Ryzen POV

I always thought of myself as someone brave, as I do not let my fear hinder my ability to move forward.

When I was assigned to difficult operations, I did not let my fear and doubts consume me because lives depended on me. Yet, while I was riding that plane and fell into the depths of darkness, I've never felt so helpless and pained in my life...

The very thought of dying, giving up on all the aspirations that I've built and not living up to the fullest of my potential... it was horrifying. At that time, I lost all hope. I thought that nothing could ever compare to the despair that I felt.

But then, I was wrong.

When I found out the truth about my birth, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the pain and hopelessness that I felt was worse than dying.

It felt like my heart was ripped into pieces and that every nerve in my body was suffocating.

Honestly, at that moment, I wished that the heavens just let me die again rather than making me feel extreme pain. It was torture, as if the heavens have been playing with me my whole life.

It destroyed the very being of who I thought I was and made me feel immense grief.

Who am I?

Who am I, if I'm not really Rose Ferrada's daughter?

Who am I, if I was a product of a sinful relationship?

And just before I could even try to find my identity again, before I could even make plans... the heavens threw me into a dreadful situation.

So now... instead of letting the fear I feel control me like nothing else, I just don't really care anymore.

This kind of situation... it doesn't really impact me anymore. I've experienced more pain than this. If the heavens really want to play with me even more, then so be it.

Right now, even though I wanted to move, my feet and hands wouldn't let me. There are shackles and chains tied around them, trapping me. There was also a rope that tied my body to the chair, confining me even more. When I tried to move just a little, only pain followed. More so, I could not even let any sound escape from me, since there was a tape covering my mouth.

With that, the sounds of the chains seem to alert the two people that were in front of me.

Before, I was still a little bit drowsy, as I felt the lingering sensations of the drug that they made me sniff. I didn't notice my overall surroundings and as if on instinct, the first thing I did was to try moving around, only to find out that I was chained mercilessly.

But gradually, I heard mumblings and my vision grew a bit clearer.

Juli was staring at me with a lofty stare, looking down on my current state. After all, I was stuck in a chair like a prisoner, as if I had committed a grave sin. Although I could not see my current appearance, it is pretty easy to guess that it is different from the usual glammed up appearance that I had.

Beside her, there was a man that had a smug expression on, almost looking at me as if he has acquired a toy that he has been eyeing for a long time.

Xavier Ayala.

I was dumbstruck when I saw him, but it was only momentarily.

Although I was very downhearted, I cannot say that I am that surprised. It only explains the strange persistence that he had.

Right now, I still cannot fully grasp why they put me in this kind of dreadful situation.

However, no matter what their reasons are, it cannot be denied that they have betrayed Millen Yu.

Naturally, since I am not necessarily the Millen Yu that was their close friend, I do not feel any kind of attachment to them. More than anything, I honestly did not think much of them. The only impression that they had on my mind was the fact that they were Millen's allies. I did not think any malice of them or viewed them as a possible threat, not even once.

But I guess, I could not really blame myself either for not paying too much attention. After all, from Millen Yu's memories, they were her precious friends. For her, they were like her family, who she treasured a lot.

With that, I cannot help but feel sorry for Millen Yu.

Although I am not the one who treated them with profound friendship, I have looked through Millen's memories and unconsciously, I feel the sense of betrayal that Millen Yu must have felt.

I thought that she led a very fortunate life, as her family was one of the country's most powerful families in both business and politics. Aside from her grandfather and parents doting on her, she also had a lot of 'friends'.

It seems like nothing could go wrong and all she would have to do was to sit pretty and enjoy everything that she had. Truthfully, she was like a modern princess.

But now, if it was her instead in this situation, I could only imagine the pain she must've felt. I could imagine her breakdown, feeling a sense of loss upon the people she thought they were. It's like everything shattering – all their happy memories together and the future she imagined with them.

Ah, now, she is truly pitiful.

It made me look back further on her memories and analyse them.

Millen Yu had a lot of friends and their usual hang outs would be on parties and raves. They would have a "good time" and do thrilling things together. Overall, that was the only foundation of her friendship with them. She has a good time with them, but she does not really know them deeply. But still, Millen seemed to invest more and had a deeper attachment to them. She thought of doing things for them, that they would probably not do for her.

Hmm...

How heartbreaking, indeed.

I initially thought that Juli was in a different league compared to those other friends that Millen had, because after all, they practically grew up together. They were childhood friends and almost like sisters.

But who knew, it seems like those other friends are better than her and Xavier Ayala. Since at the very least, even though they do not have any attachments to Millen, they would probably not have the intentions to do this at all.

Instead of showing the pity I had for Millen Yu, I just looked at the two people in front of me in a nonchalant way.

"Oh... looks like she's awake already. What are you going to do with her anyway? Why continue to keep her here?" Juli said to Xavier arrogantly.

Xavier raised his eyebrows and shrugged a bit.

"Dunno... will be waiting for the helicopter that my dad arranged. This would've never reached to this point if that bitch only met up with me earlier. Her greedy dad really crossed the line this time and there's no turning back." Xavier replied while gritting his teeth.

What? Kenneth Yu?

Damn it... I regret not taking his business problems seriously. Who knew, one of the involved businessmen that he had disagreements with was Xavier Ayala's family?

"But, is it okay that she knows it's us who took her? Isn't this a little bit too bold?" Juli pouted.

Xavier snaked his arms around Juli's waist, caressing it. Then, he put a soft kiss on her bare shoulder.

Huh? What the heck?

They were lovers? How can I not know this?

"Don't worry about it. That old man doubled security for her so none of our men could do it. But of course, that stupid bitch would always let her guard down towards us. Especially you, since she never responded to my calls whenever I asked her to meet up." he said in a somewhat bitter tone.

Then, Xavier looked at me, as if he was belittling everything about me.

"Even more, there's no way out for her. Even if her family complies with the conditions we will present to them, she will never go back to them. It will be her family's downfall and they will lose the precious gem they treasure as well...that kind of outcome, it will be the sweetest thing for everyone. There's really no need to worry... everything is planned already." Xavier continued, looking at me with sinister eyes.

Upon hearing that, Juli seemed to be beyond relieved. She was extremely delighted at the misfortune that may come upon me.

"Is that so? Then maybe, it is only right for me to vent out the feelings that I have kept for so long. Ah, it's such a shame that this bitch did not die last time." she said.

What does she mean? I had a puzzled expression on my face, looking forward to what she was going to reveal. On the other hand, Xavier did not seem to be that surprised at what she said, as if he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Oh... you mean that music festival drugging, huh." Xavier said casually.

Juli nodded at him as she removed herself from his grasp. Then, she walked towards me and looked at me with amusement in her eyes.

"Yeah. I took her at my condo that day, thinking she was going to be dead soon. But then, who would've thought that her life would be so thick? I did not get to proceed with my plan of admitting her to the hospital so they can pronounce it as 'dead on arrival'. Hmmp."

Right now, I could only glare at her. What a conniving person!

I only thought that Millen Yu was mindless to take substances given to her that day. But who would've thought it was her bestfriend that cunningly planned everything? That she wanted to end her life?

Now that I think about it, the situation when I first occupied her body was quite strange. Even if Juli was scared of Millen Yu tainting her grandfather's reputation, wouldn't Millen Yu's life matter more? Why did she not take her to the hospital right away?

See, this kind of betrayal between females, is exactly why I did not have anyone to consider as 'best friend' in my original life. Even though there were people who wanted to be my 'friend', in the end, they were all just taking advantage of my genuine feelings. It is through my experiences that I realised early on that people come and go. Friends are only temporary people.

Anyhow, from those experiences, it only made me fonder of my family... my sister, especially. I did not mind that I did not have anyone I can call best friend because there was a sister that cared for me unconditionally.

Juli grabbed my chin and suddenly, she slapped my face. It was as loud as a clap and it stung my face badly.

Although I tried to say something, they were only muffled. The intensity of my glare only heightened even more.

Like a maniac, Juli let out a loud chuckle.

"Ah, you may be wondering, why I did this? Why I hate you so much?" she said in a condescending tone.

She crossed her arms as she continued to look down on me, belittling the glare I gave her.

"Because you take everything that I should have! You're just a dumb bitch, but why does everyone fawn over you? You're not even that pretty and only look mediocre at most. Look at your body, it doesn't even have curves. Why do people like you so much? Why do they keep on praising you? You're not better than me! You only have everything because of your family. People are only sucking up to you because of the power backing you up!" she ranted.

Juli looked at me with so much disdain in her eyes. It was probably the resentment she has built up all these years for Millen Yu...

"Do you know how suffocating it is, huh? To play the sidekick role? To suck up to you and listen to all your dumb problems? It was better than you don't exist at all. I'm tired of playing that role all my life, especially when you're not even that better than me. You will never understand the misery that I feel. Nothing can get rid of it... except from one thing." she shouted with so much hate.

Then, she walked even closer at me and whispered into my ears.

"You know what it is? The moment where my misery will end? When you're gone... forever. By then, I will be free from your shadow. I will no longer be a sidekick." she whispered with so much malice.

If did not have a tape on my mouth right now, I would probably be able to let her hear some sense of truth.

She's got it all wrong!

It was her who considered herself as a sidekick, as if she was someone inferior to Millen Yu.

All along, Millen treated her as an equal and as as a sister.

It was her who brought all the misery upon herself.

From what she said, she probably always compared herself to Millen since they were younger. Of course, since Millen Yu's family was more poweful, she seemed to always have it better than her.

Better toys, clothes, gadgets, bags and so on...

It was like, everything she had paled in comparison.

But why does she have to compare herself in the first place? Why does she have to be so insecure?

Your only comparison should only be your potential. You should not compare yourself with anyone else, since everyone have different stories.

Millen Yu never had the intention to make Juli feel like she's inferior. It was just Millen Yu simply being herself. After all, why does it have to be her fault to have everything that she has?

This girl, Juli, is so consumed by her insecurities and envy for Millen Yu. It is sad that she has reached up to this point, building up her resentment for Millen and filling her heart with so much hatred.

In a way, she is quite pitiful too. She let her whole life be clouded by irrational loathing. It's such a waste...

Rather than being threatened by her, I see her as a little girl who has deep-rooted issues. She is out of her mind and needs a lot of counselling.

It's just kind of baffling how well she masked her poisonous intentions all along...

Before I knew it, Juli grabbed my head and slammed it. Then, in a vulgar way, she spit on my face.

She chuckled madly once again, but thankfully, Xavier went near her to stop her from doing more.

"Juls, that's enough. The helicopter will come soon." he murmured in a low voice.

Juli pushed Xavier lightly, not letting him control her. In defeat, he let out a deep sigh.

"Wait... I'm not done yet. You! You knew that I liked Xavier, right? But what did you do? You seduced him instead and made him fawn over you! Slut! You can hook up with other guys instead but if I was really your friend, why did you hook up with the guy that I liked? Huh? That's why... you can't blame me for doing this, Millen. You brought this upon yourself. It's all your fault. It's your fault!!!" she shouted hysterically.

Xavier tried to calm her down, so she did not do anything more to me.

But, uh, what is she saying? Based from Millen's memories, Juli never said that she liked Xavier at all. In fact, she even told Millen that she should give Xavier a chance several times. It was because of her why Millen agreed to hook-up with Xavier in the first place...

Really, why is she twisting facts? If she liked Xavier back then, why did she not tell Millen?

Millen would've helped her for sure and bring them together.

But right now, it's not that hard to see the foundation of their relationship. I bet Xavier Ayala only used Juli in order to bring me to him.

Ah, is this girl a masochist or something? She likes bringing pain upon herself and now that this situation happened, she's twisting facts in order for them to justify her narrative.

"See? Now he's all mine. After all, how could he be so blind to even like you?" she hissed again.

Suddenly, the sound of loud footsteps interrupted her.

"Sir! This is not good! We got a report from the men positioned at the start of the pathway. Guards from the Yu family are starting to travel all the way here! It's as if they know exactly where she is." one of the men reported.

Hmmm... that's right.

Another reason why I did not let fear consume me was because of this very fact. Although it was my miscalculation to not bring the bodyguards with me when I went with Juli, there was a safety net.

I had a tracker in my phone and based from what that man said, the bodyguards from Millen Yu's family would probably arrive soon to rescue me.

"Hey, what's going to happen? How did her guards know where she was??" Juli asked Xavier in a panicked tone.

Xavier calmed her down while looking at me with a suspicious gaze.

"How else? Her family probably put a tracker on her phone." he said while gritting his teeth.

He quickly shouted at his servants.

"Burn her phone and everything in that purse! Just to be sure, also remove all the accessories that she has on and burn them as well! Quick!"

After Xavier said that, everything happened very fast.

Strange, bulky men forcefully grabbed my necklace and earrings. They grabbed my earrings a bit too hard that I felt like my ears was really going to be torn off. The sensation hurt a lot.

Ah...

There goes my hope to be rescued.

How do I describe my feeling right now?

I just feel very empty, not feeling anything at all.

All I could do was to stare at a fixed direction, consumed by the apathy that I feel.

It should be me who should be panicking right now, but it was Juli who was so frantic instead. Where did all her guts go, hmm?

"I can't be discovered in here! I thought that I'm supposed to leave first when that damn helicopter comes so I can serve as a 'witness' to her kidnapping? What about now? What if they see me??" she shouted.

Xavier looked a bit distressed. I could sense his annoyance with Juli. But with no choice, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Calm down. Here's the change of plan, okay? The helicopter will arrive earlier before the Yu bodyguards even arrive. But it would be impossible for you to leave before they arrive so we'll make it look like that it was you two that got kidnapped instead. They wouldn't suspect you anyway." he said in a reassuring voice.

With that, Juli stopped panicking and let out a relieved sigh as they continued to discuss the 'change of plan'.

These two...

All along, those closest to Millen Yu turned out to be snakes by her side, only waiting for a perfect opportunity to poison her...