The Beginning Of Trust

"Someone is at the brink of death" A lady wearing a green, ragged dress, appearing to be a slave, pointed her finger outside into the cold darkness of the night.

"Who is?" A calm dignified female voice sounded. 

"It would be discourteous on my part to say who." The eyes looking at her frighteningly, dropped it's gaze down to the latter's feet. The latter gave no reply since she knew who she was talking about.

"Death is so close to you…" The lady continued again, breaking the latter's temper. 

"Death!? To me!?" The stern female sounded in a demanding voice. Her fingers began to shake in anger and fear. The lady with the green dress pointed her finger to the darkness again, a silhouette of what seemed to be a man, appearing out of the fog. 

"Death? It's a man…" 

"You fool!" The loud, screaming voice of the lady in green echoed through Darah's ears… But it wasn't the voice that came from her lips, but that which came from the latter's head that she was hearing. It crumbled into the dark pit of her vision, in an unending spiral which caused her heart to beat rapidly.

"Fool?" Darah whispered to herself, blinking her eyes open. To her surprise, her eyes were already stained with tears. It's not coming to an end anytime soon, she thought. Every now and then when she saw dreams like this, she tried her best to ignore it but the fact that she saw it in picture clear clarity scared her even more. It always happened in a sequence… There were no random happenings. They were all connected in some way. I should check up with the Psychologist again.

There was still five minutes till the alarm. However, feeling sleepless she got off of her bed and immediately found herself staring at the mirror. Since when did I start to care so much about how I looked? She smiled to herself, a hand on her neck but then recalled why the skin felt so funny there. 

"Oh my god." Darah crept so close to the mirror, jaw dropped as she stared at the dark hickeys which were planted all the way from her neck down to the top of her right breast. 

"How come he went that far!? Pervert Ryu!" She scoffed, examining her neck with a frown. But then again I asked for it. Stop being a two faced bitch! She facepalmed and hopped into the bathroom. An awkward smile lit up her face as she thought back to it, later turning into a giggle. Is this it? Am I going crazy now? But how will I look at him after what happened!? Darah panicked with all kinds of weird questions crossing her mind. For some reason, which was entirely not too obvious, she chose to wear full black today along with a white striped scarf to wear around her neck in order to hide the marks.  But what a bummer it was when she saw his highness Ryu Sheng, walkinh outside had opted out of black and turned into Mr Grey pants today. 

"Child, come your breakfast is ready!" Mrs Ruo smiled brightly at the young beauty who was stepping down the stairs awfully shy today, not able to look up in fear of meeting eyes with Ryu. 

"Yes Mrs Ruo!" Darah returned the smile. Not feeling anyone around, she finally scanned the vast space around her in doubt. Why was there a plate for only one at the table? 

"Mrs Ruo. Where's Ryu?" 

"Oh, Young Master had his meal quite early today. He's right outside now." 

What? Darah was dumbfounded. And over here she was, fretting over how she'd eat with him at the table. She relaxed, sitting comfortably over the chair and began munching on her food. But she couldn't help but wonder why he purposely skipped eating with her. Was he disappointed? Shy? No, there's no way that hunk could be shy about it. If there's anyone making a big deal about it, then it's me. Darah sighed. 

After finishing up, she tiptoed outside, hoping to be met with Luca. He was indeed there, a weak smile over his lips probably from getting little sleep. He wondered why she was dressed way too covered up today but didn't care much. 

"It's time to go huh…" Luca approached her but as soon as Darah was about to say something, a honk caught her off guard. At a further distance away from them, the fancy red sports car glazed it's beauty under the bright rays of the sun. The frontmost window rolled down and in was Ryu, gesturing at Darah with his fingers. 

"You, block head. Over here." He called coldly. Darah was puzzled… 

"Oh I forgot to mention. Master Ryu will be dropping you off today." Luca smirked, stepping back as he gave way for her.

Him!? No, I thought he left! Please don't test my strength! I might faint for real this time! 

She nodded with a lopsided smile, taking her jelly like legs to his car, hoping she wouldn't awkwardly trip over anything. For the first time in her entire life, she cursed little rocks for existing that day even though most of the pavement sides were covered by fresh green lawn. 

"Get in." His deep voice sounded. Darah felt like her knees would fail her any moment. Regardless she somehow made her way to her seat and found herself curling in to make herself appear small. 

"I'm late again." He said with a sigh, giving a rough start to his car which sent Darah's heart on the edge. 

"Well I didn't tell you to wait." Darah said reasonably but in a very low voice, not making eye contact. 

"Well I wanted to." He smirked, giving her a fond glance. He felt funny looking at her thick scarf tied in several rounds over her neck as if she were trying to choke herself with that. 

"It doesn't suit you." 

"What?"

"The scarf." Ryu mumbled. He soon felt the gaze of deception fall towards his direction. 

"Guess why I needed it in the first place! You printed a whole ass design over my neck!" She spat angrily, turning her face away from him in a cheated manner. Ryu simpered, realising it could be true. 

"You might need more if you keep this up." His deep voice sounded again, scanning her head to toe as he turned the car aggressively to the left. Darah's cheeks heated up at the unexpected comment. But then something came up in her mind.

"Why weren't you at the table with me today? I saw you leave when I came..."

"Because I guessed you'd be very self conscious today. And I can see it. I didn't want to make you feel embarrassed." He replied quite fondly, observing her black dress and her surprised face which immediately melted into a shy smile. 'You know me well already, Ryu...'

_____

"Isn't she being late again?"

"No, there's still fifteen minutes till nine." Judy replied to Jake who looked rather dull today, always gazing out of the window. 

"Woah look at that car…" 

"Is that a Corvette? So bright!" 

Jake heard his friends remark amusedly as they poked their heads outside the nearest window. He felt curious and looked out too, only to see Darah stepping out of the said sports car. 

"I told you not to park it in here!" Darah whisper-shouted through his window, noticing all the weird and excited glances people were giving to the flash of red in their premises. Even more so, the young ladies were much more excited to see the breathtakingly charming man sitting inside with a lazy smile. 

"At least they're happy to see me. Unlike you." Ryu sighed.

"I am happy! Now go!" Darah whispered again but then she gasped, feeling a grip on her wrist.

"Tell me if you need anything." His serious pitch black orbs beamed at her, his fingers slowly slipping past her hands as if they were yet not ready to let go. Darah nodded with a grin and kept her now free hand to her chest as she walked off. 

Jake watched the whole scenario with a disgusted scowl over his lips. Darah Chen, you've hurt me very badly… Just you see.