The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 42: Attention

Akram kissed Elana until the elevator door opened. Akram quickly let go of his kiss, bent down and scooped Elana into a sling, taking her out of the elevator, stepping across the special living room and Elios' desk, and go straight into his study.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Akram did not give Elana any chance to break away. He dropped Elana from the sling until Elana's body lay on the sofa in his room, when the woman bouncy to get up and run away, Akram quickly pushed her back to lie down.

She needed to hug the woman to make sure that Elana was okay.

"Ti..no!" Elana began to cry out in panic as Akram's hand moved to touch her. "No, Akram! I can't. Please, not here. I have to get back to work..."

"I need to hug you" Akram growled.

"But. but..." Elana was still trying to refute, wanting to break away, but Akram's grip was getting stronger on her.

"Ssh. shut up, I need to make sure that you're okay" Akram's voice was soft, full of pleadings he'd never made before, and it left Elana helpless to fight back.

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Elana looked at herself in front of the mirror and sighed. Her face and some of the children's hair looked still wet and damp after she cleaned herself in a private toilet room located inside Akram's workroom.

Her eyes sneezed softly as her hand moved touching the reflection of her own reflection in the mirror.

How long will he live like this? Being under the power of Akram without him being able to resist?

"Elana," a resolute deep voice rang out from the outside door, there was a tinge of anxiety implied there. "You okay?"

Elana's expression turned sour hearing the question.

That okay? After all that the man had done to him all day until the afternoon was almost gone? How could he be okay?

But Elana stepped into the door as well, opened it and exited the toilet room. He was directly faced with Akram who was holding her captive, standing nearby as if he had been waiting for Elana to come out.

"I ordered food for you" Akram said in a flat tone. "Eat first."

Elana shook her head in annoyance. Now, after the man was satisfied, he just remembered to feed Elana?

"I'm not hungry. I want to go home and rest. Please, let me get out of here, "without Akram's whereabouts, Elana steps towards the door. It's been almost six in the afternoon and all the current office employees are definitely on their way to their homes.

Akram company does not support overtime system, let alone the type of overtime that is done to appoint loyalty to the company. Here, overtime is considered as an inability to manage time efficiently so that employees are forced to work more than working hours because of their incompetence. Therefore, at five o'clock in the afternoon, most employees must have gone home from their seats.

Akram gripped Elana's arm carefully as she held onto Elana's newly healed arm. He slowly pulled Elana to stand before him, holding her with both hands on her shoulders.

"If you're worried about your work as a cleaning service and your colleagues, I've asked Elios to return them all after lunch on the grounds of a half-day work-specific compliment, after they worked hard doing extra work in the remodeling area to skip their lunch hour," Akram squinted. "Everyone is so happy to go home that no one realizes that you've disappeared from among them."

"Akram," Elana ventured to mention the man's name while looking directly at him. "Please, can you. can you not call me again at lunchtime? You've always held me back more than you should. What other reasons would be made if this happened to happen again? You ... You couldn't have sent them back for half a day, right?"

Akram's expression darkened. Next to her hand, she grabbed Elana's chin and raised her little face towards him.

"You're not in a position of alignment with me to try to negotiate. Do you think I can't pull you out of your job, then tie you up near me so I can touch you whenever I want? Don't push your luck, Elana. You know I'm not that good at compromising with you," Akram hissed in a stern voice.

"But you've already promised!" Elana interrupted with teary eyes. "You promised you'd let me work if the whole enterprise was fulfilled. Now, are you going to go low by reneging on that promise?"

"Who's being so low is actually here, Elana?" Akram leaned Elana towards her, holding her chin tight, while she lowered her head and brought her face closer. "You said about the terms. I've fulfilled all the requirements you've submitted up to this point. What about you? Do you remember the terms of me that you agreed to but never did?" urge Akram with a dark threatening tone.

Elana's cheeks immediately blushed until it felt hot. Of course he remembered the requirements of Akram. The man asks her to show a voluntary attitude, take initiative and be active when they make love. Elana was suddenly embarrassed when she realized that none of Akram's requirements were what she was doing.

Akram's eyes narrowed noticing the hue on Elana's cheek. A cynical smile appeared on her lips looking at the glint of guilt in Elana's eyes.

"Not being voluntary, you always act as if you're sick of making love to me," Akram pressed his lips against Elana's lips and swiped provocatively. "Although your body seems more honest than your mouth."

"Hen... stop!" Elana looked away quickly, releasing the grip of Akram on her chin. Akram's sharp mouth managed to humiliate Elana to the bottom, and somehow, the man seemed happy to do so. Elana's eyes began to glaze over due to the upheaval of her feelings, and of course it was not separated from Akram's supervision.

Unexpectedly, Akram then instead brought Elana into his chest, hugging her tightly.

"If you show good will to meet my requirements, then I will consider giving you comfort in working hours by not forcing you to come to my workplace every lunch hour" he said softly, showing good will to make peace.

When Elana did not answer, but also did not wriggle as Akram hugged the woman tightly and drowned Elana's head in her chest, Akram only thinned his lips between annoyance and awe with Elana's stubbornness and his constant effort without receding to fight her.

"Now, eat first. You're coming home with me tonight," break up Akram quickly, taking Elana to the sofa where on the table in front of her there are various kinds of tempting dishes that make Elana widen her eyes and forget that she was about to fight Akram by saying that she was full.

Akram took a seat before Elana and his mind turned. Of course he was still thinking about Xavier. Akram plans to make security arrangements for Elana. The guard must be strict without gaps, but at the same time must be able to make anyone unsuspecting about Elana's current status as her woman.

Until Elios can complete a full scan of the employees working under his company, anyone has the possibility to become a spy for Xavier. They have to be very careful for now.

Thinking about Xavier made Akram remember that Elana had been in one room with the monster. His facial expression darkened as he looked at Elana who was enjoying her late lunch.

"You met some freak in the men's toilet?" Akram began his question with a probing tone.

Elana who was bribing a full mouthful of food into her mouth widened her eyes to hear Akram's question. She was starving because Akram had made her late for lunch and was pushing her strength until she felt tired, but that didn't mean she was too weak to argue with him.

"It's not enough to plant a GPS microchip in my body, do you also install a CCTV camera to watch me?" it's full of accusations.

Akram's lips thinned, but no rebuttal came out of his mouth regarding Elana's accusation.

"I'm only monitoring you if I think you're in a dangerous situation." Akram looked back at Elana with a piercing look. "You met a guy in the employee toilet, didn't you? You need to know that he's a very dangerous man. From now on, if you see him again - though I'll use all means to prevent that from happening - you should immediately run as far away as possible."

Elana's memory immediately returned to the incident where she met a foreign figure in the employee's toilet. His forehead was wrinkled deep because Akram's words did not match the visualization he experienced directly.

"She looked very sick and weak," Elana frowned and revealed her thoughts. "How can a weak person be a dangerous person?"

Akram's expression turned serious, placing emphasis on every word as if he wanted Elana to hear his warning intently.

"Have you never heard the saying that the more beautiful his physical appearance is, the more poisonous he is?" Akram asked with a thick tone of irony.

"Are you talking about yourself?" asked Elana in a cynical tone. There was a beam of satisfaction in his soul, pleased that he had used the phrase Akram said to attack Akram himself.

Unfortunately, Elana's satisfaction didn't last long. Instead of feeling humiliated, Akram even grinned with sensual glittering eyes that were completely directed at Elana.

"So, do you think my physical appearance is beautiful?" akram asked quickly, his sentence managed to hit Elana down by a landslide and made Elana's cheeks red with embarrassment.

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When they get home, Akram frees Elana to go into her room, while she goes into her own room

A few hours passed after Akram took care of some work, then went to take a shower and clean up. Akram accidentally gives Elana a chance to rest and plans to free Elana from the touch of her hand for the night.

When she came out of the bathroom with wet hair and steam left over from the warm water she was using, her phone rang. Akram's expression instantly turned wary, knowing that this call was the information he was waiting for. The phone was quickly picked up.

"Elios," Akram called out the name of his interlocutor in a stern tone, then fell silent waiting for the informant

"Sir, we've been following Xavier's car until he gets home. It seemed like he had indeed not hidden his existence and had still returned to his same mansion from five years ago. I put people on guard and scout around the area near the house, and from the report said that since entering the house this afternoon, Xavier did not come out again."

"OK," Akram frowned as he recalled Elana saying that in his eyes, Xavier looked weak and sick. "Has Nathan been able to get through the medical information about Xavier? Elana said that Xavier looked weak and sick. However, the Xavier I met in the VVIP living room looked healthy with no shortage of anything."

"Doctor Nathan hasn't provided any more information, sir," Elios replied quickly. "But I'll call him right away and report the latest developments to you."

"good. I want Xavier's entire movement, no matter how small, to be monitored without a crack and reported to me."

Akram was closing his conversation with Elios when suddenly from the direction of the first-floor kitchen there was the sound of broken glass objects slamming into pieces with a loud voice.

Without waiting for long, Akram immediately grabbed the gun within his range, then moved swiftly and vigilantly out of his room, heading straight for the kitchen area.

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The scene in front of him was not something Akram had imagined. At first, Akram thought there was an intruder who managed to break into his apartment and was careless enough to drop things But, at this time, it was, what appeared to be Elana sitting on the floor in a panic while her nervous hands were trying to pick up the broken glass from the tea pot that had been smashed into pieces.

When Elana looked up and noticed the presence of Akram in front of her, her face turned deathly pale.

"Ma.sorry me. My stomach hurts like a cramp and I want to make tea, but hot water splashed into my hands until I nudged the pot, you can cut it out of my pay..."

Akram kept his gun, his expression turning dark filled with anger.

"Get out of there, Elana! You'll be hit by broken glass if you do that!"

Elana looked at Akram confused. "But.this fragment..I must.." Elana's voice stopped when Akram was standing nearby, reached out to her before lifting her up.

Elana looked at Akram confused, then her eyes turned towards the broken glass on the kitchen floor.

"That glass fragment ...." Elana was about to argue again, still trying to escape from the sling of Akram. However, both his movement and his voice later, immediately stopped by Akram's hardening.

"Stupid! Forget about that broken glass, someone will take care of it later!" akram jolts rough, then takes Elana up the stairs and goes straight to her room, not to Elana's room. The man put Elana on his bed, then leaned over Elana, watching the woman closely.

"Which part of it hurts?" akram's hand moved, slipping from under Elana's dress, then infiltrating to touch the skin layer of her abdomen directly.

Elana's dress was lifted up while Akram's palms felt so hot on her stomach, almost like a warm compress that calmed the cramping pulsating there.

"Here's the sick one?" Akram studied Elana's facial expressions and guessed exactly. His hand continued to rub and press there gently, trying to help.

Elana nodded, frowning as a painful cramp seethed from within her stomach.

"Maybe..maybe stomach acid." whispered Elana slowly, began to pale because of enduring the pain.

Guilt immediately flashed on Akram's facial expression.

"Because I made you late to eat?" Akram frowned. When Elana did not answer and even closed her eyes as if she was enduring a very severe pain, Akram stood up quickly. "I have a medicine box somewhere here. I'll get you some medicine." she said before rushing towards her wardrobe.

Some time later, Akram was still struggling in front of his wardrobe and unpacking things and rummaging through the clothes that were there. Akram cabinets are very large, embedded almost fill the entire side of the wall of his room with various layers of shelves and arrangements that are very neatly and perfectly sorted.

Currently, despite being sick, Elana grimaced to see Akram who almost destroyed his closet to an unruly mess, very contrary to his usual self, very much, always neat and perfectly organized.

"It should be here. Goddamnit! where's that fucking thing?"

Akram cursed in a series of grunts while his hands continued to scatter and unpack things.

"Acclusive..." Elana tried to call. "This is just ordinary gastritis, I often experience it if you eat late and it will subside on its own if..."

"You often experience it if you eat late? Frequently? What was your lifestyle like? Is late eating a regular thing for you? You can't take care of yourself at all. If you don't meet me, you might end up starving to death on the streets!" Akram replied in an angry tone, irritating Elana.

Even in the condition that he was sick, and this was caused by Akram who made him late to eat, the man still found a way to look for his mistakes.

Akram's phone suddenly rang and Akram picked it up angrily.

"It's better important. Otherwise I'll kill you. Talk quickly!" he nodded with a threatening tone.

The voice from across there made Akram's expression change, the man listened to the voice from across and his expression turned more calm.

"I'll arrange a meeting with you tomorrow for a clearer conversation." pause for a moment as if Akram is hesitant to ask. "What can help relieve stomach pain due to gastritis? No, not me, who do you think I am to suffer the pain caused by such a chaotic lifestyle?" Akram glanced at Elana who was getting more and more sour on his face, but the man did not seem to care. "OK, okay...." Akram looked seriously listening before then staring at the conversation with a brief murmur.

His hand moved to search again and this time he managed to find what he was looking for, a white medicine box the size of a liability that turned out to be located at the bottom of his innermost closet. The medicine box is Nathan's gift to Akram, containing first aid kits and various types of drugs for emergency treatment of minor diseases. But Akram rarely uses it because he rarely gets sick.

Akram took the box and opened it, then carefully examined each medicine. Taking one drug for gastritis, check the expiry limit of the drug. After making sure of everything, Akram got up and went towards Elana who was sitting on the man's bed, watching Akram without saying a word.

As soon as Akram stood beside the bed, he immediately threw the medicine into Elana's hands.

"Shut up here and don't move. Don't take the medicine first. Wait for me to come back!" the message was rude with a tone full of warning, then rushed away leaving the room, leaving Elana who was still dumbfounded at the confusion gazing towards the door left by Akram in a wide open condition, forgetting to close again.

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After the sound of falling items as well as the uncontrollable metal clanking was joined by various Akram swears that were heard through the open upper room door, Akram finally appeared in the doorway shortly afterwards.

Surprisingly, the man came with a tray in his hand. On top of the tray was a white bowl with contents that reflected hot steam.

Elana frowned as Akram put up a short table for breakfast on the bed to her lap, then placed the bowl in front of her.

What was inside the bowl was probably meant to be a porridge, but its appearance was unusually ugly, with a cloudy white porridge color that was poured messily in the bowl, which was not very good, not to mention the black fragments of charred remains mixed in it. It was as if Akram was dredging from the bottom of a charred pot and throwing the contents of the porridge into the bowl in a hurry.

This guy bothered to make porridge for him? Why didn't he have his men buy him food like he used to?

Elana could not help but widen her wide eyes at the dish in front of her, making a streak of red hue flashed across Akram's tall cheekbones.

"Your medicine must be drunk immediately after eating and Nathan says with your condition, you must eat soft food," Akram looked at Elana who seemed hesitant to see the condition of the porridge in front of him, his eyes narrowed to show off. "The appearance was bad, but the porridge was worth eating, and I didn't put anything strange in it" Akram's voice was full of pushy tone. "Come, eat!"

Pressed by such an intimidating tone, there was nothing else Elana could do but feed the porridge into her mouth. The taste of the porridge turned out to be as bad as its appearance, bland and unpleasant, with a thick, scented gossamerose streak rolling unexcusedly on its tongue. But, Akram was right, the porridge was still worth eating.

Elana finished the porridge obediently under Akram's supervision. After that, Akram immediately put away the empty bowl of porridge, brought water and told Elana to take her medicine without getting any resistance from the woman.

Akram then pushed Elana to lie on the bed, wrapped her tightly, turned off the headlights and turned on the sleeping lights, then sat on the edge of the bed while rubbing Elana's forehead, as if trying to help her to fall asleep.

A long time later, when Elana's breathing was in order with her eyes closed tightly in the dim light, Akram, who thought that Elana was asleep, got out of bed and stepped onto the large sofa in her room.

It was not realized that actually Elana was still awake and was pretending to sleep. The woman bit her lips with teary eyes. Not because of the pain in his stomach, but rather because of the stifling pain in his chest.

In her entire life, Elana never received the attention of anyone specifically given to her. Even in an orphanage, she was treated formally, not with a caring affection aimed specifically at one individual.

It was only this time that Elana was treated so attentively, despite being wrapped in an arrogant and rude attitude. And ironically, all of that was given by Akram Night. A figure who should always be an antagonist in the drama of his life...

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