Illusion or Reality

Chapter 2

The young man with the chiseled jaw, feeling the call, then looked up from his phone screen. A look of surprise briefly flashed across his face, but a second later, it was replaced by a sly grin.

“Oh, hi, my ex-girlfriend, as pure as a nun,” the young man greeted her loudly, drawing derisive laughter from nearly everyone in the café.

Grace scanned the room in a panic. She had just realized that most of the customers here were students from her own college. She cursed her own stupidity. It was all because of her habit of always looking down whenever she placed an order on the table.

Grace gazed sadly at the man who had ended their relationship just three days ago. The young man named Dave had changed 180 degrees in the blink of an eye. He no longer looked like the person Grace had known all this time.

In the past, Dave had been very warm, always accommodating, and never forced his will on her. He had even been willing to refrain from touching her at all to respect the boundaries Grace had set. But now? It turned out all of that had been nothing but a mask. Grace had been too naive in judging him.

Flashback

Grace smiled sweetly. The glow of the setting sun made her face radiate a captivating charm.

“Dave, thank you for bringing me here,” Grace said as she played with her feet, which were partially submerged in the seawater. “Dave, will you always treat me like this?” she asked hesitantly.

Dave replied with a warm smile. “Look into my eyes, Grace.”

Grace looked up, meeting the gaze of the young man who was smiling at her.

“Do you see any lies here?” Dave asked.

Grace, who was still so innocent at the time, shook her head and smiled.

“Listen carefully, Grace. I’ll always be like this—I’ll never change.”

Their gazes locked, held fast to one another. It was as if a flower were blooming in Grace’s heart as she heard the promise spoken from Dave’s lips.

She turned her gaze back to the western horizon. “I love you, Dave,” she said with a gentle smile.

Flashback end

Grace wiped the corners of her eyes, which were beginning to well up. All those memories were nothing but lies. Not a single sincere thing remained between them.

“How long have you been working here, you lowly servant?” The question that slipped from Emma’s lips sounded like nothing but an insult. Her tone was so sharp and devoid of manners.

Unwilling to respond, Grace turned away, ready to leave. However, Emma’s fingers suddenly clamped down on her arm, halting the woman’s steps. Instantly, a jolt of pain shot through Grace’s entire body.

An illusion from the past suddenly swirled in her head. She heard the desperate moans of a woman.

“No! Please, don’t touch me!”

The sound of fabric tearing rang out harshly.

“No! Please, don’t! I’ll pay off my family’s debt right away!”

But only a terrifying grin from a middle-aged man answered those cries, accompanied by his hurried movements as he unzipped his pants.

“This way, you can pay off all your family’s debts today.”

The woman’s dignity crumbled instantly, leaving behind heart-wrenching sobs. Blood flowed from her thigh, while her trembling hands tried to cover her naked body.

“From now on, I’m your sugar daddy. Remember that well!”

Grace’s breath caught in her throat. She immediately jerked her arm free, breaking Emma’s grip. What had she just witnessed? Did that arrogant woman have a sleazy man financing her life? Emma’s past was truly dark and terrifying.

“What are you daydreaming about, huh?! Don’t tell me you’re thinking dirty thoughts about my boyfriend,” Emma accused without any basis.

Without warning, the woman delivered a hard slap that struck Grace squarely across the cheek. That rough, emotionally charged touch triggered another flash of a memory in Grace’s mind.

“No! Don’t! Don’t kill my brother!”

A sharp object pierced the stomach of a young boy whose hands were tied above his head, causing fresh blood to gush out. Moments later, the deafening sound of a gunshot echoed through the air.

“Put your hands up!”

Police forces stormed into the holding area. Seeing this, the young Emma ran toward her brother, trying to untie the ropes with her hands trembling violently.

“Please, come to your senses…”

Grace’s consciousness was pulled back to the real world.

"Oh, I’m sorry. I guess my hand just slipped," Emma said, flashing an innocent smile. She felt as though she should make Grace the target of her bullying more often, because witnessing Grace’s suffering always lifted her spirits.

“I—I have to go,” Grace stammered. She could no longer bear to see flashes of dark trauma from someone else’s past. The sensation terrified her.

“What’s all this commotion?”

Grace’s eyes widened. Her body froze in place. She recognized the loud voice that had just reprimanded them all too well.

Meanwhile, Emma, who had been watching Grace’s reactions the whole time, immediately curled one corner of her lip upward. Without hesitation, she ran over to the stocky middle-aged woman who had just arrived and clung playfully to the woman’s arm.

“Auntie, this servants of yours dared to mock me. You have to fire her right now,” Emma whined, feigning hurt.

Grace’s heart seemed to stop beating. The café manager turned out to be a relative of Emma’s. She hadn’t expected the situation to escalate like this at all. If she’d known this fact earlier, she would have definitely looked for a job elsewhere to avoid any dealings involving Emma.

“Grace, how dare you mock my niece! Get out of here immediately and don’t ever show your face here again! As of this moment, you’re fired!” the middle-aged woman raged without asking for an explanation.

“B—but, Ma’am, it wasn’t me—”

“No excuses. Get out right now!” the manager cut in, her eyes blazing.

However, the anger on her face melted away instantly when she turned to Emma. Her hand reached out to gently stroke her niece’s hair. The next moment, her gaze sharpened like a dagger, fixed on Grace, who was still frozen in place. “Are you deaf?!”

“All right,” Grace whispered resignedly.

Reluctantly, she stepped back toward the locker room to gather her belongings. She reluctantly took off the apron bearing the café’s logo. Even though she’d started to like this job, even something as small as that had to be forcibly taken away from her.

In the corner of the room, one of Grace’s coworkers quietly smirked with satisfaction. To be honest, that woman hadn’t liked Grace from the very beginning. She was sick of seeing Grace’s attitude—always appearing so fragile and innocent.

“Get what’s coming to you,” the woman thought cynically.

The café’s glass door closed behind her. Grace looked up, gazing at the night sky, which was beginning to be shrouded in gray clouds.

“God, where else am I supposed to find a job?”

She roughly wiped away the tears that had once again fallen without her permission. Ever since she’d parted ways with her family, not a single day had gone by without tears. She felt utterly exhausted, yet she had no strength left to change the string of misfortunes that kept befalling her.

A light drizzle began to fall, accompanying her every step along the city sidewalk. The scent of rain-soaked asphalt did nothing to cool her heart, which burned with pain. The capital’s streets looked bustling, adorned with the glittering lights of vehicles and shops. It was a scene in stark contrast to her own sense of emptiness and utter loneliness. Deep within her heart lay a pain she could not put into words. Only her streaming tears could express the devastation she was currently feeling.

Her steps gradually slowed, then came to a complete stop. Grace looked up with her eyes closed, letting the cold rain wash over her face. A smile played on her lips—not a smile of happiness, but one of heart-wrenching irony.

Time and again, she tried to revive her fragile spirit. Yet, every time someone tried to hurt her, the dark urge inside her head would once again voice the desire to give up on life.

Why? Was she truly unworthy of tasting life’s sweetness? If that were the case, why didn’t God take her along when her entire family passed away? That string of questions echoed endlessly in her mind.

Grace lowered her head again and stared straight ahead. Her gaze seemed empty, as if there were no spark of life left in her eyes.

She forced her legs to take another unsteady step. Even if she were to wail and cry out in the middle of the street right now, she was certain not a single person would be willing to embrace her. They would probably just glance at her briefly and make her a momentary spectacle. Such were the people of this world—a fact that only reinforced just how alone she stood on this earth. Her thoughts drifted far away from her body, while her feet continued to walk blindly through the pouring rain.

“Watch out!”

A loud shout forcibly snapped her back to reality. Grace’s reverie vanished instantly. The next second, her eyes widened in horror. The blinding glare of a vehicle’s headlights savagely assaulted her vision. Not far from her, a massive cargo truck was speeding toward her, heading straight for her frozen body.