Black Swan's

Start From Zero (Sixty Five)

        “You sure you're okay?”

            Aciel held Eden's hand as she walked over to Anthony, who was sitting on the sick chair. Eden looked at Aciel sharply and told Aciel to let go of his pretty strong hand checks on his small arm.

            “I'm fine. Let's solve all these problems.” replied Eden firmly. While staring at Aciel's dense bead, the tail of his eyes accidentally caught the silhouette of Stacie's face right behind Aciel. Instantly he felt sick. He knew she was not the classy woman Sian had told him. The woman was like a piece of trash that littered her home life. But what made him sick was Aciel's attitude towards the woman who looked fine. Even Aciel hasn't said anything to her since yesterday after their dinner. The man chose to go to bed immediately after they had dinner without discussing anything else. Then this morning, Aciel didn't talk much either. The man suddenly invited her to go to court at half-nine in the morning.

            “Do not exceed the limit.”

            That one sentence became the last sentence before Aciel released his hand on Eden's arm and let his wife go to meet Anthony. Although he himself was very unwilling, yet he had to do it this time for it to all end soon. He wanted Anthony to get his sentence immediately and he immediately got his peace again.

            “You're not sitting?”

            A voice interrupted Aciel's mind and caused the man to turn around to look back at his interlocutor. But only from the tone of his voice, Aciel was able to guess if the woman was Stacie.

            “I'll sit now.”

            Aciel left Stacie just like that with a cold aura emanating from his entire body. After yesterday's incident he hoped there would be no need to see Stacie anymore because he was fed up with her. Do not let new problems arise in his family after he managed to find a way out for Anthony's problems. Stacie's just his past. And he has thrown Stacie out of his life along with other cheap women who once filled his days.

            “Can I sit here?”

            Aciel wordlessly just stared straight ahead without heeding Stacie who had landed herself comfortably next to him. His eyes were now only locked on Eden and Anthony who were busy interacting in front of there with smoky heads because it was too hard to hold any emotion that was out in the air

in her heart. He doesn't like to see Eden so attentive to Anthony, but the damn bastard once almost risked his life and almost killed him.

            “They look very close, have they ever had a relationship before?”

            Again Stacie voiced next to him without thinking about how his currently exploding heart was holding back jealousy. He wanted to yell at her and push her away, but he couldn't do it. They are in a public place. He did not want to dirty his good name just because of a small disturbance caused by Stacie, so he tried to remain silent without being affected in the slightest by Stacie.

            “I'm sorry Ace, what I did yesterday was very inappropriate. I should have respected your decision and not bothered you because you were happy with your family. But please don't silence me like this, I want to keep a good relationship with you.”

           “Don't expect me to do it, because I know what you are Stacie.” says Aciel firmly. Stacie is like a cat that is so sweet and adorable when he is calm, but if he is angry, then he will not hesitate to use his sharp nails to hurt others

            “Why are you so bad to think of me? I just want to fix our relationship.

I know I'm stupid, I shouldn't have teased you in such a cheap way as yesterday. But I'm too upset Ace, I think you're still the old Aciel, who doesn't know love. Please forgive me.”

            “If you want me to forgive you, then get out of my sight now that I'm so sick of seeing you here.” sizzled Aciel sharply while giving Stacie an intimidating look. Stacie returned Aciel's sharp gaze with a sad look that was clearly visible from both eyes, but he did not move from his seat. He stubbornly remained seated next to Aciel until the trial began.

-00-

            Elsewhere Eden was with Anthony to give the man a beating before the judge began a hearing to establish a sentence for the man. With a sweet face Anthony welcomed Eden's arrival with a sweet smile that was slightly forced. Eden saw a lot of changes

face Anthony. Anthony currently looked thinner and also pale. The eye bags in both of Anthony's eyes also looked extremely horrifying. He thoughtfully cupped Anthony's cheek while looking at the bead with a sad look.

            “Why Thony? What did they do to you?”

            Anthony lowered Eden's hand from his face and shook weakly. Everything that had happened to him up until this second was because of Aciel. He knew that the torture he received while in prison was due to Aciel. The man was a man with all the power that surrounded him. Just by stopping mom

            “You're coming? I'm sorry for what I did, Ed. I didn't mean to hurt you.”

            “I know Thony. You're a good man. If it wasn't for revenge, you wouldn't have done that.”

            Eden clasped Anthony's hand tightly and stared at the bead inside. Behind Anthony's body, he could see that Aciel was staring at him sharply. The man's two eagle eyes ordered him to stay away from Anthony as soon as possible, but he ignored them and focused only on Anthony. Before long her eyes caught the figure of Stacie who is now approaching her husband. The woman unhappily tried to distract Aciel who had been busy staring at her.

            “Ed, you have to live happily?”

            “Yya? What's up Thony?”

            Eden seemed unfocused and could not capture Anthony's intent clearly. He immediately stopped his eyes on the husband so that he could listen to every sentence that Anthony said clearly.

            “You must live happily. With the bad guy.”

            Anthony looks still so vengeful on Aciel, but it cannot be denied if he has lost to the man. Since four years ago he had actually lost, only he still survived his ego to defeat Aciel, so he never gave up on taking down Aciel so far. Unfortunately now he felt he had completely lost. There was no longer any hope of taking down Aciel because the man was indeed not his opponent.

            “You know, Aciel is a bad guy. He ruined my career, and then he took away my happiness. He almost killed me a few times. He's a really bad guy Ed. For years I tried to destroy it. I try to forget you by being in a relationship

with another woman, but I can never really forget you. One year of living with Aciel and having children changed the way you looked at Aciel. You become more in love with Aciel and begin to accept your destiny line with that man. Not to mention your adorable son makes you

can't come back to me anymore. I should have realized my stupidity from the start. I think I still have a chance to take you away from him Ed. Every time we meet secretly you never stop persuading me to forget all my grudges against Aciel. You always tell me that Aciel is actually a very nice guy who never hurt anyone else for no apparent reason. I was really sick, Ed. The woman I've been fighting for has turned away from me. You really adored him at the time. Justify all his deeds and you no longer blame him for ruining your youth. You actually persuaded me to join the business pioneered by that bastard Aciel.

            “Anthony..”.

            Eden sighed in frustration while calming Anthony so as not to get too carried away by emotions. But Anthony did not heed his reprimand and continued his story with a burning emotion in both eyes.

            “One day we meet again. In a crowded shopping center and the usual you come to shop for your household needs. We met to talk about my plans because I was sick and tired of waiting. For years I held back from moving to avenge Aciel, but you persuaded me again to forget my grudge. I who began to realize your attitude decided to take action immediately, but you rejected it violently that afternoon. You blatantly told me that you've changed. You love that guy and you don't want to help me anymore. You threatened to complain to Aciel and let Aciel take action for all the evil plans I had planned. I'm the one who didn't accept trying to chase you. But you just kept running to avoid me until you got hit. I saw you when it was taking lives in front of me, but I just saw you doing nothing. I was hoping that you would die so that you wouldn't be able to lay out my plans for your bastard husband. But I was surprised by the news of your coma. The entire Vegas community is saddened by the incident that happened to you because Aciel has such a strong influence in America. Moreover, you used to be a talented model who often get the attention of the people of Vegas, automatically every day your news is always broadcast and your condition is always monitored. Even though you were hidden inside his magnificent home, your news continues to roam the electronic media. Honestly, I hate to see you happy with that fucker. I wanted to kill you and that night I actually intended to eliminate you too after eliminating that bastard. Unfortunately God did not allow me to do that. I failed once again for the umpteenth time. I'm getting worse with my miserable life. Maybe soon the judge will sentence me to death because the man will obviously not forgive me. But you have to remember Ed that from the beginning you were meant to be with that man. No matter how much you hate her, you'll still end up with her because you're her destiny. I want to apologize to you for making so many mistakes with you all this time Ed. Although you don't remember it, but I'm a witness to your love story

that man was Ed. Aciel is the man you really loved in the past. So be happy with him. And you can hate me because I deserve to be hated."

            Eden couldn't hold back her tears and she hugged Anthony tightly. Although he was quite angry with all the confessions Anthony gave, he was also quite moved by Anthony's courage to admit it. He knew, deep down in Anthony's heart, that man was very kind. But due to having such a great grudge, the man ended up turning into a bloodthirsty monster.

            “Let go of Eden, your time with her is up.”

            Suddenly Eden felt his wounds were separated and he was immediately dragged away from Anthony's sick chair to sit in a special chair of witnesses. In a fit of rage he threw Aciel's hand on his arm and told Aciel to stay away from him because he was still fed up with the man. It was as if he forbade her to stay away from Anthony who in fact had told her the truth, while the man was free to be close to Stacie whenever he wanted.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Sit or I will file the death penalty for Anthony.” Aciel's orders firmly. Eden sat with a riled face while throwing her face the other way.

            “You have exceeded the limit of Eden, you must get a penalty after this.”

            “Why should I get the punishment? I did nothing with Anthony. It's just that you're gonna go near Stacie and do disgusting things with Stacie, but you don't get any punishment. I should have punished you because you deceived me! You've always forced me to accept you as my husband and father to my son, but behind my back you're still the bad guy I've known. Don't ever touch me again or manage my life again because I'm sick of you!”

            Those words of decisiveness became the end of their fierce conversation session before the judge gave a sign that the trial was about to begin. Aciel who felt that the susana among them was not conducive chose to budge and did not force Eden to clash with him. His initial intention to give a warning to Eden did not go well. The woman reverses her accusations by associating her with Stacie. Now he must quell his anger and try to focus on the course of the trial.