced with his slightly troubled one.

“This is not good. Major Mozammi is a man with grudge. He’ll remember what I did today.”

I could care less about that but I really am thankful for what he did.

“Thank you for helping that woman. She would have gotten seriously injured if you didn’t stepped in.” Though I hope someone had step in faster.

He took of his uniform and walked closer to me.

“In this place, everything needs to be compensate. What I did earlier, I’ll make you compensate for it later and that woman, nothing change for her. She still belongs to Mozammi and he still had the power to beat her senseless inside their own house.” He caress my hair softly.

“You should think about your action more carefully. You make me stopped him in front of everyone, which makes him look weak. Do you think he’ll go home, have a nice hot tea and go to sleep with a smile on his face?”

I opened my mouth to retaliated but found no words.

“No, my innocent girl. He would be enraged and that woman is going to get it a lot worse than what she would have get had no one interrupted him.”

I stared away, a sick feeling settling in the depth pit of my chest.

Had I made mistake just now?