The Assassin's Kryptonite

To the bone

I was humming a song while waiting for Trevor to come back.

“Take me home, I’m fallin’…. Love me long, I’m rollin’…. Losing control, body, and soul…. Mind too for sure, I’m already yours……”

To the bone by Pamungkas was the last hit song I’ve heard on my iPhone before the kidnapping, I’m sure there are plenty of new songs out in the music industry already.

I sighed deeply as I remembered the life I left. My life is perfect. Well, for me at least. I have more money than I could spend. I have loving parents who despite having busy schedules still try their hardest just to be with me on my special days.

Well, I don’t exactly have many friends. Actually, I don’t even have at least one friend that I can trust with my life. I have my parents for that. It’s the downside of being rich, I guess. In the top 5% of the population whose wealth is massive, friendship is almost impossible.

Arranged marriages are even more probable than friendship. Literally, everyone’s every move is all about how they can keep their riches. Well, my family is the same. My father and mother are both aggressive in the business industry that’s why we have always been on top. But they never, as in never force me to be friends with the children of the people who are in our lane. More so, they never even attempted to ask me about arranged marriage or any of that sort.

And I will always be thankful for that. They’re strict about me going out with people without my bodyguards but in other things, they’re pretty cool. So, unlike any other rich parents. That’s why most of the people in my circle have always told me that I’m lucky. I’m an only child and my parents adore me.

I also have relatives but we're really not that close. Money can really do wonders as it can also destroy anything. My father has two brothers and he’s the middle child. As most people say, being the middle child sucks because you literally get the crumbs.

Uncle Jeno, my father’s older brother inherited the company their father built while Uncle Henry, the youngest of the three inherited the company of my grandmother. Hence, my father was left with no choice but to build his own company from scratch.

Most people might think that my father would be mad and vengeful with what happened to him. because that’s what most people will do, but not dad. He told me that in that situation he was given, he saw an opportunity for growth.

He saw an opening. He told me that even though his parents didn’t leave him a company to nurture, they’ve given him enough knowledge and experience to build his own. And he did. And now he’s much bigger than his brothers.

I’ve always thought that my uncles are great men because after all, they share the same blood with my father. But I was wrong. When the company my father built made him the highest taxpayer of the country, they started slipping away…. And that includes my cousins.

But it’s okay. I have my parents and they’re more than enough. My father always said that we don’t need people who would pull us down in our lives. He said that he didn’t need cowards in his family. From then on, even with all the big gatherings, we’ve never interacted with my father’s brothers.

Well, they’re petty. We don’t need them.

With that, I finally understood why my grandparents didn’t leave their company to my dad. Just like me and my mother, they knew he could stand on his own. And all I ever needed and all I ever wanted is to be like my dad.

I sighed deeply. I miss them. I miss them so much that I can’t help but let my tears fall down my cheeks. The longest that I’ve been away from them is three weeks when they needed to attend a conference abroad while I had my classes.

They’ve been away many times before and after that as well. Sometimes for a day or a week. But even with all that, I’ve always known that they’d come back. I’ve always known that after a night alone, I’d open my eyes and they would be there waiting for me at the breakfast table with wide smiles.

I always knew that they’d be hugging me and because they’ve been gone for a couple of days, they’d spend a day with me even if we’re just in our garden at least we’ll be at peace as we talk about their travels.

And then at night, they’d be giving me the things they bought for me. And I’ll have another bag added to my collection. My mother and I would talk about boys while my father sniggers and it would make us all laugh our hearts out.

My father would then ask me about school just so he can change the topic because even though I’m already old enough, he always said that I’m his baby and no one deserves me. I’ll tell him about how my teachers irritate me and my escapades. They’d scold me a little but then laugh at how I’m a master of all things silly.

The conversation would take so long that my mother had to call the kitchen to prepare us merienda as we spent the night just catching up with each other. And then even though I’m already old enough to have a boyfriend, they’d still tucked me to bed just like a little princess. Their little princess.

My sleep would be so peaceful, and I’d wake up to a bright morning the next day. I say bullshit to anyone who would say that my life isn’t perfect. Because it is! I’m literally the luckiest girl on the planet.

But then I guess when they say that life is a series of ups and downs, they meant it. Because now, I’m stuck here, confused, frightened and unsure of what’s going to happen to me. I know that what I feel for Trevor is strong.

In fact, so strong that I sometimes forget about my life in the city. There are moments that I even considered living with him, planning all sorts of our future hoping that he’s thinking the same. Hoping that he feels the same. Hoping that he’d reciprocate the strong feeling I have for him.

But is everything worth it? Is staying here and risking my life enough reason for him to love me too? Or am I being stupid by risking my all for a man who doesn’t seem to recognize someone who loves him?

And how about my parents? I know that I doubted them at some point because I was beginning to tremble in fear with the thought that they’re never going to find me. It’s been more than a month and I’m still here.

But with how Trevor described the group who abducted me, they seemed big and powerful. And now I understand Trevor when he said that they can’t do anything about his situation because of the threat to the kids. It’s hard when you’re being given the choice between you and your loved ones.

It’s hard to choose but I know that in the end, we’ll both choose to sacrifice for the people we love and care about. To him, those are the kids the mafia has abducted while to me, those are my parents. We both have people we need to protect.

So, thinking about how my parents might be doing everything they can to find me, and while doing that, they’re putting themselves in danger, I just sometimes hope that they’d stop. I sometimes wish to talk to them and tell them to stop looking for me because I’m safe.

I believe that I’m safe with Trevor. And even with all the bullshit I’ve learned and all the cold shoulders he’s been giving me, I still believe that. I will always believe that. I’m safe and I hope that my parents are too. I miss them, but I’d rather miss them and hope to see them again than to push through and jeopardize their safety.

I know that I’m indecisive and my line of thought changes so fast that I sometimes even question myself already. I sometimes feel like I’m still in shock with the kidnapping and I don’t know what I’m saying and whatever I’m doing.

I sometimes feel like I’m in slow motion…. Like everything’s just a dream that I would wake up any second. I sometimes don’t believe what I see, and my thoughts wander to all the possibilities of this unfamiliar environment.

I have so many questions and I have so many things that I don’t have a decision yet…. I’m scared and unsure and slow. But when I see Trevor, when I feel him near me and when he makes me feel like he cares even when he’s mostly cold, my heartbeat just doubles in its normal speed.

I feel like everything’s going fast and that even if this is a dream, I’d never want to wake up because it’s too beautiful. With Trevor, I feel alive. I feel elated and excited everyday for the new discoveries I made of him and the forest we’ve been treating as home.

With Trevor, even when it is mostly hard, I know that a day would come that it would be sweet. And that I just need to be patient enough and wait for that day to happen. With Trevor, I’m willing to wait. Because I believe that with him, I now know me.

I immediately wiped the traces of tears from my face when I heard him opening the door. He was carrying two big pails of water and I can see the veins in his arms with the way he’s carrying them. The pails look heavy as they are filled with water to the brim, but he didn’t even look like he was breaking a sweat.

“I’ll get the last pail,” he exclaimed and then went out of the door again. I waited patiently for him and after just a few minutes, he was back.

“Thank you,” I smiled at him. He just looked at me and without a word, went out of the bathroom.

I immediately took a bath remembering how I still have unfinished work to do. The cassavas! After taking a bath and changing my clothes, I limped towards the bedroom. I opened the door and there I saw him sitting on the bed.

“Come here,” he motioned me to walk towards him, so I did. As I sat on the bed, he stood up and pulled the chair inside the room so we could be face to face. He pulled my leg and put it over his leg.

“Oh….” I bit my lower lip when he started cleaning the wound again.

“What?” he looks at me with a creased forehead. “Does it still hurt?” he asked.

“No,” I answered.