CHAPTER 42: A COLD WINTER NIGHT 2

Braelyn’s POV

"How about we have some little fun?" His gaze dropped to my cleavage. Every fibre of my body crawled. "Let go of me, you bastard." I snapped clawing at him. They laughed at my attempt.

Ethan pulled me off the floor and tossed me towards another one of his buddies, who caught me. His hand wrapped around my waist.

"Where do we start from?" He said, nestling his face in the crook of my neck. They laughed and started voicing their perverted thoughts. They really planned on taking advantage of me.

"Please let go of me!!" I pleaded and my voice started to sound desperate. Ethan laughed..

"Come on, don’t act like you are not going to enjoy it ", he said while his eyes were literally undressing me. My eyes darted around for a chance to escape, they underestimated my resolve.

In a desperate attempt, I stomped hard on the asshole holding me captive’s feet. His scream pierced through the night, and I broke free.

I tossed aside everything I had on me; all my mind was on one thing. Run

Run

Run

I ran, ignoring their footsteps. I didn’t glance at them once and bolted off. The main road came into view. Hope bloomed in my heart and I jumped into the road.

A bike was riding in my direction, it was too late to stop, and I couldn’t turn back either. My body froze, the sounds mixed together, their scream, the bike, my racing heart.

It all faded into silence. The bike miraculously came to a stop before hitting me. Ethan and co stepped out of the path.

"Hey, you’d better ride along, this has nothing to do with you," he sneered. They weren’t scared of anyone, and besides, it was just one guy.

The rider sat up; his helmet was still on. My guts told me he was amused. He didn’t say anything and they mistook his silence for fear.

"Dude, I am sure you don’t want to mess with us or..." Ethan continued, his friends were edging.

A soft laugh rang, a deep voice which seemed familiar answered. "Or what ?" He asked.

That successfully pissed them off. "Who the hell is this jerk?" Ethan hissed; he was cracking his fingers, ready for a fight. The entire time, I just stared at the rider, finding him awfully familiar, but I didn’t know where to place my finger.

He completely ignored them; his head darted in my direction. "You seem familiar." He muttered, then reached out to push the glass shielding his eyes on his helmet.

The moment I saw those hazel eyes, I immediately recognised him. It’s been a while since I saw him, and the reason I chose this university was because he also attended here.

"Raphael..." I blurted out my fiancé’s name. His eyes sparkled.

"So it’s indeed you Braelyn. This wasn’t the reunion I expected." His voice carried a hint of amusement.

"What were these bastards trying to do?" He chimed. His voice was light but his eyes said something else.

Footsteps raced towards us. "Don’t ignore me, pretty boy. Who the hell are you calling a bastard?" Ethan charged at Raphael. Raphael evaded his punch. He switched off his bike, then tossed the keys to me before he kicked the jerk on his stomach, pushing him away.

Ethan slammed against a tree. For a moment, everyone held their breath. That display of strength was breathtaking.

"What will you do if I don’t mind my business because I am very nosy?" Raphael asked as he stepped down from his bike. He pulled off his helmet revealing his full face.

Raphael still had long hair then, which he usually pulled into a bun, and eyes cold as ice. Ethan coughed up a mouthful of blood, and he struggled to stand up.

"What are you doing standing there? Get the bastard," he barked. His friend hesitated for a while.

"He looks familiar to Lucien, what if they are..." One blurted from the way his voice shook. They must have had an unlucky encounter with Lucien.

"He is just a nerd with good looks. I know the punk. He isn’t anything like that madman. " Another one sneered, with that confirmation they all charged in on Raphael including injured Ethan

To say it wasn’t a sight to remember, was an understatement. I never knew bones could easily break from a brawl. Raphael was obviously trained compared to them

He easily took them down, until then he started to beg, but that wasn’t enough. The louder they cried the more aggressive he became.

Blood sprayed on the snow, his leather gloves were covered with blood.

"Please, stop, I can’t..." One of the punks cried, the rest were too weak to even speak. They had tried to run but Raphael didn’t give them the chance.

"Stop.." he chuckled. "If I hadn’t shown up, would you have stopped, no matter how she begged?" He asked them slowly, stalking towards the guy like the god of death.

I was so terrified I couldn’t move. If he didn’t stop he might kill them.

"We didn’t know she was your fiancée... if we knew..." his words were cut off by a scream. Raphael stepped on his leg, crushing his bones. Something snapped...

"You would not have stopped. You didn’t even stop even after knowing I might be related to that bastard." He hissed then grabbed the guy by his collar

He punched him in the face. "You assume because I was the well-behaved nerdy boy who doesn’t get into trouble..."

Another punch followed, cries filled the air ...

"That I would not be as violent as Lucien. Didn’t they teach not to judge a book by its cover.." another punch

After this point, the guy’s face was unrecognisable. His friends were already knocked out cold in the snow. They weren’t in a better condition either

"But my dear friend, I might be worse, unlike Lucien, who punches for fun, I hurt people with intent..." His voice drawled giving me chills

He punched the guy again. I couldn’t watch it again. I scrambled off my feet then rushed towards Raphael.

"Please stop, you might kill him," I begged, scared to my bones. My hand wrapped around his waist.

"Please..." I pleaded. He froze, then let go of the guy who fell like a lump in the snow. Raphael slowly turned towards me, he couldn’t meet my eyes.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

My lungs felt heavy, but I managed to speak. "Stopping you from making a mistake. That’s enough." I could barely say before my body went limp and collapsed in his arms.