An Assault Case

"I was assaulted by my ex-boyfriend."

It's thoroughly fast. Just like what Bryce warned, Aria was giving it all already even if she's unaware of Prince ex-boyfriend.

She held onto the can of soda she opened up earlier as she looked through the wide lawn of roses. They both sat down on a bench nearby, and the gardeners were on a dinner recess. Prince doesn't have an appetite, maybe later, when Aria nudged them to have dinner.

"What kind of an assault? Sexual or…"

Aria hitched her breath, breathing, "He only done it for a day, enough to knock me out for his beating."

Prince looked away. He didn't know he beaten up Aria like that. Bryce was eviler than he thought.

"We were kissing on the terrace of my house. Then he asked me about bad guys, and how can I deal with it if he's one. I explained about how I can accept him, even if he's a bad guy, then, all of a sudden…"

Aria panted, and she closed her eyes. All of those scream she had done to let Bryce stop until she passed out. The moments where she's too exhausted to say how much she's excited about their first child. Aria was getting the goose bumps every time Bryce entered her mind.

"He beat me, putting me on a wrecked cabin down the river of Varean, and tied my wrists together. I was so clueless about it until I woke up in darkness, with nothing but the sting in my face, in my body. Everything ached."

It was enough for her to feel helpless. Prince was listening to every bit of the story, and not on the man's perspective. Not on the accomplice's story, but the victim's side. Prince had known how it sound liked, as he's part of the investigations, too.

Aria stopped for a while, but Prince didn't say anything.

"What hurts was that… I'm going to say to him that we're blessed with another angel inside my womb. I was too surprised to his attitude, that I never thought that it was Bryce. There was a conclusion in my mind that it isn't him, it isn't him… I kept on whispering that… but whenever I look up to see the shoes I bought for him, I was scarred deep inside."

Prince blinked, watching as one firefly roamed around the lawn. He's paying attention to every detail of the story she's telling.

Aria sighed exasperatedly. "The moment came when he's going to blow up my head, I dropped it. I said I was pregnant with his child. That he's going to kill the child inside my womb, and it's his."

She drank from the soda can, trying to calm herself down. Whenever she had to think about that, she's losing her mind. It was enough to drive her out of sanity.

"When he stopped, he walked at the end of the room, trying to stop his guilt, and eventually, that man stopped threatening me anymore. He dropped the gun on the floor, and let me go. I was going to be stupid if I hadn't kicked him on the balls, but I did."

Aria had reached the climax of her run. Before she can even continue, tears broke out in her eyes. All her life, she had regretted to have held a gun, and aimed it to the one who gave her all the love. Aria had never thought that moment would come, that their voices will get filled with shouts, and their hearts will get filled with hatred.

Everything, the memories they shared, just drain out in a matter of minutes. One hole and it started to get bigger.

Aria wiped the tears right away. She doesn't want to sob in the middle of the story.

"After that, I retrieved the gun…" Prince had to take a look on her crying. She did. At the mention of Bryce, the man who assaulted her, she's bawling her eyes out. That's how much Aria had gotten hurt because of him.

"… I pointed it at him. That was the first time I held a gun. I didn't know how to use it. But when I threatened him, he let me go. My mind thinks fast, I went out of the cabin as soon as it came out of his lips, and I never thought I'd leave him behind."

She sobbed. Aria stopped from saying anything else until her sobs died down. Prince sighed. It was part of the plan, but seeing how much they have wounded Aria, they should be guilty by now, right? Still, he couldn't feel it.

The moment his subconscious whispered Zion Cortez's name, he forgot all of the pity he felt for Aria.

Prince need to shake it off, and focus.

"That was the last time I saw him. When you saved me, I didn't even know I was bleeding. It was hard for me to run down the mountain miles away from the cabin, but I controlled myself not to give up. I ran away from him… cursing that I shouldn't see him again."

Aria remembered how he curled up the moment the snow started to fall. It was enough to change her mind of letting herself fall in love with a man like Bryce. She doesn't want to get involved with a man like him ever again.

"Whenever I hear Bryce's name, I wanted to wrath out. I wanted to say so many bad things to him. It was good to have someone to vent out, but for me, I don't have anyone to lean into."

Aria let the tears to flow out continuously. She clutched her skirt, hissing, and controlling the sobs to come out.

This time, Prince spoke up, "Let it out. It's bad for the heart to hold in sadness."

He never wanted to say that, but Aria needed it the most. It's the comfort he needed to give, as the one who showed up at her side all of a sudden. Aria stopped from sobbing up, and faced Prince.

He doesn't have any emotions when he said that, but it gave the right amount of warmth Aria had craved for a while. Prince turned, adding, "Grieving is alright. You are saying it with wholly heart. Give your heart a rest when it's too stressed out."

Aria blinked the tears and gritted her teeth, nodding. She murmured, "K-keep g-going, Prince."

Prince continued, "Give your heart a rest. You need to wake up tomorrow with a smile on your face, Aria."

Those unnoticeably soft words touched her heart. Even though Prince isn't holding her, it's enough to let her come close, leaning in, as if she's allowed to plant a scent of hers in his lips. Prince didn't see that coming, but when Aria led herself to seal those smooth creases, he didn't close his eyes.

Aria's sweet lips were feather-light in his. She's still crying, but she had managed to kiss him.

Still, even if he experienced a kiss… it's not as good as Aria's mouth.

Aria didn't move at all, staying pressed, but then, when she involuntarily hold the side of his neck, that's when Prince knew… he had to give in.