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Broken To Be Yours part 1

Broken To Be Yours

Volume 1

Takano Masamune

Chapter 1: If I wasn’t… yours…

***

“When he held me in his strong arms, I felt safe… safer than I ever felt before. My entire body was enclosed by his, I could feel his breath on my cheek, and the way he caressed me reassured me of a better tomorrow…” Those words uttered by my best friend who sat opposite of me with one of the most stereotypical, depictions of a romance novel in her hands.

“Isn’t it romantic?!” Maya asked me with open arms as if she was some cult leader asking for my obedience.

“Ugh, sure…?” I replied with much less enthusiasm than she’d expected. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against romance books, I think they’re awesome but…

“And then, as his large member entered, I couldn’t help but squeal, he was much larger than any of my exes, and I was far too inexperienced before to realize how difficult of a fit it would be…” Maya continued reading, completely oblivious to all the stares of the people around us. Somehow her attitude as a woman that reads romance was unlike any other. Most people had shame, she didn’t. And maybe that’s why we were such close friends and I loved her so much, because she was odd and accepted my strangeness all the same.

“What wouldn’t I give to have a handsome billionaire vampire mafia boss to hold me like that… haa… dreams…” Maya continued in a love stricken voice.

Of course it was ridiculous.

“Hey, part two of this book is out soon, it’s about this Prince of Death who is in love with a servant girl and when he kisses her, she doesn’t die so it means they are soulmates. But then it turns out that as a prince he’s also an Alpha and she happens to be an Omega! Isn’t it exciting?! I can’t wait to read what happens next!” Maya’s enthusiasm was blinding and maybe even over the top.

“Maya… there are younger kids around…” I reminded her, we were in the library.

“Oh, they don’t care, they’re on those IPads that their mothers gave them to distract them, the only reason they’re in the library with us, is because it’s cheaper than childcare. They can just drop them off with their library card and pick them up later.” Maya said while standing up. She was a librarian, to no one’s surprise, she loved books more than anything, it was her livelihood and in truth she got the job because it meant she could read everything for free when it came out.

A business write off, if you will. She’d order in romance books for the young adult section of the library which was the most well accounted for one, because she paid close attention to it. And many young women would come here to read to get away from their troubles.

“Oh, what happened to your new script?” She asked me, turning my way but continuing to stack books, since I was there, I started helping her out.

“It’s… well, it could have gone better.” I remarked, slightly unnerved. “In truth I got rejected again.” I smiled looking like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Try again, you’ll get it soon, try different places.” Maya encouraged me as per usual.

I’m an artist. I do many commissions but recently I’ve been working on my own comic book series. As you’d might suggest how well that’s going… well…

“Hey! There’s this super cool new guy on campus! His hair is bright silver, just like the Alpha in my book!” Maya remarked with even more enthusiasm.

“Huh? That’s weird, is he old?” I asked her with a tilt to my side.

“No, no, same age as us, silly! He’s a first year!” Maya corrected me.

“Then… he dyes his hair?” I asked once again.

“Probably, but I’d like to think it’s natural. You know.” Maya winked at me and I can’t say I don’t find her endearing half the time at least.

“Do you want to go talk to him?” I suggested. “I don’t mind finding more about him for you.” I continued, since I knew Maya isn’t at all sociable.

“No… I’d rather stick to my books. I don’t want to interact with real men, they’ll just ruin the illusion.” Maya said as she sighed heavily. “There truly are no good men out there.” She complained.

“Haha, you’re interesting even if you don’t go on any dates you still complain.” I laughed wholeheartedly.

“It’s because I hear about it all the time. You know Abby had to have an abortion because of her ex? He cheated on her even though they were engaged to be married!” Maya said disgruntled.

“Isn’t that exactly something that would happen in the plot of one of your books?” I asked her, fully believing she was describing another one.

“No, no, it’s real… and scary. Not to mention Sandra got followed back by a weird guy. Good thing she knows how to fight, that girl managed to break the guy’s nose and shoved him against a metal door that he was trying to hold open!” Maya continued rambling about several other cases…

I headed out after helping her for a bit. It was odd, romance books didn’t reflect reality of the world but a fantasy. Every woman would love to be saved by someone hot and rich and have every desire of theirs fulfilled…

But the real world was cruel and boring and it didn’t offer the same as books did. I suppose that’s why romance is such a popular genre…

“Careful getting home safe!” A text on my screen from Maya, she was always worried. I liked how her delusion about men in books never translated into the real world. She was a really reliable friend.

“I’ll be fine.” I responded quickly and headed back to my tiny one bedroom apartment with a broken sink that’s constantly dripping…

But along the way I felt something was off…

I could faintly hear footsteps behind me… but when I turned around there was no one there… It was late at night and there were still people on the street but this sound seemed to stand out so much to my ears that I completely ignored all other noise…

One step, then another… they were irregular and moved only when I did… I paused to take in my surroundings before I was snapped out of my focus by a hand on my shoulder.

“AAHGG!” I jumped back panicked.

“Hey, calm down now, I just wanted to say hi but noticed you were zoned out.” This was Edward, an old friend of mine that was surprisingly clingy for someone that looked the way he did.

If Maya was here she’d freak out about how tall dark and handsome Edward is… but then her illusion would get shattered when she finds out he’s as broke as every other university student is.

Him and I have been friends since childhood and he sort of picks on me all the time but his intentions are always good.

“Sorry, I just thought someone was following me for a bit.” I remarked, though I was afraid I’d sound paranoid to him.

“You sound stressed. Want me to take you back to yours?” Edward suggested and I agreed. We headed back together and strangely now that he was by my side, I could no longer hear those irregular footsteps I did before.

Maybe I really was losing my mind…

Chapter 2: That’s reality?

***

After getting to my apartment, before I could open the door Edward stopped me. “Can I… come in for a bit, I wanted to talk about something…” He had a very serious expression on his face.

“Sure.” I headed inside and turned on the lights. The apartment was only big enough for two people to comfortably sit somewhere. But I had forgotten what a mess I had left everything in, and started cleaning up.

“Your comic going well?” Edward asked me while glancing at the several sheets of paper with various drawings, sketches and other scripts I’ve written out in a hurry that morning. He began picking them up alongside with me to help out.

“Well depends on what you think doing well is.” I remarked as casually as possible.

“I see…” Edward didn’t seem too surprised and didn’t comment on it anymore. Maybe because he noticed it wasn’t really a good topic at the moment.

By the time we finished cleaning about half an hour had passed by and I was hungry. “Do you want some noodles?” I questioned and he nodded his head. I went to the kettle to boil some water.

“You know… I’ve been meaning to talk to you… we’ve been friends for about ten years, right?” Edward spoke in an unfamiliar low voice, his tone made me pay attention to his words more than usual.

“Yeah, maybe eleven already?” I remarked casually, I wanted to keep the mood light. But it felt more and more this was a serious conversation.

“I won’t beat around the bush… I like you.” Edward spoke with a seriousness to him that told me this wasn’t a joke. I dropped the packet of noodles and the electric kettle’s water over-boiled as I stared at him wide eyed.

“You, me? I just…” I was in shock but suddenly Edward stood up and headed towards me, he turned off the kettle and then held my hand, I stared back at him.

“You don’t need to give me a reply now, just think about it for a bit.” Edward told me in a soft tone, I could tell he felt slightly guilty about telling me. “There is… one more secret I need to tell you.” He said while lowering himself down a bit to the floor.

“Are you proposing?! Because that’s a bit insane, we’re not even dating…” I panicked and tried to get him to stand up but he knelt down anyways.

“It’s that… I’m a vampire.” Edward said as he looked up with me with his regular light brown eyes staring back at me.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAH, SURE… okay Geez, you scared me there for a moment with the entire confession!” I laughed wholeheartedly believing it was all a joke now but when he grabbed my hand again something strange happened.

“I’m being serious please listen… I love you but you can’t love me back if you don’t know the truth so… I’m confessing…” Edward’s eyes shone in a red, and his nails grew longer in black as if he’d just got acrylics put on, but I was sure they weren’t there a second ago…

Just what was happening?

“I think you’ve read one too many books or watched a few movies…” I chuckled trying to shake this off feeling but it wasn’t possible, the more I tried to ignore the strangeness to the situation the worse it seemed to get.

“When will you understand… this is not a joke…” Edward hugged me and I sort of stared into space for a bit.

“You should go home.” I told him with a soft voice and he looked like a kicked puppy.

“Look, I really am a vampire. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but it happened so recently and I didn’t want to scare you!” Edward’s words came gushing out of his mouth as intensely as ever.

“I believe you but… It’s just weird okay?” I said with a completely monotone voice. “Like, I don’t give a s**t if you’re dead or living because you’re my friend, but this entire confession thing is really putting me on the spot!” I admitted.

“Eh? You’re more concerned about my feelings for you?” Edward tilted his head to the side. “I just told you I need blood to survive, doesn’t that unnerve you?”

“Well we all gotta eat, right? I’ll just think of you as some sort of vegetarian with specific food requirements.” I remarked but then paused. “…wait, can you eat noodles?” I asked with a seriousness to my tone.

“Of course I can.” Edward said as he sighed.

“Ah, good, then sit down and eat before going.” I finally put the noodles in our respective bowls and poured in the hot water and spices inside.

We ate for a bit in silence.

“So about my confession…” Edward wanted a response.

“I thought you said you’d give me time to think.” I told him with a smile. “I can’t really tell you right now.” This seemed to be enough for Edward. He was a guy that valued honesty. I’m sure he felt really guilty for not being able to tell me earlier and I don’t want him to think I hate him but…

As to having feelings towards him… I’m just not sure where that’s supposed to go… it’s neither here nor there for me. After eating, he headed back and I was left alone to ponder on everything that happened until…