DEALT ( saving his soul).

Chapter Twenty

After the third spoonful, Cora sighed in defeat and set aside the bowl . She had no appetite and energy to struggle with the strawberry cereal. She could feel Jonathan's eyes on her. From the corner of her eye, she saw him pick up the bowl.

“ Eat , ” he said , holding a spoonful to her mouth.

“ I'm full , ”

“ Ah - ah ! ” he shoved the spoon into her mouth.

She glared.

“ You need strength, ” he simply stated as he scooped another spoonful.

“ I'm full ! ”

He smirked , “ Open up . ”

“ But - ”

He shoved the spoon into her mouth again and she finally ended up willingly opening her mouth for each spoon until the bowl was empty.

Cora actually felt better.

“ I'll be back,” he got up, “ Rest. ”

Cora waited until the man shut the door when he left.

Jonathan talked less and it was hard for her to guess what he thought of her. He was bossy , a trait that was irresistible to her. Cora slowly shook her head. She did not understand why a man like him handled her so delicately as if she was never after his life in the first place.

Cora liked him and it was true that she would have never killed him even if she tried. Cora knew she did not deserve a man like him. She shut her eyes and released a sad laugh , it was strange that it was at that point that all her mistakes pounded hard against her head. All faces she eliminated from the surface of the earth all appearing before her shut eyes.

At that point , all she ever wanted was to kill whoever introduced her to her brutal profession and that was only : herself. Tiredly, her eyes blinked open and looked at the scarring cuts on her arms.

On top of her uneven figure, Mr. Yong took it upon himself to bless her with another insecurity, tiny cuts littering her body that would scar for the rest of her life. How she wanted to chop the man into pieces for what he did.

Slowly, she started out of the bed, she braced herself against a table and struggled to lean against a wall. Weakly, she walked towards the mirror at one end of the room.

When she finally came to a stop infront of the reflective surface, she took in her tangled messed up hair, her hollow black eyes , her chapped lips and the scarring cuts on her neck. Mustering a little strength, she pulled her loose white cotton dress off her body and her eyes widened at her appearance.

No portion of skin was spared. The cuts were everywhere, some even crisscrossing. She made to turn and a glimpse at her side confirmed to her that they were on her back too. Ugly was the word she thought of as her arm crossed over her naked bust to shield the evidence of abuse from her eyes. Cora did not realize that she was sobbing. She did not realize that someone was checking up on her too. She did not realize that the person had grown so angry that he had rammed his fist into a wall and was hissing in pain.

Don't let it break you.

For the first time her inner voice spoke and she chuckled darkly. She was already broken.

The stupid song her peers used to sing in highschool to make fun of her disproportionate build recurred in her mind and in fury , Cora flung herself against the mirror. She created a crack. She wanted that annoying surface to break , she never realized the bruising forming on her skin as she flung herself again.

Cora was suicidal.

“ Stop it ! Stop it ! ”

She was grabbed and flung into a hard chest instead. Her slender hands pounding against it. Her tears wetting his white shirt.

“ I wanna die ! I wanna die ! I wanna die ! ”

He slid to the floor with her. His arms tight around her like a vice while she cried her heart out.

“ Shh ! It's okay, ”

She felt his coat around her arms and his strong cologne somehow comforting her. She pulled away and looked at his masked face. 

“ Why are you helping me ? ”

His thumb wiped the tears from her face and he kissed her forehead while a hand combed out her hair.

“ Because , ” he smiled,“ you remind me...of someone. ”

Cora did not protest when he carried her back to bed after a bath. She should have been embarrassed that she was too weak to fend for herself but they had fell into a routine . She could tell the cuts angered him, the way his eyes darkened at the cuts on her hands were enough proof. Cora also noticed him trying hard not to stare at her provocative parts but in the long run in the bath, he froze , his mismatched orbs not moving from her large rack . Cora had to cross an arm against them feeling suddenly self conscious . He snapped out of it but the man was not embarrassed. He only pulled his mask off and shot her a predatory look.

“ I need you...to rest , ” he rasped after tucking her into bed.

Cora frowned at him.

“ No more breaking ...mirrors , ” he shot her a look of disapproval.

“ That was expensive , ” he pointed at the cracked mirror .

Cora smiled at the man , “ You're sick if that's the only thing you care about. ”

“ Tell me what...I don't know, ” he muttered.

Cora fidgeted . Her eyes lingering at his strong arms exposed by his rolled shirt sleeves . Jonathan seemed to notice her stare and he smirked , sitting beside her on the bed.

“ You're tempting me ... Cora ”

She blushed and she averted her gaze to the white bedsheets .

His hand gently touched her slender neck . Cora looked up at him. He was angry as he traced the cuts , a vein popping at the side of his neck and a jaw clenching.

“ He'll pay, ”

“ I don't wanna kill anymore , ”

“ Don't worry...I'll do so...myself , ”