Hello, Kenzo

Twisted Minds

The moment my ears filled with the loud thud caused by Narih's collapsing to the floor, I lost my patience, and I never expected how my emotions escalated that fast. I felt like there was an unusual surge of urgency to pluck all the hairs from Kate's head.

"You b*ch!" I screamed as I rushed to Kate, raging like a bomb ready to explode at any moment. "How dare you touch her? I am the only one allowed to..."

I was halted. I never expected Narih to laugh it out while helping herself up as quickly as she could and returning the slap to Kate, which was threefold painful, sending Kate stumbling down the floor.

"How dare you call me a b*ch?" Narih snapped back, and her voice sounded like her normal voice, but her body language showed anger and pain. She took a deep breath before looking at everyone who stared at her; her breath was racing. The silence only worsened and made my anger grow ten times larger. The atmosphere surrounding us turned cold and hard; I couldn't breathe, and I didn’t even want to until I could let go of this rage.

Narih looked up to the ceiling, seemingly contemplating what she should do next while we waited for her reaction to come.

Mr. Illominus motioned his men to get Kate out of the room, and they immediately grabbed her, though she was trying to resist and insisting she would stay.

"I'm staying, Dad! We are not done yet! This two-faced, pretentious b*ch made me look so stupid to believe her stories!" Kate spat at Narih; her lips quivered with the effort to remain calm enough to speak.

"Oh, shut up, Kate! I agreed to bring you here because you wanted a slap, but that slap was the lamest! I never doubted your lame and weak personality since you were young, so knowing you got manipulated and played nicely in her games never surprised me, so just get out before I forget you are my daughter, useless!" Mr. Ilominus calmly answered, though his words were full of frustration and pain.

Kate's head dropped in submission as if defeated, and I thought this scene might be the most beautiful thing I had ever witnessed.

"Dad!"

Mr. Illominus sighed and put one hand on Kate's shoulder; the other placed his finger in front of his lips, telling her to stop talking. "You are the worst!" Kate yelled at him again, tears now streaming down both of her eyes, struggling away from the two men's grip and marching outside.

Mr. Illominus sighed again and faced us, fixing his belt and necktie. "I had to let her go out so she wouldn't witness how I would kill you all."

"What?" I gasped, exchanging looks at Narih and Tim, a mixture of shock and confusion displayed on their faces. I nudged my head a little as my silent warning, and Narih responded.

We never anticipated that our little game could end our lives and maybe endanger the lives of our loved ones.

"Let's leave---" Narih tried to cut in, but before anybody else could say anything, Mr. Illominus held up both hands and said, “We don’t have a lot of time to talk about things right now; let's just end all this! "

"Dad, please!" Tim cut in, raising both of his hands in surrender.

"Shut up, Tim! I don't need a traitor in my family. I had long since forgotten you as my son! But then, I can spare you. You have a choice to leave or stay to die. You know how much I hated seeing your sister being on the losing side, it pissed me off! I wasn't making this a huge issue as I did not lose any money here, I still have many ways to inquire about them, but then I thought, I brought here some files I needed you to sign Ms. Del Mundo, an agreement of you transferring all asset and shares you have in GRIVA. Let's just say, a small incentive you can give after trying to fool us! Oh gad! You thought you could get away with us, ha? I lived my whole life lying and deceiving people, so, I don't think you can pull one on me!" Mr. Illominus chuckled deviously, his eyes glinting with amusement, showing us how he was enjoying every minute of this. He leaned against the table and crossed his arms.

Two men came to me and dragged me to the sofa, where Mr. Illominus walked and sank as if he owned the place. "Your place can fit my daughter's collection. When you kill yourself later, oh, I forgot to tell you that your death will be suicide because you can no longer stand all the shame you are going through. Now sit! And let's just be done with these! See you in hell?" He started laughing again. An immense anger ranged inside me; I wanted to kill him on my own.

"No! Stella! Don't ever sign that crap!" Narih yelled to me, but I guess it was too late to act tough now.

"It's ok, Narih! Maybe it was for the better! At least, I do not have to worry anymore!" I gasped, trying hard to contain my fear and anger at the same time.

Narih and Tim stared blankly at each other, and the moment of tension ended when a sigh escaped from Narih's mouth as her shoulders relaxed. She seemed relieved.

"So?" she asked in an attempt to sound indifferent.

Mr. Illominus turned his gaze to Narih and said, "You are a waste of time here!"

"No! Since we are going to die, I might as well ask you a favor by telling you something before it ends, even though it won't matter anymore, but I badly wanted to say it. Your daughter is not useless! You bastard!" Narih exclaimed, her cheeks flushed in so much rage.

"What?" Mr. Illominus shot up from his seat and rushed to slap Narih. But instead of getting hurt, Narih laughed and slapped Mr. Illominus back.

Two other men came and restrained Narih, Mr. Illominus's face grew redder than before, and his breathing intensified. But a smile slit his face, and he looked at Narih disgustingly. "You are something! You can bear me a child at this rate; you got my attention!"

My jaws dropped in despair. "NO!" I cried, but Mr. Illominus motioned for the two men behind me to drag me down the sofa.

"Dad! Not her! Just kill us!" Tim cut in, his jaws shaking violently while clenching his teeth together tightly in anger.

"Oh, what do we have here? I thought you wanted Ms. Del Mundo here?" Mr. Illominus spoke calmly, and his voice was so smooth that I couldn't hear any trace of emotion except for his usual arrogant tone.

He stepped over to Narih, taking hold of her chin between two fingers, and forced her to look into his eyes. Mr. Illominus bit his lower lip, scanning every inch of her, even taking a quick peck inside Narih's shirt. "You are fresh, my dear!"

"NO!" I cried once again. My body started to tremble, my knees felt weak, and I could not move. "Tim! Please, help her! Save her!"

But I started losing hope when Mr. Illominus devoured Narih's lips like a hungry monster's flesh. "NARIH! NARIH! NO!"

I saw Tim try to struggle with the men's grip, but he was powerless against them. "DAD! DAD! F*CK YOU! STOP THAT!"

Tim tried his best to let go, punching and kicking Mr. Illominus's pets, but he was unable to get free. The two guys holding onto him were also too strong. They kept pulling him down the floor, restraining him, pushing his chest towards the floor, and keeping him under the men's grip. "Dad!" Tim struggled harder to break free. "Please stop, Dad! It hurts! Stop hurting her!" Tim pleaded again, and I could feel my legs go numb seeing the vile sight while Narih cried in silence. The amount of adrenaline coursing through my veins caused my heart to hammer against my ribcage with each thud. I closed my eyes and begged Mr. Illominus to stop hurting Narih.

I couldn't stop watching; though I didn't want to watch, I wanted to run forward and save Narih, but I couldn't move because of my fear. The men were holding me fast; they weren't rough or gentle with their grips. They pushed me down hard onto the couch and forced my arms behind my back with their weight, while their hold around my wrists kept my arms pinned against the seat.

"Oh god! NO!"

Mr. Illominus then stopped, and my breath stopped to see Narih unfazed by the situation. "Your daughter is not useless; it was just that she isn't worse than you!" Narih yelled before spitting saliva on Mr. Illominus' face.

The men holding me released their grip and ran at Narih, punching her in the stomach repeatedly and kicking her several times in the shin until she could no longer move. Both of them then grabbed Narih by both her arms; the other two grabbed her feet, dragging her across the floor and throwing her across the room.

Then a loud bang echoed in the whole room, causing everyone, including me and Tim, to cover our ears. More bangs came, and I hurriedly bent down on the couch to take cover as the room lit up with gunfire. The room turned into chaos; more gunshots came, bullets flew in the air in various directions, and the shouting of men filled the room along with screams. I glanced at Tim, who was frozen in his place, completely dumbfounded.

My heart was beating so rapidly and uncontrollably that my mind could hardly process the scene in front of me. Tears fell silently from my eyes uncontrollably while I sobbed; the only thing I could hear was the deafening sounds from the gun and the men's yells as they continued to attack. Until Mr. Illominus and the other men plunged down the floors covered with blood.

"STELLA!" Tim shouted as he stood up quickly and tried to rush towards Narih, who was knocked unconscious on the floor.

A shadow covered my view as a familiar arm encircled my waist while a comforting scent engulfed my senses, calming my nerves. "Kenzo?"

"Sorry, I was late!" He whispered, and I immediately hugged him and hid inside his embrace.

"Narih! Narih!" I cried.

"She will be safe!" Kenzo rubbed my back to calm me down.

The door burst open, and several armed soldiers rushed inside the house, followed by a few men carrying a stretcher and lifting Narih from the floor.

I scrambled off Kenzo's embrace and the sofa, rushing toward her, ignoring the fear running through my whole body. "Narih, please..." I mumbled as soon as I reached Narih, falling to my knees and grabbing her hand in mine as tears fell from my eyes.

"I'll be fine!" She whispered and even smiled. "We might have overdone our act here!"

"Oh god! Narih!"

"We'll get you to talk later when she gets cured," the emergency man told me before rushing Narih out.

I followed her out as more armed men came to check my room, but I was halted to see Kate outside standing and frozen.

"It's all your fault!" I lost my control and rushed towards her to avenge Narih, but Kenzo was quick to catch my hands and stopped me from hurling her a good slap.

"She called me to help you!" Kenzo muttered.