CHAPTER 142: CHAPTER 141

Chapter 141

In an instant, Melisca forgot to breathe again. She was still in shock from her parents’ existence, and then another revelation struck her.

Melisca stared at Lorna’s big brown eyes. They were stricken with pain, fear, remorse, and... something else. Something she’d never thought that she would ever see from another family member. Compassion, acceptance, and care. And it slammed right through her straight to the gut.

She cared. Lorna cared. This girl actually cared.

She sucked in a sharp breath. Physical feelings forgotten from her wounds, scratches, and exhaustion. "You knew..." She swallowed hard and tried to catch her breath again. Her shoulders slumped as the adrenaline in her body died down. She was on her knees right beside her and continued to peer into the girl’s eyes.

"I knew when you... saw Aunt’s picture." Loriena was running out of air. Breathing hurts. "I’ve been... longing to meet you."

A chill ran down Melisca’s body. And it hasn’t stopped pulsating, sending goosebumps all over her skin.

"There are... a lot of things... that I wanted to tell you." Another tear fell to the side of her face. She didn’t know what hurt more—the overall situation or the wounds she got.

There were a lot of things that Loriena wanted to tell her cousin. She wanted to tell her how sorry she was for what her parents did to Melisca. It was why she left the camp a few months back. She’d wanted to get away from them somehow. She found out what they did after hearing it accidentally. But what she understood then was that her parents took Melisca’s parents’ lives. She didn’t know that they had been abducted instead.

She decided to come back to the camp to learn for real and to get information, for she was planning to search for her cousin in the future. But then, she didn’t know that she’d found her already. She noticed how Melisca reacted to the picture of Melicia. She might have played ignorant most of the time, but she noticed things.

And for long, she’d just realized how much Melisca had been hurting. It was just then she remembered that despite putting herself in front of the bullets, they didn’t care that their daughter was being shot. Her own parents and great grandfather didn’t care at all, just as long as they got what they wanted.

She’d at last known her cousin’s pain. The betrayal from her family. She flexed her fingers, wanting to feel if she had enough strength to move them. She slowly raised her hand to Melisca’s cheeks. The woman was looking coldly at her. She envied her again. How numb could she get from all the pain? Unlike her, she couldn’t stop showing it on her face.

"Then don’t die on me, Loriena. So that you could tell me those things." Melisca’s jaw was set so hard that it was barely moving even if she was talking. She doesn’t want to die either because she wanted Melisca to feel that someone cared. That not everyone in their family was like her parents. How her beliefs changed the moment she found out what her family had done to her cousin.

She knew she hadn’t been able to do anything, and she might never be, given from her current situation.

"I’m deeply sorry for... what our family... had done." She tasted blood rising from her throat, and she couldn’t help but spit it out.

"Stop talking!" Melisca looked for anything that could help her. She spotted a tablecloth just an arm’s length from her left. She took it from the cabinet that was opened and tore it with her hand. "Save your strength!" She snapped at her.

No. She wouldn’t let Lorna die. No. Not in this way. Not by the hands of her family members again. She’d just found her family alive, and she wouldn’t want to lose another one that actually cared for her.

"You wouldn’t die, Loriena. Not this way." She was shaking her head, and she turned to her again. Wanting to wrap the cloth around her body to reduce the gushing of blood that was now pooling around them. It had already reached her knees as she was beside her.

"Liz..." Loriena wanted to see her cousin’s eyes. "Look at me..." She’d wanted to raise her hand, but it kept on dropping. "I know you don’t... trust anyone... But... I want you to...know that someone...in your family cared...I cared." She managed to finally smile at her, though a wince was hidden just beneath the surface.

Melisca held her hand and lifted it to her face. She didn’t want to look at her big brown eyes. She refused to look at her, slowly fading away.

"Loyalty... for the mission only." Lorna croaked.

Melisca swallowed hard. Another wave of coldness crushed her insides. That was the motto of the organization. Family was nothing. She noticed Lorna started to rub her thumb gently to her skin. She just realized then that a tear had escaped from her eyes.

She had recalled the way Lorna treated her. The girl’s playfulness and sweetness at her that was slowly rubbing on her. And even if she was being a spoiled brat for everyone, she was still innocent. She was just so unlucky that she belonged in their kind of family. This girl didn’t deserve to die. Her cousin shouldn’t die. Not for her. And most certainly not because of them.

"Fuck that." Lorna tried to laugh it off but only spurts of blood came out from her mouth. A part of her was relieved that she wouldn’t suffer the pain of the betrayal long enough. Thinking about it was killing her already.

Carmen couldn’t alleviate the situation anymore. They had to get out freaking now. Melisca wasn’t moving to help her. They couldn’t do anything as she looked around. It was a losing fight. And they would lose in the end. They wouldn’t be able to get the other two captives out.

"Melisca, let’s go!" She called at the woman as she continued to fight with the hunters. They were aiming to get her with the needles again.

She risked to take a glance at the woman but it seemed like if fell in deaf ears.

Melisca was out of her senses from the surroundings. Lorna was panting for air. Her breath was hitching.

"No." She uttered and hovered over her. She cupped the girl’s cheeks. "No, no, no." She shook her head as her tears fell on Lorna’s face. "Don’t you dare die on me, Loriena. Not by the hands of this monsters!" She roared at her.

"I’m... sorry." Lorna felt her heartbeat slowing down by each second. She didn’t want to cause Liz another pain but it already happened.

"Nesa! Get Melisca!" Carmen ordered. The wolf was the closest to her and she was still fighting off the enemies. She was covering for the hybrid. She knew that she wasn’t able to fulfill her deal with someone to get the two hostages out but at least they hadn’t given Melisca off to the hunters.

Nesa crawled on her way and struggled on her feet to run to Melisca’s side. "Let’s go, Melisca!" She held her arm and tried to pull her, but the woman wouldn’t budge.

"No! Let me go!" Melisca refused to leave. She still had to get to her parents and she couldn’t just leave her cousin on the floor.

"We have to go!" Nesa pulled her by the arm again but Melisca shoved her aside and she reached for Lorna’s hand.

"Go... Don’t let them... have you." Lorna was still holding on for life. She didn’t want Liz to watch her last breath. She’d want to close her eyes when Melisca was already out of her sight.