Cry Now

Alisha winced as Alice dug his thumbnail into the red, aching wound of her hand.

"Why are you hissing, sweetheart? Your lips against my palm are doing a lot more than they should," Alice said, looking at Alisha in the mirror and feeling much better after seeing her after a week.

Today, he came to fulfil a promise to his mom, spending time with her in the park.

As they were enjoying themselves,

Daisy had a craving for something sweet, and he offered to fetch it for her, but she insisted on going herself. He agreed, knowing his mother's stubborn nature all too well.

However, when Daisy didn't show up after going into the cafe, he grew tense, fearing someone had harmed her.

As a Mafia member with many enemies, he never let his mom roam around alone, but Daisy's stubbornness meant he had to relent.

To find her, he entered the cafe and witnessed the whole scene of the waiter spilling hot chocolate on his Angel. He was mesmerised by seeing her sitting beside his mom, his heart beating wildly when it happened.

When Alisha decided to follow the waiter's lead to the washroom, he felt like flying and beating the waiter for harming her.

He followed them without wasting time, making sure to hide himself from his mom's notice. He overheard Alisha's conversation with the waiter, admiring her sweetness and innocence as she forgave him for hurting her.

However, he didn't like the way she smiled at the waiter. He wanted to break the exact face of the waiter who got to see her beautiful smile.

Alice had always been aggressively possessive towards people or things he liked, and with Alisha, he knew these feelings intensified.

Alisha stared into the mirror, tears streaming down her face and pain evident in her eyes as blood began to flow from her scalded skin.

Before, when it first burned, it hadn't hurt this much because it only affected the surface. But now, Alice was digging into her skin, causing even more harm and pain.

“Cry, sweetheart, because I want to taste those tears you're trying to hold back,” he taunted.

Alisha shook her head, unable to speak with his hand covering her mouth, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of her tears.

“I said cry, Angel, because if you're not going to cry, then you're going to bleed, and I don't think you can handle losing that much blood. See, it's all draining into the water,” Alice's eyes darkened as he watched her refuse him.

This denial, this defiance, it irked him to his core. It was something he wanted to crush, no matter what.

This exact thing was what he despised.

The power she possessed, the audacity to believe she could defy him, the fire in her eyes.

It wasn't that he hated her fiery behaviour; he enjoyed it. But when she dared to challenge him, he could only restrain himself for so long, and this time, he couldn't hold back.

She fell into his clutches, as if destiny had conspired to bring them together.

He didn't believe in destiny, but why not, when she kept appearing before him, unbidden?

It wasn't that he wouldn't have pursued her eventually, but he hadn't expected it to be so soon.

‘Why?’ Alisha screamed silently in her head.

She couldn't understand why he wanted to see her cry, what satisfaction he derived from it.

But witnessing her own blood dripping into the white sink, water washing it away, feeling his hand gripping hers tightly, his nails digging into her skin—it wasn't something she had anticipated. Yet, judging by his expression, it seemed to give him a perverse thrill she couldn't comprehend.

It was a sickening realisation that he found pleasure in her pain, that his satisfaction was intertwined with her suffering.

“Don't overthink it, Angel, just let the tears flow. I said cry, damn it! I'll count to three, and if you don't cry, we might just have to chop off this hand or maybe pluck out those eyeballs,” Alice's words sent a chill down Alisha's spine.

Alisha's eyes widened in horror as she heard him speak about cutting off her hand or plucking out her eyeballs, treating her like some animal he could mutilate.

‘He's capable of it.’

Her mind screamed in terror. If he could harm her pet without a second thought, what was stopping him from doing the same to her? The realisation left her feeling utterly vulnerable and afraid for her own safety.

"One...

Two..."

Alice's voice trailed off as Alisha's tears began to fall.

She stared at him, unblinking, desperate to squeeze out every last drop of moisture from her eyes. Despite her efforts, his menacing presence made it difficult for her to cry.

Before, she had felt on the verge of tears, but in his presence, her tear ducts seemed to dry up. She pushed herself to the brink, determined to shed enough tears to fill buckets, but his intimidating aura made it a daunting task.

As Alisha forced herself to cry under Alice's watchful gaze, she felt a mixture of fear and frustration building within her.

It was infuriating that he had such power over her emotions, that his mere presence could inhibit her natural instincts.

"So few tears? Where are the genuine ones, sweetheart? These tears seem so artificial. I doubt they'll taste sweet," Alice's words cut through Alisha like a knife, sending a wave of frustration and humiliation coursing through her.

Despite her efforts to comply with his demands, she couldn't seem to produce the tears he desired. The disappointment in his voice only served to intensify her sense of inadequacy, leaving her feeling utterly powerless in the face of his cruel manipulation.

Alice removed his hand from her mouth, still keeping his thumb pressed against her injury, but with a gentler touch this time.

"I'm trying," Alisha choked out, her voice trembling with desperation as she struggled to summon tears.

‘You have to cry, Alisha,’

‘Remember how you felt when you couldn't have ice cream?’

‘Remember the pain you felt when you walked on glass,’

‘Recall something.’

'Do something.'

'He's going to kill you if you don't. Just do it, Alisha.'

Thoughts swirled in Alisha's head as she desperately tried to produce tears, complying with Alice's demands. She knew she had to do it, no matter what.