Lunarcrossed

In a secluded corner of the bustling city, under the dim glow of a street lamp, Stella stood confused about where she was supposed to go, not after she was chased away from her family's mansion.

She was always the outcast in her family, and friends, not like she had any anyway, never quite fitting in with her peers in class for reasons she didn't know. It was not once that she had seen them gawking at her. She had heard hushed rumours that it was all because of her skin colour. They called her an alien because her skin was paler than normal.

As she walked along the deserted alley, lost in her thoughts, she stumbled upon a figure slumped against the wall.

Stella used her flashlight, and there he was, a pale, haggard-looking young man, his face so calm that one might mistaken he was not in any pain at all.

The scene before her was horrible. The young man was sitting in a pool of blood, and an angry, crimson river was flowing from the several wounds that were scattered all over his body.

The young man seemed so weak, like he was only struggling to keep himself awake. The sight of shattered bone protruding through torn skin added to the horror before Stella. With each breath that he took, it was evidence of how much agony he was in.

It was Lucian, the famed ruthless billionaire, injured and shrouded. Stella's heart skipped a beat as she approached him, her instincts urging her to help him.

At a clearer glance, Stella noted that most of the wounds were a result of gunshots. Moreover, a strange big bite mark sat on his tummy.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stella asked softly as she bent over him scrutinising his wounds, her voice a whisper, barely audible.

Lucian glanced up, his expression a mix of relief and annoyance. "What do you care? Leave me alone," he snapped at her, his tone sharp and dismissive, indirectly asking her to mind her own business.

Stella straightened, annoyed with the young man's tone. He was injured, yet he was acting arrogant. She hated his guts.

Stella contemplated for a moment. She wished to leave him there, but thinking of the guilt that she would feel all her life thinking that she had left a helpless dying man on the streets all alone to die, she was not sure whether she would ever forgive herself for that.

"Everyone deserves kindness, even when they don't deserve or ask for it," she remembered her grandmother's teaching. She offered him her right hand, ignoring his rudeness, her empathy overriding her ego.

"Hey look here, Mr. I'm only trying to help, and please don't use that tone with me, or do you think the world revolves around you, so come on. Don't make me force you up, I beg you," Stella spoke up trying her best to maintain her composure, yet still annoyance was evident in her voice. She just could not take his rude outburst to herself.

Lucian reluctantly accepted her help, shocked by the way she had reprimanded him. He was not used to being reprimanded or having a voice raised to him by anyone, let alone just a mere young girl whom he could crush at the snap of his finger.

A flicker of something unfamiliar crossed his face, gratitude, admiration, and a hidden passion that faintly glowed in his eyes but disappeared immediately as it had appeared.

In that particular moment, destiny seemed to weave its threads around them, binding their fates together in an unexpected twist of fortune, which sure enough tangled with their past, present, and the future.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Stella slowly guided Lucian to the main road, there at least they might find a cab to take them home.

They were lucky to get a late-night cab, Stella had a few coins left from the monthly allowance that she was always given by her uncle. Other than that she didn't have anything that she could call hers, not even a changing pair of clothes. Everything that she had had been taken away from her by her cousin and aunt before chasing her out of the mansion.

"You are nothing but a poor beggar who should die on the streets begging, you don't deserve to be here at all!" Those painful words that her aunt had said to her still lingered in the corners of her heart. A tear dropped down her face, but she hurriedly wiped it before anybody could notice it.

The driver parked the car in a dark alley on the outskirts of the city, in a suburban area.

By then Lucian was already half-conscious because of the large quantities of blood that he had lost. Stella applauded him in her mind, he must be very strong to have stayed awake up to the moment. Normally with his injuries and the amount of blood that he had lost he was supposed to have been unconscious or even dead before she had met him.

Stella was still wondering how she was supposed to carry the wounded guy in when a voice called.

"Stella! What are you doing here, and who is this injured guy?" Morgan called immediately when he saw blood all over the guy's body, his voice troubled

"Help me carry him in first before asking me these stupid questions, you fool. He might die here!" Stella spoke, smacking her younger brother's head making him yelp in pain.

Just as the old lady ushered them into the house, she wasn't horrified at all when she saw Stella with a wounded guy. Instead, there was pity and an unfathomable expression on her face, a blue glint radiated in her eyes, which disappeared immediately, no one had taken note of it.

"Finally the end is here! May the god protect you my children," Grandma Elizabeth murmured, her eyes watering at the corners before she followed them inside.