Pic credits to Connor Franta on Instagram. It seems like a good quote for this chapter.

"You whisper
I love you
what you mean is
I don't want you to leave"

This is chapter fifty of
Cinderella Who
...

"Let her go–" Asher exclaimed, but he took a moment to take in a deep breath. "–I swear, Anna, I'm not going to spare you for this."

I felt her presence nearing me sneakily and discreetly, but I couldn't a thing to alert him. I couldn't just scream for help, when she's just a feet away from me and he's a few feet away from me. I let out a hoarse moan, catching both of their attention. I nudged myself nearer to the upright knife, although it was dangerous.

She cracked her knuckles until they're pale-white, but her sadistic face expression never wavered away. She said, "You're unarmed and...alone."

"It'll be a fair fight between two people, one-on-one but nothing more." He told her, lifting his fists up.

She snorted in disbelief and said, "I'm a girl."

"A petty excuse." He retorted back, taking a discreet step forward.

Do something, Taylor! You're a damsel in distress, where's your pride?! My mind spoke.

I looked around me, yet there was only one method. The knife, but it was way too high for my liking. I ended up as a damsel in distress anyway.

"It won't be fair, will it?" She asked Asher, letting the heels of her shows make contact with the floor with thumps. "I only sell handmade bracelets for a living."

It wouldn't be fair for Asher, but much more beneficial for Penelope or Anna. She had just killed someone, a grown man.

Right then, someone else appeared in the doorway in a rushed manner. Krett with his face flushed said, "Hey, don't run like a maniac! I can barely catch up with–"

He paled at the sight of Penelope–Anna, freezing in his steps. She flinched, but a bemused expression was painted on her face. She said, "Glenn."

He didn't speak for awhile, only staring at her wide-eyed. I had almost mistaken him for a statue, but sarcasm wasn't proper for this intense situation. He said, "You. Are you stupid?"

She uttered in disbelief, walking near me, "What?"

She lingered around the knife, yet I couldn't just reveal her intention. Acting too fast would only make her take the knife and threaten me with it. She's threatened by two grown man, but I would be the victim here.

Krett stepped in front of Asher, attempting to approach Anna. She took a step back, her fingers reaching the handle of the knife. He told her, "Anna, this is lugubrious of you."

She grabbed the knife tightly and directed the knife towards him, earning a gasp escaping from my lips. She scoffed, "Don't act like you care!"

He raised his arms in defeat, but he kept his stern demeanour. His face was still pale-white and freaked, but he took his actions calmly. I was almost proud of him. He said, "I do, Anna. I've always cared for you."

I caught Asher looking at me with intense worry in his jade orbs in the corner of my eyes. I gave a slight smile while her back was turned to me, trying to soothe his mind. I mouthed, "I'm fine."

"I hate–I mean love to break it to you, but I don't give a f*ck about you," She hissed, making him flinch. "It's just a win-win situation, Glenn! Don't tell me you actually think I have feelings for you back, it's hilarious!"

I saw the hurt flash in his eyes, yet his eyes blinked back to the empty, emotionless eye sockets. He said, "Why did you call me here? I don't even the slightest care for that girl you've held hostage."

She snorted in disbelief, thrusting the knife more forward. He took a step back, dodging a possible stab attack. I somehow wished that she had stabbed him in the face, he could change that fake smile into a real genuine face expression indeed. She uttered, "Don't you miss me, Glenn?"

His nose crinkled in response, but he still kept a bemused face. She continued, "Of course you don't, you only say–no, whisper I love you, but it doesn't really mean a thing."

Hurt flashed in his eyes in a light speed, but it was gone like how light was shunned away from the world. She uttered, "What you really mean is..."

"I don't want you to leave, Anna." He completed her sentence.

She smirked, as if she got them wrapped around her finger. She said, "How similar the both of you are, two guys with the same mindset."

I didn't know why I was feeling this way. Her words might be true, but it's hard for me to want to believe it. Asher repeated the phrase, I love you, a billion times, yet why weren't we forever stuck to each other? He would pull away and he would come back. But, I was afraid of actually believing her.

"Your I love you's are petty and fake!" She shrieked in anger. "Tricking ladies into your arms and disposing them the next day, but you've never stopped! The same girls, you're always playing a tug of war."

She was growing dangerous, even though she had killed a man. It was only dangerous, because the man I loved was at risk. Her fingers trembled with the knife, her eyes twitched around, and her whole frail frame was shaking violently.

But, she had a point.

She thrust the knife towards Krett, but he dodged it again. She stumbled on her own feet, cussing under breath. She whipped the knife around and wounded his cheekbone area. She gritted her teeth.

"We're getting out of here." Asher whispered, although it wasn't necessary. He untied my arms and legs, yet we caught her eyes.

Her bloodshot red eyes with an insane glint in them whipped towards us. She ran toward us with her knife directed to me.

I was going to die.

My life was going to end.

I hadn't said goodbyes to the world.

I blinked a few times, but I felt nothing stabbing me. It wasn't there, but a depressing atmosphere lingered in the air. I felt faint all of a sudden, but my vision hadn't blurred yet.

Choking on his own blood was Asher.

***

I was wide-awake and alert, yet I was oblivious to all that surrounded me. I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know what had happened to me. It was living in a surge of confusion.

It was blindingly white, filling up my vision with only plain white.

But, they weren't white now.

I saw all life form around me. I had once felt nothing on my hands, yet I felt prickly edges of something delicate. A blur of green appeared in my eyesight, yet I couldn't make it out. For the first time, a leaf fell softly right in front of my eyes. Serene whistling of birds filled my ears, but that wasn't only it. The sound of rushing water trampling viciously on rocks flooded in. I felt my back against a layer of soft grass which was matted down by my weight. What was this living place?

I could now only see a spread of blue above me, clouded with white fluffs of wool. It was magnificent, yet it was turning gory. Blood rained down upon me, blurring my eyesight.

"Are you dead?" I heard a strikingly familiar voice ask me, yet I couldn't see his face. I couldn't see with all the blood on my face.

I wasn't even sure if he was asking me. I thought, no, maybe I'm dead.

He asked again, "Are you dead yet?"

What was he saying? It's almost as if he wanted me dead. His voice was raspy, hoarse but malice was hinted.

"I'm dying for an unspeakable woman after all," He exclaimed in frustration with a hint of exasperation. "That wretch knows nothing but to save herself! Too selfish to even give her own life!"

I felt a pang of guilt and hurt burn in my chest, surging through along with every heartbeat. I noticed shadowed footsteps nearing me, especially his electrifying jade orbs. He lifted his fist. No, no. A fiery glint sparked in his orbs. Please, don't.

I screamed my guts out, as his fist pierced through my chest like a dagger squishing meat. I heard the squishes, indicating that he's mashing my insides. I can't take it any longer, please stop! It hurts...

He ignored my pleads and continued slamming his fist right towards my heart. Asher, please...forgive me!

I choked out blood, splattering his face that I loved. He grinned in a lunatic way, yet he didn't seem him. Please...stop.

The last thing I saw, his fading jade orbs into something much more malicious and malevolent.

Black.

Dark.

Oblivion.

I woke up, having ragged breaths and a layer of cold sweat on my skin. I clutched the cloth of my blouse around the chest tightly, feeling a burning pain.

"Hey, hey, calm down." I heard a soothing voice right beside me, a pair of familiar blue butterfly orbs and messy mops of blonde hair. Something Pene–Anna never had.

I stared wide-eyed at Damien, still horrified by the nightmare. He blinked a few times and said, "What's wrong?"

I fell into his arms, crying against his chest. He hesitated, but wrapped his arms around me. I sank into the familiar warmth of my lifelong best friend, letting guilt take over me.

The hallways of a hospital had never been as depressing as this recent visit to the doctor. And they said an apple keeps the doctors away. It could've been true, because apples weren't in my fridge.

"He's not dead, is he?" I asked Damien with a hoarse cry, as he patted me in the back.

"I'm no doctor, but we'll have to wait for him." He replied honestly. I loved that about him, he's always honest and not sugarcoating everything.

Minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days, days felt like months, and months felt like years that seemed like forever.

An eternity without him wasn't worth living for.

***

He laid unconscious on the hospital bed, however his heart monitor beeped constantly in relief. He looked like his life had been drained out of him from the core and replaced with a pale complexion of skin instead. I ached in pain as I eyed him.

I intertwined my fingers around his, feeling the coldness of his skin. It was him, but a colder version of him. I didn't mind at all. I was relieved that he was alive and in the process of getting well.

He had saved me, yet he had risked his life for me. But, I couldn't help feeling guilty about him lying down on a hospital bed because of me.

I wondered how I would cope up if he were gone. I'd miss those dark locks of his hair, his jade orbs that sparked like auroral lights in the north, and mostly his love. It was very warm and safe, I couldn't wish for more.

I felt a tiny squeeze, startling myself. I eyed him warily, yet his eyelids still remained closed. But, his lips brushed against each other slightly.

"You're awake." I firmly said, hiding the hint of guilt.

He stayed rebellious, pretending to be soundly asleep. Or he's just too sick to wake up and all that was just an imagination of mine. But, my paranoia was indeed real. "How are you, princess?"

"It's been awhile since you called me that." I commented, feeling a smile creep up to my face.

He chuckled, despite the condition he was in. He said, "You've always been a princess to me, but you do work as a damsel in distress sometimes."

I laughed in disbelief. "What on earth are you implying? I've never asked you to rescue me."

He grinned to himself and said, "Who's the one who called me for help?"

I sealed my lips, remembering what I had done. He won and I was letting him. But, he didn't have to laugh at me!

"I can't just leave you there, it'll be too painful for me to cope with," He told me. "I can't stand watching you die by the hands of me, especially when it's her who's keeping you hostage. It's my fault, fully my fault."

He swallowed a lump in his throat. "It's that I...love you. What kind of man doesn't save his woman?"

Without even thinking, I stood up and bent over to kiss him in the forehead. I whispered, "Rest now, Asher. I love you too, but you're in no state to get serious."

I placed a small kiss on his forehead, when I should've done that to his lips instead. Why didn't I?

End of this chapter to Cinderella Who! What do you think? Lemme know in the comments!

Asher with his I love you's...sigh. I just wish he exists in real life sometimes.

What a haunting dream...the guilt that Taylor felt.

Petition on not letting Taylor falter into the dark side of Anna's words and point of view!

Where did Kylie go?

Thanks for reading this chapter and sticking out with me the whole time.

It's only two more chapters left! Excluding the epilogue, of course...

Bye-bye!