It's strange how one's own perspective of the world can change so abruptly. To me it is. Life was always like a fun game that you must play to your heart's content and enjoy everything it offers. Lately, life's been like a giant maze that I cannot seem to find an escape or construct a plan for.

It's frustrating.

I hate feeling lost, without a plan. It feels like I am in a web, and the fact that I am without a plan brings a feeling of helplessness that I do not wish to acknowledge.

I sunk a little further in the warm ocean of the bathtub, hoping to distract myself of the unsettling thoughts.

It's frustrating.

A knock sounded at the door, causing me to snap out of my thoughts and put my attention on the entrance of the bathroom. "What?!" I screamed rudely. I didn't mean to sound so angry and moody, but I just couldn't sort myself out at the moment. I needed time alone, time to be by myself and think freely.

"Just checking." Sebastian, the exact person who I didn't want to be with right now. It's funny, really. In the beginning I thought he was different, different from the other men I've known. They're all the same.

No. They're not all the same. He was and never will be like any of them.

Flames engulfed my village like wild hell, spreading around and wrapping its arms around all that it could reach. I looked around frantically, jumping and sobbing at every pleading cry or scream that reached my ears. My face was wet and irritated from all the tears that were smeared on my cheeks. My eyes were puffy and blurry, and my heart was so painful at the moment.

The night started with a celebration, but I'm not sure if the celebration was for my coming of age or for the death of my people.

It was that instinctive feeling that urged a person to rush because of the fear of losing something of great value. I ran towards my old wooden home, but I couldn't take any more than six steps before I was forcibly stopped, rooted to the ground.

My mother laid there, her neck sliced open and a merciless dagger jabbed into her unmoving body. I tried to scream and let the world hear my fear, but all that happened was my jaw dropping slightly. Her eyes were opened, but they didn't reflect her soul. Instead, they mirrored the flames of the dead. The flames that swallowed everything within its reach.

My father was nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be heard. Non of the screams and pleads belonged to him.

No. My father would prefer to die than beg for anything.

An image flashed in my head and that sent a surge of fear coursing throw my veins, willing my feet to move. Him. I need to find him. I can lose everyone, but if I lost him, I wouldn't be able to live.

Maybe I had gotten there too late. Maybe I wasn't as late as I thought. But I was still late. Hell's flames were dancing with everything and as though in a battle with the moon, the flames provided more light. The moon's pure light wasn't able to surpass Hell's flames.

My eyes began pooling with more tears and never in my life had I wanted to cry as much as this moment. I took hesitant steps forward, my brain unwilling to digest the situation and my heart unwilling to accept what's there before it.

"Jonathan!"

A moment like this brought the most vulnerable side out of a person. I rushed to him and once he was within my reach, I crouched down and placed his head on my lap gently.

"My love! Please, stay with me! Please don't leave me!"

A moment like this forced a stubborn person to beg.

He coughed and endeavoured to let out a smile. A shaky hand reached for my broken face and before it could collapse on his body, I rushed to place his palm on my wet cheek. Sobs and sniffs were not so silent, and not many remaining screams of pain were heard.

They were all dying.

"Please, Jonathan. Don't leave me, please!" I begged again as I fought my eyes to avoid the weapon that pierced his chest. "Please don't go." I sobbed, closing my eyes and twisting my head to lay a kiss on his palm. He wouldn't like my tears, he never does.

"You'll be fine." he breathed, then coughed painfully, his body convulsing with every move.

"No!" I opened my eyes, panic and fear taking over me. It was impulse. I was always an impulsive person that went with her instinct. "You don't know that! I'll never be fine without you! Mother and father are gone! I don't know how but that doesn't hurt as much as you going!"

Not him. It wouldn't be easy without him.

"Please, don't go."

"There's only one thing I regret." he paused to release yet another cough. I was waiting to hear. What is it? He regrets something?

"It's not making you my wife sooner."

I laughed through my sobs, more tears spilling from my eyes as though a tap has been broken. Only he was capable of something like that.

"Jewel." he breathed, his eyelids becoming heavier and drooping down. I became alarmed and searched for any threat. When there was nothing, I stared at him intently, gripping his palm tightly.

"One last kiss, please?" his voice was lowering, not so lively anymore.

I closed my eyes one final time to allow all the sorrow and grief to engulf me. He's leaving me. His heart was slowing down, and his breathing was becoming more shallow. My throat was tightening and it decided to strangle me because of my inability to do anything to save the love of my life. I wasn't able to do anything, except watch him leave me slowly.

As I lowered my head and gently touched his lips with my own, his hand used its remaining strength to grasp my cheek tightly whilst his lips opened to be in sync with my own.

"I adore you, my beautiful Jewel. I always have... always will..."

Those last words. Usually, they have the effect to make someone giggle or faint or even paint a colour on their cheeks. But cases like this, it's different. It left sorrow and a deep wound that not even the greatest of miracles could heal. There was a hole in my chest that began sending a pang through me, and I wasn't able to do anything.

"I adore you, my only Jonathan."

I kissed his lifeless lips one final time before moving to close his eyelids and kiss each one.

"How sweet, but I don't like it."

I jumped at the unrecognisable voice. My feet were wobbly, but they will stand. In front of me was a very handsome man, but in my eyes, Jonathan was still the most handsome of all mankind.

The stranger smiled, but his smile wasn't quite reassuring. Something about him wasn't settling well with me. "You're very beautiful. Too beautiful for a human, actually."

My naive self took that comment as an insult. What did he mean?

Realisation hit me, quite hard. This man was not from my village. He looked very odd and big, bigger than Jonathan. Everyone knew everyone in this village— even from nearby villages, and finding a stranger within the village was disturbing.

"I'll come back for you when you're a few months old, Sweet Little Thing."

I wasn't sure if it was the blazing of the flames or the calmness of the moon, but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. With a smile and a nod, he turned around just in time when another guy like him walked around. At that time I became aware of the deafening silence that accompanied my pain.

All that I could hear at the time were the crackling sounds of the flames and the burning of flesh.

"Hurt her too much and you are dead."

I eyed the strangers with caution. Hurt me? What was he talking about? It wasn't like me to stay more than I should, not when my instincts were telling me to move. Using the flames as a distraction, I tried to run.

It was as though the man who just came had expected my actions because he was in front of me in a little heartbeat. I screamed. How had he done that? Someone can't just quickly run all the way from across the land.

"This shouldn't hurt a lot." he said, taking a step towards me, and I didn't take a step back. "Don't blame me for it, though. You caught his attention and he wants you." his eyes raked my body and I had the nerve to slap him for his low manners. Perhaps he expected it, because he grinned and spat on the ground. He did something that had me frowning with wonder. He bit his own wrist and roughly pushed it to my face, forcing me to gulp down a thickly disgusting liquid. When I had realised what he did it was too late, and I was lying on the floor by then with an object in my attacker's hand.

He had ripped out my heart.

"Bloody fool wants to keep your heart. Forgive me for it. I hope you survive with my kind and his kind."

That night I had lost everything I once loved and cared about. My family, my humanity and my... first and last love, the man I wanted to make mine and hoped to belong to for eternity.

In a sudden, I was trying to reach the surface, desperately gasping for air. Something cold iced up my throat and quickly, I was emptying my lungs of any water. My body was shaking when I got out of the bathtub, trying to calmly wear my new set of clothing. I did not perceive whether I was shaking from the cold or the cruel anxiety that viciously attacked me out of nowhere.

I opened the door of the bathroom and tiptoed out. Relief ran through me as I saw Sebastian in the room. Sebastian was sitting on his bed lazily with a pile of papers in his hands. He looked like he was concentrating hard, as though whatever in the papers was important. My body's shaking was irking me, and there was that unstoppable urge to be comforted in Sebastian's arms when I saw him there.

It wasn't the linking bond, it was my own need. I wanted— needed— to be in Sebastian's arms.

Slow and shaky steps, yet it seemed as though my feet were unmoving. It was at that time that I was able to hear my soul's loud and wavering whispers. She was frantic and loud, but she wasn't on edge like me.

'It's in the past. Stop shaking.' she whispers quickly. 'Get a hold of yourself. Don't show weakness.'

Another forced step. Never had I thought walking would take so much of a person.

Sebastian must have either heard my soul's loud whispers, my ragged breaths or smelt my anxiousness because he suddenly stopped and lifted his head up. When a pair of comforting night-black eyes fell on me, I felt a thread of air pierce my throat and tickle my blood.

I continued taking slow, shaky steps until I was finally in front of him with my entire frame trembling. I was breathing harshly, shaking violently and on the verge of breaking down. That wasn't like me. I was not supposed to be showing weakness.

Sebastian's expression was unusual. He looked confused yet alarmed at the same time as he searched my face for any signs of harm. He dropped the papers beside him and then gave me a side smile, doing something I didn't expect.

He opened his arms wide.

I looked at his arms, still shaking and breathing hard. He gestured towards his open arms, still smiling. I didn't hesitate. I didn't want to hesitate.

His warm embrace called out to me and I slowly climbed into his arms. They wrapped around my shaking figure like a warm, comforting blanket and for a while, no words were needed.

It was consolatory.

"What's bothering you?" Sebastian whispered tranquilly. I veiled my eyes and met the loving darkness I grew familiar with. So quiet, so dark, so consulting.

I was by myself when it was dark, and I grew accustomed to it. I grew to like it.

"Hm?" he hummed as he began rocking us back and forth in a soothing manner. He was so gentle. "What's bothering you, Love?"

My lungs invited his scent in, bringing comfort along with it. Honey and Lavender. I've always liked his scent, even though I'd never mention it.

I didn't want to say anything, but I had a feeling Sebastian somehow knew, or had an idea. Breathing became hard. A cruel force clamped on my throat, which became dry.

I don't want to talk about it.

I looked directly into his calm eyes, hoping that my request would be delivered without me saying anything.

"Can I just..." I snuggled into him closer and sighed as his arms tightened around me, just like I wanted.

"You can stay in my arms as long as you want. But you need to get ready soon." he sighed, leaning back and falling flat against the bed with me resting on his solid chest.

"Get ready for what?" I asked, and my eyebrows furrowed. I was not aware of anything happening today.

"I'm attending a business meeting in England. I need you with me."

I froze. I cannot go there. I pulled back and stared at Sebastian with horror. His expression quickly fell and he sat upright, tightening his arms around me protectively as he did.

"I-I-I can't go there, Slade," I shook my head frantically, stuttering and shaking once again. "I-I can't. I don't want to go back. I—"

"Jewel." Sebastian stopped me, his face nothing but serious and his gentle hands cupping my cheeks, forcing me to look at him. "Do you trust me?"

It was a question people often ask. The answer is simple. A yes or a no. But it's usually a yes. The question is to ensure a person's trust in someone else, a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. But did I trust Sebastian? Ever since the day I lost it all, I never once trusted anyone other than my soul. Sebastian has taken my freedom from me, he had imprisoned me and linked me to him. But he's always been so caring and kind towards me. He's always been protecting me. Do I trust Sebastian?

"Yes."

He smiled, lifting some blocks off of my shoulders with that dazzling smile. How could he do that?

"I'll be with you. Don't panic."

I nodded, never lifting my eyes off of him. I trust him, I only need to pull myself together and trust him. Despite what he's done, he's always been there for me.

I spent the entire journey in one of Sebastian's private jets doing the one thing I wanted at that time. Sleeping. I slept peacefully in Sebastian's arms, on his lap. He had insisted so that some of his heat could transfer to me.

"Tom is really sweet at times— but so is Jerry. I just don't know who I like the most. What do you think? Tom?" I opened one hand and continued, "Or Jerry?" I opened the other.

Sebastian did not seem like he was interested. He seemed quite bored, in fact. "Do you want the truth?" he leaned forward, enquiring solemnly.

"No," I said with a straight face. "Please, by all means, do tell me a lie."

Sebastian grinned and said, "Really? Then I think I should let you know that I have no idea regarding what you're saying."

A gasp of horror escaped my lips as I placed a hand over my heart, my jaw dropping and my eyes widening. "How could you?" I gasped.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and threw his head back, closing his eyes and relaxing a little. "I'm bored." he declared.

I grinned with mischief and asked, "Do you want to have some fun?"

"No," his expression turned into a blank one. "I like this mood of nothingness and not having anything to do."

"Well, too bad. I want to have fun."

Sebastian's heartbeat picked up as my body inched closer to him. My lips lightly brushed his in a teasing manner, wanting to get a reaction out of him first. Sebastian huffed, his hands moving to grip my hips firmly when he pushed his lips towards mine roughly. It's like both of us had forgotten we were flying in a private jet.

"I'm sorry," I breathed teasingly when I pulled away and threw my head back when Sebastian trailed his lips down my neck. "I thought you said you liked nothingness."

His movement ceased and he pushed away. With a light smirk on his face he said, "I suppose I did."

My jaw dropped for the hundredth time. He pushed me away so quickly as though what we were acting was not a big deal.

"Excuse me?" I couldn't get over the shock. He seemed so calm and cool about it, as though it really was nothing.

"You're excused, Love." there was a gleam in his eyes, one which I couldn't read. "We're landing soon." he looked outside the window, sighing. His chest rose and fell, his heartbeat slowing down again.

"Sebby." I whined and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt with a pout. "I'm hungry."

His face snapped to me, his eyes now holding a dangerous spark in them. The sides of his lips curved into a smirk once again as he leaned his head towards me and whispered, "So am I."

"You're not drinking my blood." I said flatly, getting up and moving away from him. He pouted, his delicious lips puckering and his eyes becoming those of a lost puppy. "And don't do that. It makes you look so irresistibly cute."

He scoffed, folding his thick arms on his chest. "I'm gorgeous, not cute." he said bitterly. "I'm a man, not a puppy."

"Someone has a big ego." I muttered under my breath.

"Not as big as yours, Love." he winked, his expression mirroring cheekiness.

"Excuse me!" I gasped, offended. "I do not have a big ego! I do not have one at all!"