A New Hell

Chapter Four

Maelis

Each step I took away from them reminded me of the words he said. "Welcome to EclipsarumElite Sancta Royal Institute?" Was that what he was supposed to say to me after his girlfriend, or whosoever she was, beat me up for what he did? He was the one who held my hand. He was the one who took me to his resting room. I didn’t go because I wanted to. Why did she have to punish me for that?

My heart raced with anger and pain. I felt as helpless in this school as I did outside of it. I thought things would change when I came here. I thought I would finally lead a good life, where I wasn’t worried about what people said about me or my face. But I was wrong. This school was no different from every other place I had been to. There was no escape for me. He could have said, "Welcome to hell," instead because this was hell. A new hell for me, a new place to be treated as badly as I had been before.

I wish I could go back to the time I stepped into this school. I wished I could experience that feeling of warmth and a sense of belonging I felt for a brief minute. I thought having not just one of the alpha brothers but three of them as my mates would change things and make me accepted here. But I was wrong. Totally wrong.

The alpha brothers being my mates wasn’t my ticket out of my terrible life, but a ticket to a greater level of torture and maltreatment. I remained an outcast, just like I had always been. I remained invisible until it was time for a trick to be played on me. Once again, I wished I hadn’t accepted the offer to join the school. I wished I had just stayed in the shadows, as I had always tried to do.

My legs became wobbly as I dragged them to the restroom door. It was as though the beating I got from that lady settled in my legs, making it hard to move. I got to the restroom and pulled off my dirty shirt, leaving me with just the bracelet I wore underneath. It was a red, sexy bracelet that I got for myself and would always wear in my room, looking good for myself because no matter how hard I tried to look good, all people saw was my face.

I placed the shirt on the basin and gazed at my reflection in the mirror. The red mark on my puffy cheeks reminded me of the hard slap I got when I tried to explain myself to that girl. I remembered the beating that came from the rest of her crew after that. I wasn’t even allowed to explain myself. I had no say. I was nobody. Though it wasn’t different from what I had been before, the only difference was the level of my disappointment. I thought this school would have a place for everybody, and I would be able to fit in. But I was wrong for the umpteenth time in my life.

I held out a low sigh as I began to wash my face, hoping the red mark would disappear quickly before anyone noticed what happened to me. It wasn’t like they cared anyway.

As I washed my face, insecurity and reality began to dawn on me. I stopped and stared back at my hurting, tear-filled eyes in the mirror. I would never be accepted by the brothers, not in this world and not in the next. Looking at my face, it was nothing compared to every other girl in the school, especially not the one I had just encountered. She was beautiful, along with every other girl in her crew. I would be setting myself up for another form of disappointment if I continued to expect that a miracle would happen and even one of these brothers would consider me as his mate.

Right there, I made up my mind to push away the fact that they were my mates. I decided to push that feeling I felt when I first saw them away from my mind. I knew the Moon Goddess wasn’t that cruel, even though she hadn’t been on my side for years. I knew she wouldn’t be so cruel as not to give me another mate who would treat me well.

I let out a heavy sigh of pain and uncertainty as I began to wash off the dirt from my clothes. Just then, I heard the creaking sound of the door opening, but I paid no attention, thinking it was just another student. Having them see my face would only bring me more pain.

I remembered a year back when I went to use the restroom in a mall, and a lady came in with her daughter. I turned to see who was coming in, and the daughter broke into tears, wailing and screaming that she had seen a ghost. Her mother complained, and I was eventually banned from coming to the mall or shopping there again. I wished that someday, I would be able to stand in front of the world without caring about what they would say about me or my face. But until then, I had to keep hiding in the shadows.

“Won’t you check if you’re being kidnapped?” The soft but deep voice startled me, and my legs froze, a cold shiver rushing up my spine.

My mind raced to where I had heard that voice before, and my eyes widened when I remembered whose voice it belonged to—Ulric, Prince Ulric. What could he be doing here? And in the female toilet, of all places?

The thought that I would be in more trouble if anyone saw us together made me shiver. I turned and almost shrunk back when I saw he was a few steps away from me.

“Y-you shouldn’t be here,” I stuttered. “This is the women’s toilet.”

“Yes, I saw. And I came in anyway,” he replied briskly, taking a step closer to me.

I wished I could step back, but I was already at the end. “What do you want? You know you shouldn’t be here. I don’t want to…”

“Shh…” he cut me off, grabbed my hand, and swiftly pulled me into one of the toilet stalls.

I was about to ask why when I heard running water and the muffled chats and laughter of the ladies who had entered the restroom. I got my answer. He did that so we wouldn’t be seen together. But he could have just gone in alone to hide. Why did he have to bring me in with him?

I looked up to ask him that, but my words froze along the narrow path of my throat when I saw his hungry eyes devouring the revealing part of my breasts. He wouldn’t take his eyes off. I wanted to speak, but the way his eyes stared at me, hungry and with a great sense of admiration, I couldn’t say a word. I knew I wanted him to keep staring. Ever since I had been burned, he was the first person who had looked at me like that—with admiration and longing. It made me feel like there was hope for me. I could still be admired even with my ugly face.

“Sexy bracelet,” he murmured. “Can I touch?”

My head felt light, and heat rushed through my body as I heard that. My breath became hot as my heart raced. Could he touch?