Chapter 1: Chased Out From Home

Haylee's POV:

"Get out from my house! You stupid bitch! Don't come back here! You're not my daughter anymore! Such an eyesore!"

I felt like that was the darkest day of my life. It was raining lightly and I was standing on the street right in front of the gatehouse looking at my furious mother. It was just a small old house inside the neighbourhood.

She turned her back on me and closed the front door leaving me outside without anything. I cried my heart out begging her to let me back in. I called her out so many times but the door won't open. She left me there in the rain, to die.

How did this day ended up so badly? This morning, my stepdad tried to molest me before I went to school. My mother had left the house earlier to do her cashier job at the supermarket. I was left alone in the house with my drunken stepdad. He was drinking last night.

The living room smelled alcohol as I walked past it to exit the house. But my stepdad grabbed my hand and dragged me to the dining table trying to take advantage of me. I was so scared of his action that I grabbed a porcelain plate on the table and hit it on his head. The plate was broken and there was some blood coming out from his head. He stopped what he was doing and touched his head. When he saw the blood in his hand, he turned into a beast and trying to attack me again violently.

Fortunately, I managed to run straight to the main door and left the house. I ran as much as I could towards the bus stop and luckily I managed to catch the bus I usually took to go to my high school.

I was completely unsettled the whole day at school. But I managed to hide my problems from my friends. None of them seemed to suspect anything. Actually, none of them knew how broken my family was.

My real dad died due to an accident when I was fifteen. We were real closed, that when he died I felt like my whole world was collapsing right before my eyes. My mother was devastated, she never worked when dad was still alive. So when he was gone, mom was put under pressure to try raising me alone. She did multiple jobs to feed the two of us. She was in her right mind until about a year ago when she met my stepdad.

They got married so suddenly and he moved into our home. That's when the nightmares happened. He was an abusive husband. He didn't want to work and he just kept my mother did all the things for him like he was a king. He drank beer a lot and he too managed to turn my mom into an alcoholic.

When I came back home from school, mom was already at home. She looked furious. Seemed like my stepdad called her to come home because I hit his head and cause it to bleed. Without asking me for an explanation, mom accused me of trying to seduce my stepdad. How could she? How could she do that to her own daughter that she had raised for more than sixteen years? Why couldn't she trust me?

She chased me out of the house immediately. I was still in my school uniform when she chased me out. She didn't give me anything. No money, no food, not even my school bag and no clothes. She did want me to die obviously.

Crying in the rain, with my mind almost gone insane, knowing that I was helpless, knowing that no one could save me, I just stood still there like a statue. Looking at the house that used to be a home for me, but not anymore.

At first, I thought that was the darkest day of my life. It did until I saw him there, walking closer towards me and stood erect right in front of me. I was so startled by his presence that I took two steps backwards to see the guy. But my vision was blurry due to the rain and because I was crying.

He was holding a black umbrella in his right hand, while his left hand was holding his cellphone. He stared at me intensely as if he was wondering why I cried so much.

"You're drenched," he said to me with his hoarse voice. Why did his voice sound familiar to me? Did I know this guy?

I carefully took a look at him. He was wearing a black Armani wool peacoat and matched it with black trousers. His noble temperance spread across the street as he took a step closer to me again. He covered me from the rain using his umbrella. He stood so close to me because he didn't want to be drenched by the rain too. He put his cellphone in his peacoat left pocket and scanning me from top to bottom, then to top again.

"Your eyes were red," he said again. 

Without warning, his large hand reached my face and he wiped my tears away. He leaned his head closer to mine and examined my eyes. Strangely, his touch managed to comfort my heart. Within minutes, I stopped crying and suddenly my heart was invaded by various questions and uncertainties. Who is this guy?