Piya’s breath hitched in her throat.
Her fear momentarily overshadowed by intense curiosity, she slowly, silently tiptoed toward the mysterious voice, her heart hammering against her ribs.
As she cautiously peeked through a thick cluster of bushes, she saw the silhouette of a girl standing close to a boy, their figures barely illuminated by the faint moonlight breaking through the canopy.
“…We can’t hide this for long,” the girl’s hushed, urgent voice drifted over.
“One day or another, everyone is going to find out the truth. And when they do, we won’t be able to stop him…”
Piya squinted into the darkness, straining to hear more.
“Who are they?” she thought, her mind racing.
“Who is this guy, and what truth are they talking about? Who are they trying to stop?” Desperate to get a better look at the boy’s face, she leaned forward, shifting her weight.
“SNAP.”
Her foot came down hard on a dry, brittle twig.
The sharp crack echoed through the deathly silent forest like a gunshot.
Piya froze, her blood turning to ice.
Instantly, the girl and the boy snapped their heads in her direction, their piercing gazes locking directly onto the dark bushes where Piya was hiding.
The girl in the emerald-green dress stepped out from the shadows, her footsteps making zero sound on the dry leaves.
She stopped right in front of Piya, crossing her arms with a cold, piercing glare.
“Were you eavesdropping on us?” the girl snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut glass.
“Don’t you have any shame, sneaking around and listening to other people’s private conversations?”
“N-no, actually… I didn’t mean to!” Piya stammered, her voice shaking as she took a panicked step back.
“I… I got lost in the woods. I didn’t know which way to go, and then I heard voices, so I just followed them. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry—”
‘”Leave.”‘
The command didn’t come from the girl.
It rumbled from deep within the dark, heavy silence behind her—a voice so dark, commanding, and dangerously heavy that it seemed to vibrate right through the soles of Piya’s shoes. This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.
Piya’s throat tightened.
“A-actually, I was just—”
‘”I said, leave!”‘
The sheer force of his voice sent a jolt of pure terror straight down Piya’s spine.
Without wasting another second, she spun around and bolted deeper into the pitch-black woods, tears of sheer panic stinging her eyes all over again.
Meanwhile, back at the bright, chaotic party, Misha was weaving frantically through the crowd.
Her eyes scanned every corner, every couch, every hallway—no Piya.
A knot of pure dread formed in her stomach.
Her instincts flared, and her gaze locked onto the one person in the room she knew was capable of pure venom: Tina.
Misha marched right up to her, her eyes blazing.
“Tina. Where is Piya?”
Tina didn’t even flinch.
She took a slow, leisurely sip of her drink, offering Misha a lazy, mocking smile.
“Oh, look who it is.
Asking “me” where your little pet is?
How should I know?
Probably crying in some dark corner, or out somewhere making a fool of herself with some guy—”
‘”Tina,”‘ Misha hissed, stepping into her space with a voice trembling with pure fury, “if you say one more word about Piya, I swear to God—”
In a flash of blind rage, Misha’s hand shot out to the nearest bar cart, her fingers curling around the neck of a heavy glass wine bottle.
She wrenched it up, pointing the heavy base straight at Tina’s face.
“Otherwise, I will smash your head open, do you understand?” Misha screamed, her chest heaving, the threat hanging dangerously real in the air.
Gasps rippled through the nearest guests. This story is hosted at g.com.
Tina’s mocking smirk finally faltered, her eyes widening at the sheer unhinged warning in Misha’s face.
Before the chaos could completely blow up, a hand shot out and clamped firmly around Misha’s wrist, gently pushing the bottle down.
“Misha! Hey, hey, what is going on?!” Kabir’s voice cut through the tension as he stepped between them, his eyes darting from Misha’s white-knuckled grip to Tina’s pale face.
Misha didn’t lower her arm completely; she glared daggers at Tina, her voice shaking as she turned to Kabir.
“Kabir, this bitch—Tina definitely said something to Piya!
That’s why she’s nowhere to be found.
The last time I saw Piya at this party, she was standing right next to “her”!”
She ran until her lungs burned, her frantic footsteps finally slowing to a halt near the trunk of a massive, ancient tree far from where she had started.
Panting heavily, chest heaving for air, Piya slowly lifted her gaze—and stopped breathing.
He was standing right there.
Inches away.
Their shallow, ragged breaths collided in the freezing night air.
His dark, piercing eyes locked onto hers, holding her gaze with a gravity that felt impossible to escape.
Before she could even process his sudden appearance, his hand shot out and clamped firmly around her wrist.
Terror paralyzed her.
As he stepped closer, Piya instinctively tried to retreat, backing up until her spine hit the rough bark of the tree.
Her handbag slipped from her trembling fingers, hitting the forest floor with a dull thud.
In a fraction of a second, he trapped her.
Both of his arms braced against the tree trunk on either side of her head, caging her completely.
His face hovered dangerously close to hers, his voice dropping into a dark, low, trembling growl:
”Don’t you dare try to come close to me.
Stay away.
Stay away from me, do you understand?”