Chapter 2

"You don't mind this, do you?" A husky voice asked with politeness laced in it. She slowly opened her eyes to the source of the voice.

'Am I dreaming?' She thought within herself as she wiped my eyes to be sure she is not starting to see things. She did not expect to see him yet, maybe she is supposed to since today is different for her.

"Cyrus...?" She muffled out, more like questioning. His hot gaze was directed on her, staring intensively. It's a type of stare she always classifies with that of pity and nothing else. Pity, just pity!

"Yeah, it's me. Quit that stare, you aren't seeing things." He replied with his lips curled up into a thin smile as stretched forth his right hand towards her. "Here, have this."

Her eyes sparkled in delight and she did not bother to hide the excitement in her. I mean, why would she?

Hastily, she snatched the snack from his grip and without wasting any second, she began munching on it like her life depends on.

Well to be honest, her life actually depends on it since she's almost dying from hunger. She has little or no hope of eating that day.

"Slow down, kid." He cautioned lightly. "You won't want to get choked, would you?"

"Who cares if I choke on myself?" She asked with an air of sarcasm laced in my voice. "No one cares, so why do I bother too?"

"I do care, alright!" He enunciated, sincerity laced in his voice. "I care if something happens to you, did you get?"

She sighed deeply so as not to roll her eyeballs at him. At this moment, she just wants to stuff her stomach and care less if she get choked or not.

She needed her lost strength back to complete the work she's given, else she might end up being roasted alive, which she did not want.

Well, you might keep wondering who Cyrus is and why did he really care about her as he said?

***

Yeah, Petal is the name given to her by her mother on the same night she was born before her mother gave up the ghost.

She was supposed to be a twin but the other girl died immediately after she was born, leaving only Petal to survive.

–and since then, she had earned herself nothing but her father's hatred, making her existence that of pain and every day regret. He always accused her of causing her twin and mother's death.

Slave. Curse. Evil. That's the only name her father refers to, believing she does not deserve to be called the Petal her mother named her.

"She's a piece created from curse itself, she deserve no such name." He always said this to anyone who cares to listen.

Petal has three older siblings. The first was a female and she barely knew her that much since she's married to her mate.

The second oldest was Cyrus, who stays in the alpha's household ever since he got his mate. Yeah, he is soon to be the next beta of their pack though.

And the least oldest. Alexander. He has nothing to write home about, that is in Petal's point of view. Just like their father, he bully and picked on her, making everything more difficult for her.

He cares less about her existence and make her do his work, watching his friends pick on her and turn her into a laughing stock, forgetting the fact that they are siblings.

Siblings? He hated to hear that word as he did not see Petal as his sister but a slave which his mother managed to produce before her death.

With Alexander and her father, every day seems to be another nightmare for her and she always dread waking up.

Death. That's the only soothing words she could always think of but she's just another coward who is scared of taking her life herself.

Cyrus was the only one who cared for her but he was never around. He had talked Alexander and his father into changing their attitude towards Petal but none cares to listen, mostly their father.

Since it's her eighteenth birthday, he decided to pay his home a surprise visit. Looking everywhere around for her and could not find her, he needed no one to tell him where she was.

The hall – and it turns out his guess was not wrong after all. His heart seized seeing her laying helplessly and almost lifeless on the ground.

She has grown way skinnier than he remembered, her bone threatening to shoot out with little flesh covering it. If calmed, any one can easily count her bones.

He swallowed the huge lump in his throat as he helped her up, giving her the snack he got for her, he is aware of how his father does starve her.

Most times for days and still expected her to do the workload he does impose on her without her complaining. Well, she dare not!

The smile on his face looks like it won't fade any time soon as he watches her eat, admiration in his eyes.

"I need to finish this fast, father must not catch me eating and you know that." She muffled out her sentence before she shoved in the last bite down her throat. "This should go a long way on me, I guess. Thanks for this, Cyrus."

He shook his head sideways. "No need to thank me. It's what big brothers do, you know." He commented.

Petal let out a soft chuckle. It seems like ages since she last smiled and talked less of laughing. That feeling, she is not used to it.

"Still, I need to thank you since you just saved my life." She uttered airily.

Cyrus said nothing in reply but stared at her. This time, not with pity but with an amusement and admiration filled look. He could not stop wondering how she was able to survive this long.

To him, she's the greatest fighter he would ever come across and would never stop hoping for her to survive for as long as she can. She needs to fight it to the end.

"What –?" She called out, breaking Cyrus off his train of thought and wearing a questioning look.

His delicate brows were creased deeply, faint lines visible on his forehead. "Why what...?" He asked back, finding it hard to get her a sudden question.

"Why are you giving me that kind of stare?" She muttered, picking on her nail and avoiding eye contact with him. "It's creepy, for real."

She can never get used to Cyrus' type of stare, no matter how much he spares her. She is used to her father's types of hateful and disgustful look and that of Alexander's too.

He heaved in a short shallow breath. "Why? Can I stare at my kid sister again?" He asked, teasingly. "I guess it's forbidden now, is it not?"

"I never said such a thing." She replied to him immediately, sounding self defensive. She was still picking on her fingers and avoiding his gaze too. "I was just..."

Cyrus cut her off abruptly, giving her no chance to complete her sentence. "Happy Eighteenth birthday, Petal." He enounced, uttering his words in his most attractive and manly voice which sent chills down Petal's spine. "I should have said this before now, I'm sorry for staying too long."

Petal's heart raced.

She had tried to forget she had tried her best to forget it's her birthday and doesn't want to remember that day at all. It always causes her deep pain and she is always overworked, with no chance of resting at all.

“... You have no reason to celebrate on this day at all. You have not even one...” Her father always tells her on every birthday, with a voice filled with nothing else but hatred.

“– you should have died instead, slave, what's the excess of your existence? Hazel should have survived instead of you, that way, I would be a happy man...”

That has been his anthem for years, as long as she could remember and she was surprised he has not sprouted his usual hateful words to her.

Of course, she's patiently waiting on him to say his usual sentence to her since she is used to it – and soon, she knows, he would address her like that.

It's easier for him to remember since her mother, Hazel died on the same day she was born. He always used the opportunity to cause her more pain on that day.

"You know better than anyone not to wish me, Cyrus." She told him, her voice almost broken as she was barely audible too. "It doesn't matter what today is. It means nothing to me since nothing has changed."

"Well everything changed, Petal. Everything. If only you were able to see it." He told her in a cajoling voice.

But Pedal doesn't seem like she is ready to listen to him. She is not and would never be, not when she is still alive. 

None of her birthdays would ever be memorable to her. Well maybe it will but in the most hateful and pain filled way. Yeah…