QUESTIONS OVER QUESTIONS

He shakes his head strongly, nonconforming to Thea's plea. "I almost lost you, and I can't even dare to think another moment to lose you again. So no, not a chance. We will do this together, side by side, hand in hand." Once again, he holds Thea's hand. " So please, talk to me and let me help you."

Thea covers her face and quiver as she cries convulsively before she mutters."Nerie is, she has been, in some kind of sexual slavery. And-and." Her voice is breathy and quavering.

"And what Thea?" York's face reddened, looking at Thea with her grievous and anguishing cry that she can almost lose her breath with such overwhelming emotion. Which only means one thing for York. "Did it happened to you as well?" He slowly raised her face dampened with tears. "And that text means he will do it again? Tonight? And that dinner?" York's eyes are clouding with tears that are about to let loose as well. He bites his lips, trying to control his outrage; little did he know that it's not that easy. Not minding how he clenched his fist hardly and by degrees showing the bulging veins in his arms. He shoves his fist to the trunk of the Talisay tree with a gritted teeth, which breaks its bark partly and leaves a dent in the trunk.

Thea was taken aback by how strong York is, but he is a monster. Did she forget? York takes a deep breath, composing himself.

"So, you are not going back to that house. You will be staying with me." York, commanding her, like how he used to do it as a king.

"No, I can't just leave them: the Viers, Mang Simo, and the others. I don't know how much Mr. Howard's capability to harm them, and I don't want to judge. But what I felt is telling me something that scares me, and I don't want to come late, with nothing's left to save but only to lament." She pauses with a sigh. "York, I need to help them. I don't know how, I don't know when and if I actually can, but if I need to sacrifices myself.." She grimaces, dropping another tear.

"You won't; you're not going to do it again. I will face him." Straight away, York stands up. "Let's go."

"Where are we going? What are you going to do?" She stands up and follows after York.

"You're right; a problem won't change and might even get worse if you hide away from it. Let's face it and resolve it together."

Together they wear their helmet and, sit on the bike before York put the key into the ignition position. Without even letting the motor warm-up, he presses the gear, and as his feelings intensifying, his grip on the clutch, making it swift to the road without warning. At the same time, Thea grabs his torso instantaneously, startled at how the air pulled her against the bike's speed. York slightly smiled, feeling Thea's hands around him, neutralizing both of their emotions.

They drop by York's apartment on their way to the Vier's. York went straight to his room, leaving Thea alone on the couch. Suddenly Amanda came out of the bathroom, covered only with a towel.

"Who are you?" Amanda mumbles together with her death stare.

"I'm T-, I mean, I'm Nerie." Thea answer and a little bit intimidated.

"And why are you here? Are you one of those bitches clinging on York?" She talks unblinkingly and rather emotionless, and because of the way she glares at her, Thea stands up and is taken aback. Amanda moves towards Thea with her sly smile, close enough for Thea to hear Amanda's hushed words. "Don't keep high on your hope lady, the ancestors are the one who chooses his queen, and she had been chosen, she is waiting for him in his real world." Amanda looking straight to Thea's eyes, attempting to hypnotize her, she whispers. "Go, leave, and never let yourself near him again, or take the bull by horns with Amanda's wrath."

Thea/Nerie's face turns pale as she takes her gaze away from her. She turns timid in Amanda's deterring threat, and without a word nor another glimpse, she strides out to the door, and as fast as she can, she calls for a cab and rides herself away from York.

On the other hand, Amanda bump over York as he's about to go out of his room with a small backpack.

"Hey, are you going out?" Amanda tries to stop York by blocking her hand on his chest while standing in his way.

"Yeah, there some crucial things that I need to do."

"But, I prepared a special dinner for you, my king."

"Thank you, Amanda, but she's waiting for... Where is she?" York wrinkled his brow, looking for Thea around the room. "Amanda, have you seen her?"

"Who? I didn't saw anybody. I'm just alone here."

"Okay, whatever, I got to go." He rushes towards the door.

*****

Staring over the sidewalk's fuzzy images, the colorful buildings and passerby faded with the wind against the zooming cab that she's riding. Thea's thoughts are equally fuzzy and as busy as the sidewalk. Although her eyes are fixed on it, she didn't actually see what she is staring at. In her mind is the image of a white-haired woman in a towel, barely naked, inside York's personal place.

'Who is she? Why she looks so familiar to me, and what is she doing there? She said something about the chosen queen. Is she talking about herself? What is her relationship with York? Is he betrothed to her? Is she the future queen?' Thea pressed her head, as it is starting to throb with her transcending, fiery thoughts. Such questions are even just a few of those she wants to ask York, too much that her brain can't even bear to absorb, and her heart can't endure.

'Go, leave, and never let yourself near him again, or take the bull by horns with Amanda's wrath.' She hears those words again at the back of her ears consciousness. 'She is Amanda,' she thought, and there is something in the way she stares at her that Thea wants to comprehend.

There's a nostalgic feeling that she can't resist. Thea closes her eyes, picturing how her eyes look, the swirling white strokes, that weakens her, not only physically but also emotionally.

It makes her responsive to what she demands. 'Is she hypnotizing me?' Thea's skin hair erects, like being pulled by the cold air, giving her goosebumps.

'Is she like York? Is she also a monster? But is York really a monster? What is York? What are they?' There's only one thing she understands by now, that they are not human.'Are they Allien? Where are they came from? Is what inside me an alien too? Had I been controlled by an alien the whole time?' She shudders over her unpleasant thoughts and tries to shake them off—another set of questions that's about to break her head.

The next thing she knows is that she is about to enter the village gate. Now coming is another set of burdens of her emotion, for another phase of her life's predicaments. That she needs to face, and contrary to what she's about to expect a while ago, that she will face it with York.

Now, she needs to accept that she is alone in this fight, and she will do it her way, which is actually no other way but, as of now, to do what they expected her to do.

Again, she will be the hopeless little Nerie wailing silently under some perverts naked body, who appears to be respectable in the outside world. Still, the truth is he's not just simply a fornicator but a rapist himself.

The taxi cab stops just in front of Nerie's home. She looks at the view of the entire house from inside the cab. Reminiscing the first day she arrived there. They are so happy to see Nerie again like she is essential to them. This time she understands the utmost importance of Nerie to their life.

She is the armor that covers and protects all of them, the one who takes the arrows to keep her family safe. This time that she lives the life of Nerie, she adores her. The strength she has is incomparable.

Behind those swaying hips, while she minces when she walks, behind those long batting lashes swaying ombre hair that you always thought and envied because of the comfort of her life, is truly a crying soul under the closed door—an oppressed slave with no one to come and free her.

"Excuse me, mam, is this the place?" The taxi driver, trying to get her attention after observing her stuck in her dreamy state.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Slightly startled, Thea opens her bag and gets a few hundred, and hands it to the driver. "Please, keep the change, and thank you."

She walks out of the car and slowly walks towards the door, fighting over her emotions of both hesitations and determination, having a tug of war within herself.