Destroying My Own Novel

“Keysha!” Rufus shouted from across the street and waved at her who was busy putting the flowers on the stall to sell in front of the shop.

Keysha turned around and saw Rufus with his friends looking at her. They were looking at her in disbelief because of how pretty she was. She then waved back at Rufus and showed her gorgeous, innocent, and gentle smile to him.

“This isn’t fair. How the fuck did you find someone like that? I can’t accept it,” Glen clenched his right fist as he covered his eyes with his left hand. He looked at the red scarf around Keysha’s neck and the oversized sweater that covered both her hands from the cold.

“My daily routine is finally paid off, and I’m going to treasure her with all my heart,” Rufus said as he and the others crossed the road.

Keysha ran hurriedly to the sidewalk and waited for Rufus to come for her. She put her hands behind her back as she kept smiling at him.

“God! She’s so fucking cute,” Rufus clenched his fist on his chest.

“Good morning, Rufus!” Keysha greeted with excitement.

“Good morning, Key!” Rufus grinned. “Oh, by the way, these are my friends. The ones that I told you before,” Rufus pointed his hand at Glen and the others as he introduced them to Kyesha.

While they introduced themselves and got to know Keysha, Roxanne noticed a bruise on her left wrist which was why she kept hiding it under her sleeve. She didn’t hesitate to grab Keysha’s left wrist and looked at it closely, but Keysha immediately pulled her hand back and hid it. Unfortunately, everyone had already seen it, and Rufus was fuming when he saw it.

“That’s a bruise. Did someone hurt you?!” Rufus asked in his raised voice.

“N-no, I just fell and hurt my wrist this morning. I have been holding it and massaging it so that’s why there’s a bit mark on my wrist,” Keysha nervously answered.

Nobody bought Keysha’s story, and for a beautiful woman like her, especially coming from a small town. The chance of her getting harmed was high knowing the crime rate was still high.

“You can tell us the truth, Miss Keysha,” Arum said with a serious expression. “This city basically belongs to the Fraternity Association, and everything that happened here is our responsibility as well,” Arum explained.

Keysha still insisted that nothing happened until Roxanne had enough and grabbed Keysha’s right wrist. There was a mark there as well, and it was worse than the other one. She then had a hunch that something had happened to her last night, and unwrapped the scarf around Keysha’s neck.

“Please! Stop!” Keysha shouted and she started to tremble. “Please…” Keysha started to tear up and sniffled.

“Glen, Rufus, Silas, can you let us the girls handle this?” Roxanne looked at them with a serious expression.

Glen grabbed Rufus’ shoulder and slowly pulled him away from Keysha. The three of them then walked away and waited for Roxanne and Arum.

Roxanne went to the alley next to the flower shop with Arum and Keysha. She tried to comfort her since she already knew what had happened to Keysha. She then convinced Keysha to show her neck, and then she saw marks on Keysha’s neck. She took a deep breath as she watched those marks with her eyes squinted.

“Tell us, who did this to you,” Roxanne said.

“I don’t remember, it was dark, but I knew they had a weapon on them because one of them put his sword around my neck. Since I’m new here, I realized that people who were allowed to bring a weapon are Awakeners,” Keysha answered as Arum hugged her from the side and caressed her back.

“Come with me. I’ll let you stay in my apartment in the meantime. I can guarantee your safety and I can provide everything that you want,” Roxanne said as she stared at Keysha with pity. “Arum will be there as well, so you won’t be alone even if I’m not home,”

Arum nodded her head in agreement, and then Keysha nodded her head with understanding.

Rufus watched Roxanne and Arum walk out of the alley. The expressions they made were obvious that they were furious and didn’t come to talk.

“Follow me, we are going to headquarters,” Roxanne walked past Rufus.

They all went to meet Asmond and they brought Keysha with them because Roxanne’s apartment was far away. She wanted to report it personally to Asmond and asked him to do something about the incident.

“You guys stay out here. Let me speak to Asmond privately,” Roxanne said, and then entered Asmond’s office on her own.

Roxanne explained the situation, and after he heard someone was being abused sexually, he rushed to look at the victim. He looked at Keysha being protected by Arum while the boys were behind them.

“Miss, can you come in for a minute? I want to ask you about what happened,” Asmond asked.

Keysha nodded as she entered the office with Roxanne.

“Can you tell us what happened to Keysha, Arum?” Rufus asked.

“She got sexually assaulted,” Arum answered.

Rufus clenched his fist and didn’t hesitate to punch the glass wall behind him. Glen and Silas stopped him before he got consumed by anger and did more damage.

“Get out!” Roxanne shouted as she glared at Rufus from the door.

Glen and Silas carried Rufus all the way down to the lobby. It didn’t take long until Asmond, Roxanne, and Keysha came. Asmond understood how Rufus felt. That was why he wasn’t angry at Rufus for breaking the glass wall.

Roxanne and Arum left the building to escort Keysha to their apartment.

“Rufus, Silas, Glen, we are going to find the culprits,” Asmond said.

“You said culprits, so how many of them?!” Rufus asked as he held his voice down.

“Three, that’s what she remembered. We don’t have much information and she barely remembers their faces. So come with me to the database and look for the similarity of the Awakeners that she described,” Asmond explained as he brought the three of them back to his office.

Rufus nodded his head with understanding as he tried to calm down.

Keysha was sleeping on Roxanne’s bed, and they both left her there since they didn’t want to bother her. Roxanne was waiting for Asmond to call her since she was planning to join the search once they found the culprits.

“(I never thought it would be this fun to manipulate people, Mykel)” Kiersha said and couldn’t hide her smile. “(Should I tell them that it was you the one who left these marks on my neck?)” Kiersha giggled.

“(And you asked for more than that, but let’s stop talking about that. Did it go as we planned?)” Mykel asked.

“(Yes, they’re currently looking for nonexistent people. I wonder how long it takes for them to realize that they don’t exist)” Kiersha replied. “(Are you sure that they’re not going to get suspicious of the situation?)” Kiersha asked.

“(knowing Rufus’ personality. Do you think he would stay put if Asmond said it’s futile? He would go on his own even if he had to. Let’s see how far it will go, and I’ll give you another instruction. My plan here is to make Rufus hate Asmond)” Mykel explained.

“(So, in the meantime, I’ll just stay here and do nothing?)” Kiersha asked as she tried to listen to Roxanne and Arum’s conversation.

“(Yes. Enjoy your time there)” Mykel answered.

(In Mykel’s office)

Beldathiel, Agnez, Lillith, and Mykel were sitting on the couch. Beldathiel was giving Lilith’s power back while the others were watching her.

“I gave Lilith’s power back,” Beldathiel sighed.

Lillith looked at the notification in front of her, and she felt nothing even though she got the [Demonic Possession] skill upgraded to [Demonic Manifestation]. She then tried to activate it once, and she got sucked into the darkness as she watched her body being taken away.

“So this is how it feels,” Lilith said as she changed Lillith’s appearance to Lilith’s demon form. “It feels weird and uncomfortable. How did you do all that in this mortal body?” Lilith asked Mazikeen.

“I just have to deal with it because I have no other choice,” Mazikeen answered.

“That’s enough. It looks like it’s a success, and now it’s time for the experiment,” Mykel said as he stood up and exhaled deeply.