Chapter 1: Ill-Fated

Everyone has their comfort person or character to keep them sane or distracted from their problems. We often rely on something without realizing it, but what if one day that comforting person disappear? Will you still be able to keep going in your life? 

That is one of the questions that Eleonna has in her mind. With a bored look on her face, she started brushing her silky long black hair as she stares at her reflection in the mirror. The class hasn't even started yet but she already looked stressed. 

She stood up from her seat to grab her bag. It's her first day as a sophomore so she doesn't want to give a bad impression of being late. When she got out of her room, the smell of the freshly cooked egg and slices of bacon welcomed her. She sat beside his uncle, Andy, at the table as his wife, Melissa, is busy cooking their food. 

"Good morning, dear." Melissa greeted Eleonna with a dashing smile. The girl just nod as a reply. 

"What's with the stressed face of yours early in the morning? Got a bad sleep?" Andy asked, eyes glued on the newspaper he's reading. 

Eleonna crouched in her seat and sigh heavily. It's usually not like this. Eleonna is usually energetic first thing in the morning. She's the type to annoy her family and disturb them. 

"It's not like that, uncle. Just feeling a little lazy today."

Melissa sat in front of them as she arranged the food. She looked at Eleonna with worry in her eyes. It was obvious that the word lazy was just an excuse to cover up her longing for someone. 

"We miss them too," Melissa sigh as Eleonna looked at her "They must have a reason for leaving, but I know they'll come back," she reassured the girl to make her feel better, but instead it only made her feel annoyed and useless. It was like what her auntie said lit a fire inside her. 

"And what is that reason? Do they think leaving me clueless about everything is gonna be okay? For God's sake, something is obviously happening in our family! Why would they leave me behind like I'm not even part of them! Their problem is my problem too!" the girl blurted bitterly. 

Andy and Melissa looked at her with pity in their eyes. The kind of looks that she hates. The girl has been acting like this ever since her father and twin sister left. 

It all started three months ago when their mother, Selly Salvelle, was murdered. This made their once cheerful home gloomy. Not long after that, their father left them under their uncle's care. He told them that he had something to do which they can't be involved in. They were of course against it but they weren't able to do anything about it. 

The twins tried to find their father after that. They were worried that something might happen to him after the incident with their mother. They don't want to lose a family member again, but when they weren't able to find anything, her sister, Eleanor, gave up. She started giving everyone a cold shoulder. Eleonna was furious about her sudden change of attitude and tried to talk it out with her but it'll always end up with them arguing.

Not only that, every time Eleanor comes home, she'd always have bruises all over her body which made them even more worried. Eleonna didn't know what to do with her rebellious sister anymore. The situation was overwhelming her.

Words can't explain how upset she was when Eleanor also left her leaving a note saying she'll come back someday and not telling them the reason. She didn't even bother to let them know where she was going. 

Eleonna composed herself and left a heavy sigh before talking again. 

"I'm sorry for my sudden outburst. I just couldn't understand what's happening."

Melissa held her hand to show her sympathy. She smiled at the girl to remind her that she still have them. 

"It's okay to let it out. We'll help you with everything, Eleonna, but for now, eat your breakfast first. You don't wanna be late, do you?" 

The girl nodded. Even though she doesn't feel fully okay, it's good to know that someone is still there for her. 

After their little feast. Her uncle presented to drive her to school but she insisted to walk instead. She wanted to breathe the fresh air to calm herself first before she face her sophomore year. 

Their school wasn't that far but the girl is purposely walking slow. Even if she's upset with Eleanor for leaving her, she couldn't deny the fact that she misses her. It's only been a week since that happened but it felt like a year already passed. She absentmindedly walked past the darker part of the street beside her. The faint noises coming from there brought her back to her senses.

She frown as she curiously walked back again. She hid behind a tall trash bin when she saw five men standing. One was holding a bat with what she thought was covered in blood. Her eyes grew bigger when she saw a guy kneeling in front of them. His body was covered in bruises and blood dripping from his head. He couldn't even open one of his eyes. 

"Man, I thought you were as strong as what those bastards said, but seeing you kneeling like this. Those were clear bullshits." one of the guys said which caused the other guys to laugh. 

One of the guys lit a smoke and walked towards the kneeling guy. He bent to level the guy's face and whispered something to him which made the beaten guy furious. 

Eleonna knew better than to show herself in them. They looked like some kind of thug men so she decided to call the authorities instead of interfering without knowing the whole situation. 

She looked at the beaten guy again and noticed that he was wearing the same slacks her school uniform has. Could it be that they go to the same school? And who fights early in the morning? 

The beaten guy stood up, alarming the other guys who's already cornering him.

"Does this guy have a death wish or something?" Eleonna murmured to herself

She looked at her phone to check the time and was surprised to see that she's 2 minutes late already. All because she decided to watch this goddamn fight. Just when she decided to leave, her phone fell and caused a sound which made the guys look her way. 

This was the moment she knew she fucked up. She immediately turn her back as one of the guys shouted at her, telling her to come back. 

One of them decided to follow the girl but the guy that they were beating reacted fast. He doesn't want to involve anyone with this. 

"Where do you think you're going? I'm right here you dipshits."

The beaten guy quickly stole the bat that one of them was holding and struck him in the neck which caused him to fall. 

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Eleonna continued to run towards her school. She regretted staying in there. She even almost got into trouble. How dumb could she be? The halls were already empty and silent when she entered the gate. She silently cursed herself and ran faster to her classroom. She was breathing heavily as she peeked through the window and luckily their professor wasn't there yet. 

She opened the door and entered the room unbothered, still catching her breath. All eyes fell on her but she couldn't care less. She was glad she wasn't caught late by the rumoured terror professor. A short-haired girl waved at her and ushering her to come. She automatically smiled at the sight of a familiar person. The girl ushered the seat in front of her which she gladly took. 

"You're lucky Ms Ally isn't here yet, why are you late?" the girl said

"I woke up late," she lied, "How are you? I almost didn't recognize you with that new haircut, when did you cut your hair, Nesha?" 

Nesha is both Eleonna and Eleanor's childhood friend. You could call them a trio but Nesha is very friendly and kind to others so she has a lot of friend circles other than the twins. 

The both of them chatted for a while. Asking how their vacation went. 

"By the way, where is Eleanor? What class is she in?" 

When Nesha asked about her. The bright mood Eleonna had immediately disappeared. Before she could even answer her, the door swung open revealing their professor. 

And just like that, her sophomore year started. Since the class just started, they only did some little introduction about themselves and discussions about their subjects. Eleonna eventually got bored and decided to browse on her phone. A realization hit her when she felt nothing inside her pocket. She began panicking but still managed to keep her face straight. 

Did I leave it at home? 

She mentally cursed herself when she remembered that she dropped it beside the trash bin. How dumb could she be to forget to fetch it after it fell? Even if she comes back in there, there's a 99% chance of it getting stolen. All because of her inquisitiveness, she lost her phone.

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The beaten guy could no longer stand up when one of his opponents managed to strike his left foot with a random object. The five of them grinned while claiming their victory. 

"Ganging ug against one guy, huh?" the beaten guy mocked them. 

He knew he was being outnumbered. He may know how to fight, but everyone has their limitations. Especially when one of them has a weapon.

One of them bent in front of him and grabbed him by his hair. 

"Yo, Yuan, tell your leader to meet us here tomorrow afternoon. We'll teach you fuckers a lesson for messing with us."

The beaten guy that they called Yuan laughed in front of his face. 

"I see. Your ego was crushed that hard, huh? Grow up, man. We don't always win in everything. Someone out there is always better than us," he gritted his teeth and spitted blood in his face "Remember that, you piece of shit."

The guy just got more insulted and was about to throw a punch again when one of his friends shouted. 

"Fuck! There's a cop! Let's get out of here!" 

The four of them ran away, leaving the other guy alone. He had no choice but he couldn't just leave there without a rebuttal. 

"If I won't see your group here tomorrow, we'll go to your place ourselves." he took one last glance and stood up to catch up with his friends. 

Yuan was left there all bruised and weak. He forced his body to stand up even though his body has given up. He didn't feel the pain earlier only 'cause he was distracted and too agitated. 

"Hey, young man! What happened to you?! We got a report about a commotion happening here. Are you alright?!" one of the cops scanned Yuan's beaten body. 

"I'm okay, sir. I just tripped." 

The cop wrinkled his brows at his stupid reason, he insisted to take him to the hospital but he strongly refused. He told the cop that the incident was nothing and he could handle it himself. It wasn't that easy to convince the man but in the end, he just agreed to let him treat his wounds. The man even suggested filing a case against the people who did this to him but he just shrugged, knowing that their involvement would just make it complicated. 

He walked towards the trash bin to grab his upper uniform and bag. Just as he was about to turn his back, he heard a ringing phone. He took it and was about to answer but it already dropped. 

"Must be from that girl," he mumbled as he remembered that one girl who was eavesdropping on them earlier. 

He took the phone with him and left with the cop. He even got scolded for getting involved in a fight early in the morning but all of it just went straight out of his other ear. He couldn't help it but the girl's back earlier seemed familiar.

Who would've thought that at that exact moment, their fate has started its game...