The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 30: Fear

"You make me vulnerable. I cannot defend myself against you. And that scares me. More than anything else"

Gabriella grimaced with an increasingly biting pain at the tip of her lips. He rubbed his face, but the pain in Akram's slap was even worse. Fear runs through his entire soul when he realizes that Akram is currently very angry and not playing around. His lips trembled as he ventured to express his curiosity.

"Why...why is it just because of a cleaning service officer, you... are you angry to such an extent...?" Gabriella raised her head, looking at Akram who was towering in front of her. It felt like he wanted to get up, but Akram's domineering attitude made his legs feel so weak, trembling and unable to support his body standing up.

Akram glanced slightly at Elana who was still silent rigidly behind him, then he looked back at Gabriella and grinned.

"Because, that cleaning service officer is my woman." Akram bowed over Gabriella, took the woman's chin violently and forced Gabriella to look up at him. Enjoyed the shock that smeared Gabriella's eyes when she heard his words.

Akram brought her lips closer to the side of Gabriella's face, making sure she could hear every word she said. "And that woman of mine, she's a thousand times better than you. In any case. A rotten woman like you doesn't deserve to put your filthy hands on her. You even dare to hurt Akram Night's precious possession, so you will accept the consequences. I'll definitely crush you to the toilet until you think it's better to just die." Akram uttered his threatening sentence cruelly like a death sentence.

Akram pushed Gabriella violently, then turned his head towards Elios who seemed to be waiting patiently behind him.

"Elios" he said calmly.

"Well, sir," Elios nodded his head, knowing what to do without Akram needing to describe it in detail. He turned his head towards the bodyguards who had seen everything in a trained silence, then gestured for the bodyguards to move.

The bodyguards directly charged towards Gabriella, gripping her. Then when Gabriella thrashed and refused to be held, they turned even rougher, dragging Gabriella mercilessly towards the elevator.

"Acram! Acram! Please.you can't do this to me! Acram! Acram! Please...!" Gabriella beriba trying to soften the heart of Akram. He realized that receiving punishment from Akram Night was the same as receiving a death sentence. His life would be ruined to the bottom and no one would dare to lend a hand to help him, for they were all afraid of Akram Night.

Unfortunately, Akram appears to be self-conscious about Gabriella's heartbreaking screams and pleas for mercy, which continue to be heard all the way through her being dragged into the elevator. Until finally the woman's voice was lost swallowed by the closed elevator door.

"You know what you have to do, Elios," The assistant is unable to protect Elana and causes her to get hurt, but Akram chooses not to vent his anger, although his tone of voice implies emphatically that Elios must pay his attention with the success of carrying out impeccable orders. "Blow up Gabriella's entire worst scandal to the media and smash her career to the bottom. Make sure that he will not get any job offers after this. Tell her that whoever dares to help Gabriella will face off and be destroyed by Akram Night. Make the woman lose all the rest of the money she has in any way. I give you permission to go through all legal and illegal procedures using all the resources we have. I want Gabriella to lose everything, destroy the woman to the bottom until she ends up being driven out into the streets, wandering around, and having no hope of life "

"Good, Sir." Elios answered obediently.

"Give me a report later. I don't allow any failure in this," Akram ruled firmly, then his gaze centered on Elana back.

Akram's footsteps were about to approach Elana, but at once, Elana jumped back in fear.

"No! Don't come any closer!" Elana exclaimed, extending her hand forward as if trying to drive Akram away.

Akram steps immediately restrained. His eyes grabbed Elana's gaze towards him and realized there was a thick flash of fear there.

This woman came back scared to him after all the things that happened between them?

Akram won't allow that to happen. He already enjoyed Elana's defiant attitude and smartly made compromises with him. He was happy to see Elana trying to argue and rebel against him while he was increasingly encouraged to try to conquer the woman. Akram will not let Elana return to be a cowardly cat who ran away to find a hiding place when he saw it. He wants Elana to be a stubborn cat, who does not hesitate to scratch and bite him, to make the whole process of conquest feel pleasant, and the victory he achieved then becomes more meaningful.

Akram ignores Elana's rejection as usual and steps back toward the woman. His hand moved quickly, about to grab Elana into his arms with the intention of dispelling the woman's fear of him. However, in that second also Elana reflexively raised her hand to protect herself, making Akram freeze instantly.

Elana was afraid of being hit by him? Was it because she had slapped Gabriella without even blinking? So just because of that, Elana thinks that Akram is a man who likes to do violence against women?

Akram gritted his angry teeth, trying to maintain his patience.

"I'll never hit you, Elana." Akram hissed, his hand moving to forcefully pull Elana closer towards him.

"Master Akram,"

Suddenly, Elios's voice behind him stopped Akram from moving. Akram's head turned with a threatening look towards Elios who had dared to interrupt him, but his assistant kept an impenetrable flat face before then speaking in a formal tone.

"Mr Akram, Mr. Fabian called and informed him that he had just arrived at the lobby and was preparing to take the elevator here. I think we should move Elana from here first to avoid any unwanted questions" Elios glanced at the two bodyguards that reappeared from the elevator, ready to pick up Elana. "I will take care of Elana's delay to her division, say that there was an accident and make sure to take Elana to the clinic to be examined by Nathan's doctor" Elios said in a reassuring tone.

Akram. On one hand, he wanted to keep Elana close to him, take care of the slap marks on Elana's cheek and ignore everything for the sake of the woman. But on the other hand, professionally, Akram knows that he has to see Fabian. Fabian is one of the company's highly competent and dedicated CEOs. The fact that Akram has thrown the lead actress out of a well-planned and carefully crafted big budget film makes Akram feel responsible for helping to solve the problems Fabian will face because of it.

They should talk about replacement artists, then overhaul the entire budget plan and inform all film supporters about the changes. The major artist changes will completely overhaul everything and they will have to cope quickly if they want film production to keep going on schedule.

Akram finally decided to retreat for now. Later, after this matter was finished, he would focus all of himself on Elana.

Strictly speaking, Akram hands Elana's employee card to Elios, choosing not to turn his head again towards Elana.

"Go and take care of it all now. I'll wait for Fabian." Akram turned his body and stepped into his study room again while slamming the door behind him until it closed with a loud noise.

In the elevator moving down, clutching the employee card Elios had just given him, Elana stood anxiously staring at Elios' back. Meanwhile, in the left and right corners of the elevator, the bodyguards seemed to be standing still guarding.

Somehow Elana felt that Elios had deliberately interjected at the crucial moment to save her. Otherwise, the current Akram would have already forced his will upon him again.

"Thank you," Elana suddenly said to Elios' back, she did not know why to say that, inexplicably Elana felt the need to thank Elios.

The head of Elios turned to him, the man paused for a moment, as if pondering in advance what he was going to say.

"I dare to guarantee, from the experience of ten years of serving Mr. Akram, that he never hit or slapped his lovers. What you see, when Mr. Akram slapped Ms. Gabriella earlier, is a form of punishment that Miss Gabriella deserves, regardless of gender. Rest assured that Mr. Akram will never hit you, and do not nurture unnecessary fear, "Elios fell silent as if thinking, then quickly added. "But you have to keep your attitude, lest you make a fatal mistake, which makes you so worthy of being slapped by Mr. Akram."

Elana only nodded thinly in response to Elios' words even though her mind was turbulent in wanting to refute.

Akram is currently probably clean from treating physical violence to him. But...what about psychic violence? Isn't the damage caused by physical violence nearly as bad as the damage caused by psychic violence?

The magnificent employee-only clinic located in the company area is headed directly by Dr. Nathan. Of course Nathan never intervened directly to deal with patients, there are other doctors who carried out the task according to their position, while Nathan who became a personal doctor Akram is only in charge of providing health services to Akram only.

But regarding Elana, because this is a special case, of course Nathan has to intervene directly.

Elana frowned as the sharp stabbing pain felt from the touch, causing Nathan's doctor to raise an eyebrow.

"Your skin surface is very fragile, probably also because the size of your blood vessels is smaller and more fragile than others, so you bruise easily," Nathan seemed to remember. "When I was in the hospital, I had trouble finding your veins, and after being infused, your veins quickly became swollen and inflamed because of their small size, unable to accommodate the large infusion fluid flow, until I had to move it a few times."

Elana just nodded her head when she received the information, she had no intention of saying anything as her lips ached when moved.

Elios who drove Elana himself to the clinic seemed impatient waiting for Nathan who handled Elana while continuing to slap relentlessly.

"Are you done, doctor? I must immediately escort Miss Elana back to her division and explain her 'accident' to her superior." Elios said without hiding his impatience.

"Oh, I'm done. You just have to apply the ointment I gave you to relieve the bruise, Elana. And if you feel pain to the point of bothering you can get this small dose of pain relief from me," Elana receives a tiny tube of Nathan's round white tablet and puts it in her pocket

Afterwards, Elios let Elana step out of the examination room, slightly pushing Elana to hurry.

"Elios?" nathan called out, and Elios and Elana looked at him at the same time.

"What else is it?" Elios asked with furrowed brows behind his glasses.

Nathan grinned widely.

"Tell your boss, the wound on the corner of Elana's lips hasn't healed properly. So he shouldn't kiss Elana for a while, because even though it would feel good for Akram, it would hurt Elana" Nathan said in a satisfied tone, saying, not caring about Elana's cheeks that were red with embarrassment.

"Attraction bus is coming, let's go up, Lana," ms. Winda and her co-workers stood up as several buses in shiny black gold approached employees waiting at the bus stop.

The distance between the office building and the main gate is quite far. To get to the main gate, they had to pass through the red paving streets, which were lined with trees and shady green parks on the left and right, up to several kilometers away.

That's why the company provides a special shuttle bus facility for employees who don't have private vehicles, and the bus is currently approaching them.

Elana gulped, waiting until the bus approached, and then she acted with a surprised expression.

"Ah... it seems like my employee's card is left at the table. I have to take it, otherwise tomorrow it can not enter absent at the gate..." Elana said fast, pretending to panic. Attendance at this company requires fingerprint scans and scans of employee cards that have been installed special baricodes. Attendance is made twice, at the main entrance gate, and in each division. Attendance at the gate also opens access to the company area, because without carrying an identity card, employees will not be allowed into the company area.

Ms. Winda looked doubtful, staring at the bus that was waiting and then back to Elana. If he misses this one, there's still another shuttle bus that's coming to pick him up, but it's still half an hour away.

"Do you need company? The next bus is only half an hour away, if you're afraid to go back inside alone, I can..."

"Ti. no, no!" Elana interrupted the good intentions of Madam Winda quickly. "Mommy's house is far away, if you don't take the bus now, then you can be stuck in a long traffic jam. If I only need to go to the orphanage behind which is close enough, waiting for the next bus driver is fine" Elana continued in a reassuring tone.

"Oh, alright then," Madam Winda nodded her head. "Then I go home, I'll see you tomorrow. Oh yes, be careful, do not fall again from the stairs like that," Ms. Winda refers to a bruise on Elana's face that is recognized as a wound due to falling from the stairs.

Elana nodded her head and waved at the bus that was boarded by Ms. Winda. After the bus drove away, Elana hurriedly took back the phone that was vibrating constantly from inside her bag.

A new message from Elios. Said that a car complete with a driver had been prepared parked in a special parking hallway in the west area of the building, specifically to pick him up.

Elana immediately ran to the west area of the building to approach the car. Inwardly he thought to talk about setting off and going home to this company for the future, there was no way he would lie making excuses for missing goods continuously every time he wanted to board the bus for an invitation, it is also impossible that he uses a car and driver from Akram that is so conspicuous every day, however they are careful, there will be times when there are others who catch him and disperse everything. He will talk to Akram, and hopefully, Akram will compromise.

The night had passed while the darkness defeated by the street lights and the light of the passing car, covering all sides of the windows of the dark-glazed car climbed by Akram, creating a bright yellowish flash that seemed to try hard to penetrate the thick glass layer.

Akram was silent for almost half the way home, he seemed to be thinking hard. When the car finally drove past the main gate of the Night Heaven Hills apartment, Akram said, starting a conversation with Elios who was driving in front of him.

"It looks like Elana's scared of me. What an irony, he once saw me beating that traitor in the club's toilet to death and bleeding, and he didn't look scared. But now, just by seeing me slap Gabriella, she's scared of me like she's seeing the most evil monster ever," she asked breaking the silence.

Elios's eyes glanced from the middle glass towards the passenger seat to scan Akram's reaction and then spoke.

"Miss Elana is a woman. Seeing you slap another woman so clearly, would certainly make her reflect that on her."

"Empathize fellow troublesome women" Akram said exasperatedly, clenching his hands, "He should have known that I would never hit him" he said ironically

Elios nodded his head. "I think Miss Elana will eventually learn. But it takes time." Elios went back to pondering, thinking whether he would speak his idea to his master or not. Elios finally opened his mouth as well. "I have an idea, maybe it can make Miss Elana forget her fear of you."

Akram furrowed his brows, his expression flat despite the rays of interest in his eyes.

"And what was your idea?" ask Akram in an impatient tone.