CHAPTER 8 – …BEFORE THE STORM
1035 Words
THE BUSINESS EMPEROR IS ENGAGED!!
This is what greeted me in one particular morning when I woke up. It was a habit of mine to pick up my phone to check for emails and messages first thing when I open my eyes and this time, it was a big mistake in my part. Grace had sent me a link and I clicked it half-sleep but now, I’m fully awake and shocked to the core.
THE BUSINESS EMPEROR IS ENGAGED!!
The words circled around my head as I tried my best to process what I’m reading and seeing. Then I just stared at the photo provided by the article. Josh’s photo is there but the woman beside him is not me, it’s another beautiful gal, clearly another vampire. I just stared and I actually don’t know how long I was staring but the time I came back to, I had already crushed my phone in my hand and the injury caused by it is already healing. There is also the distinct sound of loud knocking by the door and the doorbell being numerously pressed. I didn’t need to check to know who is by the door.
I got up slowly, put the robe over my nightgown, fixed my hair into a ponytail and went out of the bedroom. I know I’m actually losing it because I’m too calm for my own sake. I know myself and I know that I should be feeling angry, heartbroken or bawling my eyes out already but here I am, calm as water and my mind and heart empty of anything. I still felt and thought nothing when I saw Josh’s anxious face when I opened the door. I knew I was showing nothing in my face and this seemed to take him back a little. I ignored it and walked to the living room to sit down on the armchair. Josh followed me inside.
“Zoya…” He started but I didn’t look at him. The armchair across from me looks very interesting at the moment.
“I don’t need to hear anything else. I just need a reason and an explanation.” I said as cold as I can manage. I saw him shift from the corner of my eye.
“It’s cold and complicated, I know but I have no other choice. Our species is on the verge of extinction. The woman I’m engaged to is a pure blood like me and you know what that means.”
There was a time when I got curious of Josh’s vampire life and I got the story of how vampires are slowly going extinct. The practice of biting humans to make them a vampire has already stopped working due to some human evolving over the years. Humans have somehow managed to unknowingly evolve some resistance against vampire venom years and years ago. On rare occasions that a vampire manages to make a human pregnant, the children either dies or end up having traits of a mortal. However, there are vampires called pure bloods and as the name suggests, they are pure vampires with pure vampire blood flowing inside them but aside from the blood, they have the ability to reproduce but only when their partner is also another pure blood. Josh is a pure blood and also a leader of a coven. I did feel a bit disappointed when I found out that I will never have a child with Josh but considering the fact that I never really thought about children in my future, it was only a bit of a disappointment. I just stopped thinking about it but the pressure for having a coven leader as a mate and not being able to give him an heir had always been clawing at me at the back of my mind. The current situation is a bit ironic now.
“I’m really sorry. The engagement had nothing to do with me but that’s what they want because she belongs to another coven.” Josh is already losing himself as well, he’s babbling random stuff now.
“Do you really think that the engagement is the problem here? You are leaving me to go and knock up another woman for your species. I can’t compete with that and you know it.” I calmly stated while finally looking him straight in the eye. I didn’t know where the confidence came from.
“How will I ever make it up to you? Tell me…what should I do?” Josh finally said after closing and opening his mouth several times. The desperation is in his eyes and voice but I cannot find an ounce of pity for him.
“Nothing. There is nothing else that you can do. You’re not telling me that everything is a mistake and you’re not telling me that you won’t marry her. This clearly shows that you’re choosing your responsibilities as a vampire over me.”
“I-“ I held up my hand and looked away.
“We have nothing more to do or to discuss. Just leave.”
When Josh just stood there, I got up and passed by him. He did not stop me and I went quietly to my bedroom, locking the door behind me. I’m already freaking out but not because of Josh and everything that just happened. I’m freaking out because I can’t feel anything. I don’t feel angry, sad or anything, I just feel empty. I also do not feel any tears coming. I know that I want to cry, I want to be angry, I want to lash out because they are the most natural thing to do but my mind and body won’t even allow it. Am I being stubborn?
“I’m really sorry Zoya.” I heard Josh say on the other side of the door and I know that this is it. It’s over and still, nothing is stirring inside me.
Hours later, I am already silently freaking out. I called Grace and she picked up immediately.
“Zoya? Is everything alright? It’s a fake news isn’t it?” She started asking one after another when the line connected.
“We just broke up.” I gave her the simplest explanation I could think of and she became quiet before I heard a sigh. “But Grace?”
“Hmm?”
“I can’t feel anything. I can’t even squeeze out a tear. Why am I not crying Grace?”
“Oh Zoya…”
- Writer
