The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 66: The Heart Wars

Silence stretched in the room where two human children dissolved in their feelings.

One drowned in sorrow while the other tried to comfort.

I don't know how long it's going to take when Elana realizes that she's asleep in her chicken bed. In conditions infused with antidotes like this, the state of Elana seems to arise and drown in a state of full or deep awareness in a dream. Even sometimes he can not distinguish the boundary line between dreams and reality because his brain seems paralyzed and can not work perfectly.

Elana frowned when she felt that Xavier was still resting on her body. The man's body was heavy, as if the man had focused his entire body weight onto Elana's body involuntarily. Elana could not see Xavier's face as the man drowned his head on the side of his face, close to his shoulder. Only Xavier's hot gasps touched the surface of his skin and his regular chest movements, which was a sign that the man was still breathing.

Regular breathing? Is Xavier asleep?

Elana instantly widened her eyes when her consciousness returned completely.

Xavier and his entire confessional stories of his soul-blaspheming past and afterwards the man crushed him in bed with unusual fragility, asking to be embraced…. That wasn't all a dream?

Elana's hand moved to shake Xavier's hollow shoulder with an awkward gesture mixed with embarrassment.

Gosh how could he fall asleep with this guy soundly on it?

“Xavier. You asleep?” elana's hand moved shaking even harder when there was no reaction from the man. “Xavier, wake up.. You.. heavy,” Elana hardened her sentence, hoping that her voice could break through the boundaries of Xavier's consciousness.

Successfully, the man's body moved and his hands supported his body slowly so as not to overlap the tiny body of Elana underneath. Xavier raised his head and Elana could see that the man's eyes were still foggy. It took a while for Xavier to regain his consciousness before then the man lowered his head towards Elana. blinked for a moment, then his widened-looking eyes were filled with shock.

“I fell asleep?” xavier's tone was filled with disbelief, as if the man had never slept soundly before.

“Yes, you fell asleep,” Elana frowned while trying to learn Xavier's expression. “Can.... can you.. uh.... shift? You are heavy and overstretched my hands. My hands hurt..,” he said later.

Elana's words were like whipping Xavier with a shocking whip. At once Xavier also moved from his position to overlap Elana's body and jumped down from the bed. Afterwards Xavier stood by the bed with an awkward attitude that the man had never shown before.

“Ah, forgive me...” Xavier avoided the gaze of Elana's eyes with a faint red hue that flashed across her cheekbones. Xavier's hand involuntarily rubbed his own hair nervously. “You okay?” ask Xavier then after having managed to master himself. The man's eyes looked sincere and earnest.

Elana nodded her head. “I'm fine,” he replied calmly before then voicing his thoughts. “Now, are you going to kill me?”

Elana's question made Xavier's body stiffen and his eyes immediately hit Elana sharply. All the nervousness and awkwardness like a child who escaped the calm of Xavier before, gone already, changed with a rigid attitude and alert.

“Why are you asking like that?” sizzle slowly.

Elana shrugged her shoulders. “I hug you to comfort you. Maybe you'll take the view that my embrace is a betrayal of Akram that gives you a reason to kill me. Isn't that what you're looking for? Reason to kill me?” sahut Elana calm down.

Now that she had a little understanding of what Xavier had in mind, Elana came to know how to deal with the man. Despite being a genius with a feared intelligence and a merciless, bloodthirsty attitude, in his soul, Xavier still had a childlike outlook and way of thinking. The man looked at everything in black and white, good and evil, as standard and as standard, without the consideration and compromise that adults usually have. Therefore, facing Xavier must also be with the same firmness, Elana must not be weak let alone doubt in front of Xavier.

Elana breathed a short breath, trying to strengthen her heart even though she was holding back the fear. He was sure that if he were to act staunchly in front of Xavier, it was certain that the man would consider listening to him.

“Did you hug me for wanting me?” Xavier asked slowly. After carefully observing Elana but not finding the clue she needed, Xavier gave up and answered Elana's question with a question anyway, his tone sounding serious as if Elana's answer was very important and decisive for him.

“I hugged you just to cheer you up. But, if you do think more than that and think I am trying to seduce you, then you can kill me,” Elana challenged deliberately. “Despite that, you should be ashamed to kill me for your own self-made reasons. Because I have absolutely no interest in you, and my embrace is just a form of empathy for the suffering you are going through.”

Xavier was immediately stunned to hear Elana's extremely firm and poignant reply. In fact, he had no plans to find any more reason to kill Elana. Everything that happened, all the recognition and presentation of his weaknesses, all done without a plan. Even she enjoyed the embrace given by Elana, just as she was when she felt calm in the embrace given by Marlene, her adoptive mother, when the trauma attack brought an insufferable sadness into his soul and paralyzed him to the point of helplessness.

Xavier even fell asleep and threw all his vigilance in the woman's arms!

“Looks like I should set my heart,” Xavier grinned with an expression full of irony. “Now this time there was a woman who loudly rejected me raw,” Xavier steps back as if wanting to get away immediately from Elana. “I won't kill you, you can calm down. So. So, get some rest, Lana. I won't bother you anymore.”

Nervously Xavier turned his body and stepped hurriedly out of the room, as if wanting to escape from a situation he was unable to handle.

Elana herself stared at the closed door in front of her and raised a puzzled eyebrow. Xavier's attitude was very strange, at one time the man was acting like a terrible psychopath who was bloodthirsty, at another time he was acting so charming and meek with maximum seduction ability. This time, Elana saw the other side of Xavier's simple personality as a child.

Thinking about Xavier makes Elana think about Akram and the complicated brother-sister relationship and full of misunderstandings. One loves in an extreme way, while the other hates in an extreme way. It all happened because there was a thick fog covering the truth between Akram and Xavier.

What should Elana do? Should he interfere and try to straighten out Akram and Xavier's complicated relationship like a tangled thread?

For some reason there was a pity in Elana's heart for Xavier. The man loves sincerely, but the loved one does not know how much dedication and sacrifice he makes.

Elana clenched her hands, trying to gather some spirit. Akram looks very scary with an unusually bad mood when talking about Xavier. But at least Elana should try. His conscience will always be disturbed when he finds out there is a misunderstanding but does not try to straighten it out.

Elana tried to close her eyes as she slightly shuddered in fear when imagining how angry Akram would be when Elana carried Xavier's name in their conversation.

***

***

This day she felt she had no more guts to go to Lana and leave the woman alone in her treatment room.  It was as if at this moment he was being frightened that his mask would be reopened by Lana it got to the bottom.

Xavier realized that he had wasted the time he had forcibly stolen from Akram which he had originally intended to use to seduce Lana. He even forgot his initial reason for using the time he had during Lana's stay in this house to seduce the woman. He knew it was no longer useful. Whatever he's working on now, Xavier has already torn down the mask of his enchanting self in front of the woman, and he's convinced that Lana can't possibly fall for her real charm.

Xavier washed his face with cold water in the sink to restore his self-balance. The cold water that soaked made him fully aware of the hangover that slightly took his mind because of the continuous drinking of alcohol in his room since.

He was still unprepared for the terrible effects Lana could give him. Being near Lana seems to turn it into an open book that can be read until it penetrates the soul. It was as if the entire mask that had been protecting his original personality had turned transparent.

She can even fall asleep in Lana's arms, without having to have nightmares….

During this night's sleep is always haunted by a dark nightmare, bringing back all the creepy memories of what he experienced during the kidnapping, in the scene that continues to twist and turn back to make him always wake up with cold sweat soaking all over the body and heart that beats so fast as if it will explode.

Xavier's eyes lifted to stare at the reflection of his own face in front of the mirror. Looked at her eyes because of crying.

Perhaps he had not had a nightmare of having shed the burden in his heart in tears. Xavier had never felt this relief before after spilling his heart out. In fact, hundreds of consultation sessions with psychiatrists who asked him to talk non-stop to relieve his burden, did not give such a mitigating effect to him.

The flashing movements behind his body made Xavier instantly turn around warily. His hand moved grabbing the gun hidden under the marble of his sink and preparing to shoot. Then, his expression changed when he saw Regas standing there,

“What's up?” xavier asked without hiding the disturbed expression on his face. His eyes looked at Regas who looked paler than usual, and suddenly a meaningful smile broke down on his lips. Despite that, Xavier kept his mouth shut and preferred to wait for Regas to speak.

“Master, you asked me to report if there is any interference on the security perimeter out there,” Regas replied nervously. “Supervisors at the gate found that Akram Night's car parked since midnight was still parked here until now. Officers confirmed that the one in the car was Akram Night himself. Looks like she intended to pick up Miss Elana in person,”

Xavier glanced at his watch and frowned. It was already two o'clock in the evening, while according to estimates, Elana will only complete twenty hours of treatment sessions at approximately three in the morning.

When he gets a report about Akram's car parked at midnight last night, Xavier ignores him for thinking it was the driver Akram sent to pick up Elana. But now, after gaining the certainty that the one inside the car was Akram Night himself, it was obvious Xavier could not possibly ignore it.

Apparently Akram was really drunk with romance, his sister seemed to be impatient to pick back her lover who was forcibly snatched from her hand.

"Open the gate of the house, I thought it would be nice if I welcomed myself a special guest who came" said Xavier with a grin on his face.

***

***

Akram leaned his back on the car seat and opened the digital screen with a profit chart display in his hand. His forehead was wrinkled when his brain, which was normally able to work hard without pause, was currently frozen and unable to digest the complicated numbers presented there.

While peeking at the base of his nose, Akram finally gave up and put the digital screen in his hand and leaned his head against the car seat behind him. His body was tired, but his mind asked him to be on alert, beset by an unexplained form of bad premonition that made him feel anxious.

Akram closed his eyes, trying to get rid of his bad thoughts in the dark, while waiting for time to pass until he could reach the second where he could take Elana again to his side, the sound of a sudden knock on the window of his car instantly made his molar hardened because it was disturbed.

Akram straightened his back, now he can know with certainty which brash man has the guts to knock on the window of his car.

“What do you want?” Akram lowered his window glass and stared at Xavier angrily. Truly, right now he was completely in no mood to undergo the psychological surge full of provocation that Xavier would certainly always present when with him.

Xavier, who was standing in front of Akram's window seemed to be unraveling a meaningful smile. He glanced towards his men waiting at the back to open the gate of his house, then slightly bowed to stare at Akram through the window glass before then giving the offer with his perfect friendly voice.

“It would definitely be very boring waiting for hours alone here. Don't you think it's better that you go inside and spend some time waiting by chatting with me?” he said with a completely false sincerity.

Akram frowned. Chatting with Xavier was not at all interesting to him and if possible he would want to avoid it for another hundred years. However, the knowledge that with him entering Xavier's house, he could wait closer to where Elana was was was teasing him.

Being closer to Elana will also reduce the possibility of Elana being hurt, because she has certainly been around to protect.

Maybe Akram can suppress his ego this time and sacrifice a little to get closer to the stubborn woman.

Akram looked at Xavier with a cold look, then spoke in a harsh tone.

“Get aside, you blocked my way,” the sentence instantly made Xavier step aside from near Akram's window.

Immediately Akram closed the window, then ordered the driver to drive the car into the wide-open gate of Xavier's house, ignoring the owner of the house he left stood alone in the middle of the road and could only shrug his shoulders with a sour face.

***