Chapter 8. Hate

NABU

Present. Forests of Asterisk.

I push my body onward, scaling through the woods as fast as I can, sizzling pain on my thigh, baring aches on my shoulder. My eyes are searching, and my heart is racing. I’m very sure I heard him screaming and calling my name, and for reasons beyond my grip, the sound of it caused my heart to clench. Knowing this frightens me even more than the severity of my injuries.

For a full year, I waited for these blue eyes to appear. At some point, I grew impatient, thinking perhaps my father meant something else other than a person. But now that it has finally appeared in the form of a beautiful man, my entire existence, feelings, and thought process seem to be taking a drastic turn. Everything feels different from what I had imagined. I had pictured myself having more focus and drive, but recently, I’m just… Mesmerized.

His stare alone weakens my bones, rendering me a feeble miasma—a happenstance my mother never taught me how to ha