Troubled Water

Atasha’s Point of View

If there was one thing I wanted to avoid to happen, that was probably meeting Elijah Montreal’s previous lover . . . a piercing pang shot through my chest as I gazed at her gorgeous face as she stared and smiled at me with true warmth.

So those things I’ve heard from the shewolves were true . . . Elijah had an ex-lover . . .

I was completely unaware that I was holding my breath until she patted me on the arm.

“Hey, are you alright?” she inquired, a tinge of concern in her eyes, presumably due to the fact that I had lost track of time for about a minute while staring at her.

After blinking numerous times, I was eventually able to nod my head to reassure her that everything was alright. I swallowed and collected all of the words I needed to say before I spoke.

“I-I’m fine,” I stuttered. I had to scold myself inwardly as I probably looked like stupid at this point. “Nice to meet you, Clarence. M-My name is Atasha Greene.”

She shook my hand as though we were old friends. My heart pounded with fear as I watched it. For some reason, I was completely overwhelmed by the circumstances of this event. Never did I expect to meet a shewolf who happened to be Elijah’s ex-lover. I didn't know how I should behave in front of her knowing that she already knew I was his slave.

“I hope it isn’t too late for me to welcome you here in the East Land.” She smiled tenderly and released my hand. “Will you live alone in this bungalow?” Her eyes started to roam around.

I simply nodded and swallowed hard.

“I see. How about you join our family for dinner? Treat it as my family’s way of welcoming you in this land,” she said and tilted her head, waiting for my response.

I held my nape and shyly looked at her. “Uhm, Is . . . Is that—”

“I don’t take no as an answer, Atasha, so I will see you in our house later. It’s a house with a gray metal fence. We’re just a few blocks away here.” She smiled once again and then proceeded to leave.

It was as if time had slowed down. My stomach was twisting, and I felt anchored to the ground. A few more minutes passed before I was able to regain my cool enough to hold the door open and shut it myself.

Biting my nails, all I could do was leaned my back against the door.

Now, what exactly had happened? I was so taken aback by her appearance that I couldn't fathom anything.

I did some household chores, trying to calm and distract myself from the fact that I had met Clarence, Norwood, Elijah’s ex-girlfriend. But even after tiring myself out, I couldn’t seem to get her out of my head.

I sat on the wooden chair in front of the window. I sighed as I couldn’t help but remember how she looked . . . from head to toe, I couldn't help but sigh. With her blue eyes and pouty lip shape, her chiseled jaw and cheekbones, her fair-skinned complexion— everything about her was flawless. Every aspect of her manner was refined, from the way she spoke to the way she walked to the way she smiled.

I looked at the left side of my house where the mirror was. I stood up and walked in front of it. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, all I did was to compare myself to her. It felt as if the mirror was hitting me in the face with the reality that even our body types were vastly different from one another. My hands reached for my breasts, and I was disappointed to discover that they were not as large as Clarence's. She had a voluptuous physique, however my body was as thin as a stick in comparison.

I let out a sigh of defeat. Clarence was indeed beautiful and probably had everything. No wonder she became Elijah’s girlfriend in the past. She was undoubtedly good enough for the soon-to-be Alpha of the Crimson Pack.

“I wonder why she dumped him though,” I mumbled as I gazed at my reflection in the mirror.

Regardless of her reason, I thought it wasn’t my problem anymore. Given that it was their relationship to begin with, there should be no need for me to be concerned.

But wait . . . she did invite me to join them for dinner!

As I raced to the closet, expecting to find some good clothing or dresses to wear, I was disappointed to find just a few old, nearly worn, sweaters inside. I palmed my face, thinking that I would look ridiculous if I wore them in front of Clarence and her family.

I badly needed help. An idea struck my mind that gave me a little hope. I didn’t waste much time and went out of the house to go back to the Coliseum. I must find Leo as he was the only person here that might be able to help me.

It took me just a few minutes to make my way back to the Coliseum. My gaze wandered over the area and caught sight of Leo from the stage. I ran towards him and tapped him on his shoulder. He stopped from what he was doing and turned around to look at me.

Smirking, he put down the hammer he was holding.

“Oh, do you miss me?” he said cockily.

My forehead creased. “I only went back here to ask you if you could help me find a beautiful dress that I could wear for one night.”

He scratched his head and looked at me curiously. “What is it for?”

“I will be attending a dinner later, that’s all. No more questions!” I answered.

He sighed. “Alright then. Let me try to ask some shewolves out here and see if they have one. I’ll just bring it to your house later.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, Atasha. It's just a dress. I could help, alright?” he assured me.

As I remembered all of his deceptions, a thin line appeared between my lips. But I didn't have much of a choice. He was the only werewolf I knew here.

“Alright, thanks.” I turned around and walked away.

I went home and started to practice the way I should talk, greet her parents and every movement I should make in front of them. I didn’t know where these thoughts come from but something in me was telling me that I should be elegant and graceful and in order for me to do that, I need to welcome Astrid’s inner spirit within me.

I recalled how our late mother taught me how to become an elegant lady. She taught me a lot of things that I couldn’t remember most of it. I slightly hit my head, hoping to remember all those things she told me but to no avail. I wasn’t paying attention to it when I was young but now, I came to realize the importance of it. Well . . .

I practiced for hours, but I wasn’t even satisfied with whatever I was doing!

I pulled my hair out of frustration. What if I ended up looking so stupid in front of Clarence’s family? It would be so embarrassing and I would be ashamed of her for my whole life!

I heard a knock on the door. When I opened it, I saw Leo who was holding a dress.

“Here it is, Tash,” Leo handed me the dress with a smile.

“Thanks, Leo. I appreciate it.”

He was about to enter my house but I immediately blocked his way.

He looked at me with confusion. “What’s wrong?”

“No need to enter my house. I’m a bit busy,” I said.

I closed and locked the door immediately.

My attention was drawn into the dress Leo gave me. It was a v-neck nude-colored formal dress with puffed long sleeves. Without further hesitation, I wore the dress and styled my hair in such a way that it would still look good if I were to let it fall.

“This dress looks very stunning,” I murmured in awe while looking at myself in the mirror.

The size of it was a little bit for me but I guess that was just fine.

I stood there staring at myself for a few minutes before letting out a deep sigh. Then, as I sat on the side of my bed, a sharp realization slapped me in the face. It seemed as if I was attempting to outdo Clarence in a competition.

A bitter smile escaped my lips. “Endure this night, Atasha. After that, don’t mind her anymore,” I said to myself.

I began preparing to be as beautiful as possible. When the night came, I inhaled sharply. One final glance at the mirror and then I proceeded to the door. When I opened it, I saw Clarence who was waiting for me.

She greeted me with a smile and looked at me from head to toe.

“You seem to be ready . . .”

“Uh, y-yes,” I stuttered and again, I scolded myself inwardly.

We walked our way to her house. There was a long silence between us. The Moon Goddess was well aware of my desire to break the silence and act normally in this situation but I couldn’t gather the courage to do so.

“My parents didn’t know that I dated Elijah,” she said, which made me glance at her, surprised.

She gazed up at the silver moon and smiled. “I hid it from them because it was very complicated.”

“I-I see,” I replied.

She didn’t talk after that. When we reached her home, I saw her parents who were waiting for us outside. Clarence’s mom immediately gave me a warm hug.

“Atasha, the Hero’s daughter, thank you for giving us a visit!”

***

Clarence’s parents were truly excited to see me by the looks on their faces. They have told me stories about how my father saved them. That was the very time I realized that they also came from the Silver Moon Pack. I was happy to hear their stories about my father, and how he became the hero that they admired.

I told them that my father was a simple werewolf, who had a simple family. I knew it wasn’t really necessary but I also shared some stories with them, about my family especially my twin sister, Astrid. It was weird for me to say a lot about them but I just felt that I needed to tell them about Astrid, one of the beautiful and greatest shewolves in the pack.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that Astrid was your twin sister! To be honest, I haven’t heard from her that much. We always were busy in our business back then,” Mrs. Norwood said.

“Actually, I heard that she was one of the smartest students,” Mr. Norwood said, which made my eyes sparkle.

“Yes, that’s right, Mr. Norwood. She was really smart and one of the great shewolves in town,” I said.

Both of them looked at each other and sighed and proceeded to share some good stories about my father. I didn’t know why but there seemed to be something wrong that I felt they didn’t want to tell me.

After the dinner, I was escorted by Clarence back to my house. Her family was so nice that they also handed me a gift. It was tea and some bags of cookies that Mrs. Norwood baked herself.

“I appreciate you joining us for dinner, Atasha. You made my parents so happy tonight.” She sighed. “Atasha, I want to be transparent with you. I didn’t really want you to come to our house . . .”

I froze and looked at her, shocked by what I just heard.

“I mean it was only my parents' wish to see the hero’s daughter. Please, don’t get me wrong. I just want to make myself clear that I really didn’t want to bother you. That’s all.” She then tapped my shoulders. “Let’s keep moving. It’s getting late.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded at her. We proceeded to walk. When we finally arrived at my house, I decided to offer her a tea which her mother had given me. I knew she was uncomfortable and so was I but she still decided to accept my offer and stayed in my house for a little while.

“You might feel lonely sitting, eating and sleeping alone in this old house,” she commented while her eyes wandered in every corner of my little place. “Sleeping alone in this house, you might miss Elijah. I bet you’ve slept with him numerous times since you were his slave.”

“N-No, we weren’t sleeping together. Back then, I was only sleeping alone in the guest room—”

“You better stop lying in my face!” Clarence shouted which sent an electrifying fear down my spine. Her eyes widened as if she just realized how she acted. She cleared her throat and sat on the wooden chair. “I-I’m truly sorry, Atasha. I didn’t mean to shout at you like that. It’s just that . . . I’ve been having bad days lately that makes me act very strange.”

I was going to tell her that I didn’t miss Elijah at all but somehow, I guess it would only mean to her that I was lying. Knowing that she was Elijah’s ex-girlfriend, it wasn’t impossible that she might have thought that I liked him.

“Don’t worry about it, Clarence. It’s okay.” I gave her a cup of tea which she accepted.

I looked at the way she sipped on the cup, even her small movement was screaming of elegance. She then began to share something about her relationship with Elijah. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to hear anything about it but I only listened to her, as if she needed a friend who would listen and understand her hidden pain.

“You might have heard that I left him because I cheated on him, but that wasn’t the real reason why I decided to leave him.”

My curiosity engulfed my entire system. I sat on the edge of the bed, still looking at her. A small smile escaped her lips and then she sighed.

“The main reason why I left Elijah was because I heard from the friends of the Alpha, that they planned to kill me and my family if I continued my relationship with his son . . . I was completely terrified at that moment. I was afraid that I would no longer see my parents and they would die because of me. So, in order to save them, I ended my relationship with Elijah even if it broke my heart into pieces.”

She started crying that left me rooted in my place. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t say anything.

“It was the hardest decision that I ever made. I knew for sure that Elijah loathed me so much but to be honest, I’m still in love with him and I want to see him again to explain my side, to apologize for leaving him and to tell him I was left with no other choice. Atasha, can you help me to see him again?” she asked.

I almost dropped the cup of tea in my hand upon hearing the last statement she said.

“I promise to give you everything. May it be food, money, whatever you want. Just help me to see him again, please . . .” she pleaded.

“But I am no longer his slave, Clarence. I already returned here in the pack so I am afraid I could no longer help you,” I said in a low tone of voice.

Her lower lip quivered and after that, she let out a huge sigh as she wiped her tears away.

“You’re right. I’m sorry I had to ask you that.” She then stood up and left the house without saying a word.

I was shocked to find out that she was still in love with him.

I wonder how Elijah would react if he found out about Clarence’s reason?

Would he go after her?

I shook my head, stood up and poured all the tea in the sink.

That night, it was too hard for me to sleep. The blanket didn’t even help to keep me warm.

My thoughts were filled with what ifs, which only caused an excruciating pain in my heart.

***

The next day . . .

“You’re early for work, Atasha!” Leo beamed out as soon as he saw me entering the Coliseum.

“I was not able to sleep, that’s why I’m early,” I replied and shrugged.

His arm snaked around my shoulders. “I know you’re just excited to see me,” he said and then smirked.

Using my elbow, I struck him in his stomach. He was very conceited and I didn’t like how he acted as if he never did something wrong to me.

“That hurts, Tash!” he groaned.

I rolled my eyes at him. Served him right.

My eyes started to wander around the Coliseum and saw the familiar shewolf, Clarence, who was walking in our direction.

My chest instantly tightened. But I managed to give her a smile when she stood in front of me.

“Good morning, Atasha. How’s your sleep?” she asked.

“It was good—”

“Oh, you guys already knew each other?” Leo cut off my sentence as he looked at me and Clarence with curiosity visible in his eyes.

“Yeah. She was with me last night. I invited her for dinner,” Clarence replied.

Leo then responded, “Well, that’s good then! Since you already knew each other, I’m glad we can skip the introductions!” Then he put his arm around my shoulders again. “I’m rooting for the both of you. The Silver Moon Pack’s future is in our hands. So let’s work hard, okay?” Then he chuckled.

Once again, I elbowed his stomach so he could let me go.

“Damn, Tasha, that’s even stronger!”

Clarence and I both laughed seeing his reactions. But when I glanced at her, she just gave me a grin and turned her back.

While we were painting some of the designs that would be used as a backdrop for the stage, a cold wet fluid suddenly splashed down my entire body. It was when I looked up that I realized it was a pail of black paint.

“Atasha! Oh my! I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” Clarence said. She was looking down at me while she was painting at the higher part of the mural background.

“Hey, what happened?” Leo then approached us.

Clarence immediately climbed down using the ladder. “I’m so sorry! I have extra clothes. You can go and change. I’m really sorry,” she added.

“No, it’s okay.” I sighed.

As I walked to the washroom, I heard some giggles from other werewolves that I passed by. When I arrived at the washroom, I saw Clarence waving at me.

“Hey, I have some clothes in this bag.”

I took the bag and I nodded. “Thanks, Clarence!”

I washed my body so the paint would be removed. I then opened the bag Clarence gave me and scanned the shirt and pants. Those were ragged, had holes, as if they had been used by laborers for a long time, and were a bit dusty and smelly.

I had no other choice but to wear them since my clothes were wet with paint.

I went out of the washroom and I saw Clarence waiting for me outside.

“That seemed a better look of you compared to a while ago.” She then smiled. “Let’s go back to work.”

I didn’t know what she meant when she said I was better in these clothes compared to what I had a while ago.

Was she pertaining to my clothes full of paint or the dress I wore last night?