I love HEAVENS so much! I love Endless Score so much! 😭😭😭

Anyways, sorry for the tardiness.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .

"You're just a sacrifice."

 A..... sacrifice...?  What Abel muttered to you revolved around your head, creating whirls of confusion and conflicting emotions. Your heart sank. As you remained frozen in your state, Abel stood up and looked down at you.

"Hugo, let's bring her there," Abel instructed.

"There?" Hugo repeated, quickly grasping what the glasses wearing brunette was referring to. "You don't mean...."

"Yes." Abel confirmed Hugo's suspicions. 

"But,why?" Mika cut in their conversation, a frown evident on his young face. "Why are you taking her there?"

It seemed as if everyone except you were aware of where there was. Out of all of them, the pinkette was the only one who was visibly showing his disapproval at the senior's decision.

Eric walked to Mika and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Mika," he started in a soft voice, "you know nii-san's decisions are wise and absolute."

After watching the little ones' exchange, Abel gave the answer to Mika's question. "She was trying to go to the night garden."

As soon as he said those words, some looked disappointed while some hung their heads. You understood that you had made a grave mistake by trying to go to the garden.

"Even after nii-san forbade you so specifically...." Eric mumbled.

"....why?. . . Does the night garden hold any secret?" You managed to ask, your voice desperate to know the reason for their sudden change. You felt tears prick the corner of your eyes.

Without answering your question, Abel called the muscular man. "Hugo."

"As you say, Abel," the green head obliged quietly.

Before long, you found yourself scooped up in Hugo's arms.

"N-No...where are you taking me?" You struggled. "Hugo-san, please let go of me."

No matter how much you wriggled to get out of his grasp, his hold on you was inflexible. 

"Struggle is....futile," Keith suddenly remarked.

And so, Hugo carried a struggling you into the darkness of the mansion.

.  . .  . . .  .

Abel opened the door which you recognized to be an unused room. This room had always been locked and the only one who had the key was the leader.

"Wh-Where are we?" You asked, scared. The dark room was giving you an eerie vibe. There aren't any windows and it seems so closed off from the rest of the mansion.

"Your new room," answered Hugo.

The room became slightly dimmed when Virgil lit the candles in there. The design was similar to most other rooms of the mansion. It consisted of a bed, a closet and a chair only. Being in that room gave you an odd sense of...... feeling trapped.

Hugo let go of you and you could finally stand on your two feet. Your first instinct was,

"Please tell me what's going on!" Everything was driving you nuts. All of a sudden, your friends were out there to kill you, later for you to find yourself being called a 'sacrifice'. The people you thought you had come to know became very mysterious now.

"What.....what do you mean by. . . sacrifice?. . . . Why do you want to kill me?"

"To put it simply," Virgil initiated, "you're the chosen sacrifice for the night garden, lady. You'll have to offer your soul to the garden."

Your eyes widened and all you could do was stare at him incredulously. An offering to the garden...? What did they mean by that?

"I-I don't understand! . . . Offering my soul to the night garden....what are you talking about?"

"Do you know what this room is?" Mika quietly asked back instead of answering you.

"I...I don't know."

"This is..... the punishment room," Keith clarified. 

"The p-punishment room...?" You repeated.

"Those who commit sins are kept confined here for atonement," declared Simon.

"Then why am I here?" You asked again. The more they tried to tell you something, the more the number of questions in your head kept increasing. Nothing was making sense!

"You broke the sole rule nii-san, as well as the rest of us, told you not to break: do not enter the garden at night. You may have not entered the garden, however, you were trying to breach that single rule."

"Eric-san, I....." You couldn't find words to say at the moment. He was kind of right. But, why are they so secretive when it comes to the garden? As you hanged your head, you heard someone sigh. It was Abel.

"Reflect on your actions while you're here."

The seven men proceeded to leave you in the room. Something clicked on your mind and you grabbed the hand of the man who was going to be the last to leave.

"Wait! Please don't leave me here alone!" You cried out.

Abel turned his head to look at you. His deep purple eyes peered into your anguished ones.

"Abel-san, please. . . . ." You held onto his hand a bit more tightly in hopes that your beloved would not do such a cruel act of leaving you here all on your own. 

Yes, this was Abel. You knew what kind of person he was. And that made you hopeful. Surely, he wouldn't hurt you.

Turning his head, a sigh left his lips. He closed the door with his other hand before turning towards you. His lips tugged upwards into a small smile.

Seeing the smile on Abel's face, relief instantly spread through your body. Nonetheless, it was short-lived because before you knew it, you found yourself trapped between Abel and the wall.

The soft smile turned into a smirk as he watched your eyes enlarge. He moved his hand to caress your cheeks while the other rested on your hips. 

"A-Abel-san!?" Your cheeks heated up at his action. "Wh-What are you..!?"

"What's wrong?" His amused smirk grew wider. 

"Wh-What are y-you d-doing...?" His face was too close, making you stutter.

"Hmm~" He mused while he twirled a strand of your long hair. "I'm doing exactly what you asked."

"M-Me?!" Your voice came out as a squeak. 

Bringing the strand to his lips, he kissed your hair. It made you blush a darker shade of red. Your whole body was immobilized. "You're the one who seduced me."

"S-S-S-Seduced!?"

" 'Don't leave me here alone' ," he quoted what you had requested of him. "isn't that your way of inviting me for the night?"

Your mind spun. By 'inviting for the night', did he mean.... 

"N-No! I would never come up with such i-i-indecent thoughts!" You defended yourself. 

"Really?" With his long fingers, he lifted your chin up. 

Even in that situation, Abel looked mesmerizing. The only source of light in the closed room was the candles that Virgil had lit. Abel was dangerously handsome in the dark. The smirking brunette then proceeded, saying something that made your heart stop.

"You harbour romantic feelings for me, don't you?"

Your secret romantic feelings for him just got exposed. You opened your mouth, but it closed off again, being unable to form any word.

Meanwhile, Abel continued stroking your cheek with his hand. "I believe you are not ignorant of your feelings,lady. It is quite entertaining watching you try to suppress it."

"I...I.." You didn't know what to say.

"So,I suppose you shouldn't have a difficult time spending the night with me," he whispered, making your cheeks flare.

". . . . No." You did your best to fight your blush. "M-My feelings are not like that. I..."

"Oh?"

"What you are saying, Abel-san, is not love. I have never fancied you t-that way. Sleeping with someone and loving them are not the same thing."

Whenever you thought of your love for the brown haired man, it gave you strength, similar to how you were strengthened by it now. It was a completely strange feeling.

You loved it when Abel smiled, when he laughed, when his eyes glinted with excitement while talking about music, how he cared for his friends, how he would be kind enough to share his snacks with Hugo when the latter would stare at him expectantly after finishing his own snacks, how he was specially affectionate to the younger ones, how he would always leave your heart fluttering and many more things. You loved Abel even when he looked distraught or melancholy. It made you want to hug him in order for him to feel better.

You wanted to know him more, get closer to him, hold his hands, hold him when he was feeling down, smile and laugh with him and spend your days with him. That was how you loved the very man standing in front of you. You believed love was a pure thing.

Abel raised a brow, apparently reading your inner thoughts through your eyes and the soft blush on your cheeks. He made a dissatisfying noise.

"How frivolous and childish can your feelings be?"

"H-Huh?" You felt your chest constrict the moment you realised he had trampled over your feelings. Before you knew it, a tear rolled down your cheek.

"Love between a man and woman is not what you think, my lady. I can teach you what it actually is." His hands moved to your shoulders before slowly gliding down your bare arms. It sent you shivering.

More tears fell from your eyes. You didn't need to be a genius to know that the brunette had rejected your love.

"Besides, you broke a rule and...."

You swore you could feel his lips touching your ear for the barest moment. "Bad ladies need to be punished."

"!!!!"

Your hands moved on their own and pushed Abel as hard as they could.

"NO!!!"

The man staggered back and stared at you before breaking into a grin.

"Good. Just as I expected."

You looked at him through teary eyes. "Abel-san, I-I'm sorry for pushing you, but I.... I can't..."

"I expected as much." Abel walked towards the gate, opened it.

"I didn't intend to sleep with you from the beginning," muttering this coldly, he left. The sound of clanking of keys entered your ears. He had locked the door.

Finally, your legs gave out and you slumped on the cold floor. More and more tears spilled from your eyes. Hugging your knees close to your chest, you sobbed silently.

Six months ago, you had found yourself a family. Or at least, you had thought so because it turned out that they were after your life. You questioned yourself whether all the memories that you made with them were lies or not.

Your mind drifted off to your lonely past. After losing your parents at the age of four, an orphanage had taken you in. However, you were always the target of bullying. You had no friends. Yet, you always hoped -and believed- that someday, you would meet wonderful friends. So, when you had met Abel, Keith, Mika, Eric, Virgil, Hugo and Simon, words can't describe how happy you had felt.

But now, in your current state, you're once again reminded of the cruel reality that they probably never saw you as a friend. You never had a place in their hearts like how all of them were extremely important to you. 

Crying alone in this dark room all alone oddly reminded you of the times when you would hide in an empty room in the orphanage to cry silently because no matter how much you tried, no one would become your friend and instead, hated you. In this dark, cold and locked room, you felt like a caged bird. A caged bird locked inside with no one to hear its cries of despair…

To Be Continued.

WHAT AM I WRITING!?! 😖😖😖😖 It was really hard to make Abel say those lines. Though, I have a good reason why I had to get him act like this. You'll find it out later. As an apology for the late chapter, I'll publish the next chapter a bit earlier!