Chapter 19

"Remember how you said I come from a wealthy family and live the good life? You were incorrect, but I never mind correcting you. My life was never perfect." River stammered cautiously, his heart pounding in his chest, because this was the first time he had opened his heart to someone.

After their intimate session, he sat with his back against her the wall, holding Sage's worn-out body in his lap.

He swore to himself that he'd never open the doors to his past that had brought him here because they were haunting enough to give him nightmares and cause him to burn with self-loathing.

"What exactly do you mean?" Sage drew his face from his chest and looked up at River, his eyelids heavy and half-closed.

"Don't look at me while I'm telling you all this nonsense, and I want you to forget about it in the morning so you don't start to hate me more and find me disgusting," He grumbled. 

Forgot about it, Sage's heart skipped a beat in fear as a result of his words.

"Don't give that drug to me or I'll kill you!" Sage glared at him, but his scowl, which was supposed to be frightening, made River laugh in amusement. He pecked his roommate's sweet lips and brought him back into his chest, not allowing Sage to see the awkwardness on his face, but Sage saw his red cheeks anyway. 

"I won't, idiot," he grumbled, resting his chin on Sage's head as they snuggled together. "Only Alpha has that drug." 

He took a deep breath. 

"My mother fell in love with a poor, simple-hearted man. He didn't have much to offer, but she married him anyway, despite my grandfather's objections. They had me after five years of marriage. But there came a time when they ran out of money and it was difficult to feed me because kindness does not fill a stomach. My father suggested that she return to her grandfather's house with me because he couldn't bear the thought of us going hungry," River came to a halt before looking down for Sage's reaction, but there was none.

Sage appeared unfazed by his words, but he was covered in goosebumps. River assumed Sage was probably cold, so picked up his clean shirt from the ground beside him to use it as a blanket to keep his naked body warm.

"And that's what my mother did, maybe because of me. I always cried and begged her to let me meet my father, but she never paid any attention to my tears. When she was with my father, she wasn't this heartless. My father never came to meet me, which made me wonder if he had forgotten about me, and I began to dislike him. But later that day, I overheard my grandfather ordering his men to throw my father out. Turns out, he had come to meet me several times, but my grandfather refused to let us meet. What was even more heartbreaking was that my mother had known about this the entire time and had never approached grandfather and let him do whatever he wants. 

This turned my world upside down because I began to believe she didn't love me. She followed my grandfather's advice and divorced my father. She married the man my grandfather chose for her, but she had only ever loved my father and no other man, so when she married that man and had my sister, my mother's only concern was her. It was as if she had completely forgotten about me; she didn't care if I went to school or skipped classes. 

She never paid attention when I came home with a bruised body, was expelled from school for beating someone, or was discovered to be in contact with a drug dealer; she simply paid enough money to his secretary to take care of my roguery whenever I got into trouble and strictly ordered him not to give her any headaches about me. She even stopped looking at me."

Sage didn't say anything but tightened his grip on River as his voice began to break. Silently trying to provide him the mental consolation. 

"My stepfather tried his best to provide everything to mom but she never respected his efforts. She knew he loved her, but she didn't give him a second thought because, no matter how hard he tried, he was always neglected by her. Then one day I got the unexpected news that she was divorcing him. She repeated what she did to me after their divorce and never let my sister meet him. When he couldn't reclaim his family, he began to go insane. When I returned home one evening, I saw him attempting to murder my mother, which enraged me. I fought him to save my mother and stabbed him twice, landing him in the ICU for two months."

"Was I wrong for stabbing him?" 

When Sage didn't respond for a while, it scared him. He wondered if he shouldn't have told him everything.

"No, you weren't," Contented was an understatement of what River felt when Sage spoke. "You were just defending yourself and your mother. Is that why you're here, for stabbing your father?"

River observed as Sage was fighting to keep his eyes open.

"No, it's because..." He came to a halt and inhaled deeply, not feeling ready to tell Sage the truth, but knowing that if he didn't, he'd never be able to.

"What?" Sage muttered as he fell deeper and deeper into slumber. He blinked his sleepy eyes but couldn't resist the warmth emanating from River's body, which lulled him to sleep, causing him to hear only a few words here and there before falling asleep.

"I did many fucked up things in life to rebel against my mom...like fucking my sister's boyfriend....he loved her so much....and then he...but I never expect that he'll commit suicide...I lied about.....fake....not real...Sunford is not what you think....."

River's heart pounded as he tried to swallow the thick lump in his throat after finally revealing his dark secret and remained tight-lipped. Part of him wanted to see Sage's reaction and the disgust on his face, but the other part was too afraid. But when he looked down, Sage was out like a light.

He sighed out the breath he was holding. Did he even hear anything?

Should I tell you that I can never love anyone because of my guilt? I know you're just a roommate and there's no need to share it with you. River contemplated and smiled as Sage unconsciously moved and let out a soft whimper. River rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around Sage's petite frame. He's well aware that the younger one dislikes sleeping unless he's not crushed between River's embrace. He pinched his cheeks. No, you're not just a roommate, you're a special roommate. A grumpy one but a cute one. 

He carefully lifted Sage and exited the room. He didn't care if he was only wearing his pants or if Sage was barely covered up by his shirt. What can anyone do if they catch him walking around freely anyways? He knows how to keep people's mouths shut.

Speaking of being caught, he was indeed caught by none other than Sunford's biggest bully, Marco. River came to a halt in front of the snickering mosquitoes.

"You still keep this sissy around. You're quite a loyal type I see," Marco, the boss spits.

"You can see?" River laughed, his dimples on the display, which made Marco glare at him. "No, I thought you lost all your five senses after I beat you up last time. You're still in the shape of spouting nonsense, I see." 

"Laugh as much as you want, but remember to sleep with one eye open for the next few days. If you don't want someone to take your little boy from under your nose," Marco, a blonde with a bulky body, snorted, which made his other friends laugh.

Oh shit, I forgot about the night hunt. 

River felt a burning feeling in his chest and his grip tightened around his boy. 

"If you're here for a taste of my punch, then please wait here; my roommate is tired and sounds asleep, I need to tuck him into bed, and then I can come back," River smiled instead, resisting the urge to slam each of them against the wall and made them cry for mercy.

"Isn't it sweet of you to look after your little boyfriend, but don't tell me you're serious because you two have no future in Sunford? I would rather recommend that you concentrate on Alpha and who he is planning to kill this month, because the night hunt is also on the same day as the month's sacrifices this time."

"Keep it down you cheap motherfuckers! If this one here woke up because of you loud fuckers, I'll make you sleep for a really long time," River scoffed, when Sage made a movement. 

He wasn't scared of the night hunt because he knew he'd keep Sage safe and no one would dare to enter his room, but he was sure as hell terrified of this Month's sacrifice. 

Because that is different from Night haunt, in night haunt you get to bully and pick your prey but no one dies. 

On the other hand, in Month's sacrifice, it is unavoidable that someone will definitely die at the hands of Alpha. Nobody knows why he did that and killed the students. River also stopped questioning him after Alpha warned to unalive him.

Nobody knows when or how he does that, but every 25th of the month, early in the morning, everyone gets shaken when they come across a brutally slaughtered body hung to an oak tree in front of the back building. But they're certain that Alpha is responsible for the deaths because every dead body has the identical X symbol burned onto their bodies. Which is widely known as Alpha's mark. 

However, River is more worried about Eve. Since Eve is Alpha's roommate which makes him an easy target, and he's already on Alpha's bad side too.

I need to talk to Alpha. Though, he knew that he would not listen to him. 

"I'm not here to fight," Marco let out in a stern tone. And it was quite scary how quickly he changed his expression. "I'll leave once you tell us who Alpha picked for this month." 

"Don't worry, It's not you," River shook his head causally, but deep down he was enjoying their frightened faces. 

"Then who?" 

"It's-," He started in a serious tone, but then suddenly smiled. He playfully pursed his lips and raised an amusing eyebrow. "Not telling you anymore, I changed my mind." 

Truth is, he too doesn't know who's gonna be the prey that will be sacrificed, so, why not pick some fun out of it anyways? 

"You-" Marco barked out and advanced towards him in rage but his minions grabbed him. 

"What, you mad, puppy? Stay mad, then. I'll be on my way if guys are done," River walked past them while whistling. 

"Leave me!" Marco growled, shoving the other guys away. He glared at the back of River. "Find my little slave and bring him to my room, I need something to let out frustration or else I'll explode."