𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 (UNDER EDITING)

05: Shattered Reflection

The heel of my foot tapped nervously on the wooden floor of my house. My leg was shaking up and down at a fast pace as I stared down at my phone that was laying on the tea table in the middle of the living room.

I bit down on my nail nervously. ‘What is taking them so long?’

I was let out of the hospital a week after the incident. However, just like my mom said, there was a scar on my neck. A scar that no matter what I do it doesn't go away.

A surgery can't be done to get rid of the scar from the high chance of me dying. If I cover it using makeup, it will eventually fade away and the markings will appear. That can't be shown to the public, I don't want that to happen.

I stood up, pushing my hair back as I walked towards the kitchen with the feeling of my chest tightening. I walked past a mirror that was hanging in the living room wall. From my peripheral view I caught a quick glance at myself.

I stopped and took two steps back to look at myself in my reflection. Looking at the bright and visible scar on my neck. I practically winced as I looked at it.

The slim, pink mark that went across my neck was brighter than my skin color. I couldn't raise my head up or look down or else it would cause me a stinging pain. It was bearable but it felt as if my skin was stretching apart.

I forced myself to look away. To look away from my ripped flesh. Now anytime I am face to face with a mirror, the scar will remind me of that day.

I stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle, taking the cap off and bringing it up to my lips. I swallowed slowly so as to not hurt myself. When I was let out of the hospital, my doctor told me to avoid eating hard food and more liquid-like food.

My wound was still healing and sudden actions would once again make me bleed. I was already fighting the urge to scratch around the scar.

From the kitchen, I heard a notification ring on my phone that I left in the living and I immediately placed the water down. My heart was pounding loudly against my chest as I rushed to look at my phone.

I quickly unlocked it and clicked on the message from my other manager. My eyes skimmed through the text, holding in my breath as I read and processed every word sent to me.

“After lots of thinking, the team and I decided on letting you rest until you get better. That being said, all of your modeling shoots will be transferred to someone else and your movie scripts will no longer be distributed to you. There will also be a therapist assigned for you everyday in the afternoon. We hope for your good health.”

My body froze and I felt my shoulders drop. I re-read the text, thinking if he made a mistake in sending me this text, but the more I read it the more irritated I got.

“No, no, no, no, no.” I shook my head as I pressed numbers on the screen. I held my phone against my ear hearing it ring before it eventually went to voicemail.

“I'm sorry, but the person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep-”

“Please-! Please don't do this to me..” I whispered, calling my manager again. The ringing went on for a few seconds before once again going to his voicemail.

I threw my phone to the ground below me, shattering it into pieces. Breathing heavily as I gripped on my hair tightly shaking my head. My eyes swelling up with tears making my sight blurry. Despite that no tears dared to roll down my cheek.

“They're lying..right?! They can't be serious..they can't be!” I muttered to myself. Trying my best to not yell.

He didn't say it, but in the text it was clear what he wanted to say. “You're no longer needed here.”

I didn't even want this to happen! Why? Why can't they understand?! I lost my childhood to join the modeling industry becoming the youngest model in Japan. I sacrificed my entire life into this.

I gave them everything I had only for them to throw it away like it was all useless in the end. I gave into the acting lifestyle, hoping to make people love me. To see me as this perfect girl. To make my dad notice me.

My eyes stopped at the mirror and I looked at my reflection. All because of the stupid scar. I lost everything because of the stupid scar.

I reached for a potted plant in the tea table and I threw it at the mirror and it hit perfectly in the middle. Cracks appeared on the mirror before eventually small shards of the mirror shattered to the ground.

I stared back at the broken mirror. The shattered and broken reflection of me. Tears finally streamed down my face, making me choke slightly as I tried to breath. But I could still see the scar on the cracked mirror.

I cursed out loudly as I grabbed the mirror and threw it to the ground covering the floor with more fragments of sharp pieces. Mirror pieces sinked into the bottom of my foot making me winced at the pain.

“Please…please this can't be happening.” I sobbed as I gripped my hair again.

My throat was burning at this point. It was itching in pain but I didn't bother stopping. I let out a shaky cough adding more discomfort to my injured throat. But that wasn't on my mind right now.

If I'm absent from my modeling and acting career, my fame will eventually fade away and soon enough everyone will forget about me. All of my hard work will be forgotten and Kaito will take it to advantage to rise to the top.

That's how he is. If there's any opportunity given to him, he will make use of it. Just like right now. He could be doing something. Something that'll bring attention towards him.

No.

I can't let that happen.

I sat back down on the couch, my body shaking in anger. My face was red from frustration and crying. It wasn't tears of sadness, it was more of raged tears filled with all sorts of emotions.

There has to be something I can do. Right?

There has to be another way to earn fame. I don't need the help of a modeling agency or the cameras in a film set pointing at me.

“They'll regret it..They'll f*cking regret it.” I panted heavily with a smirk.

One way or another, I will be the one to remain on top. Just me. Not my mom, not my brother.

Me.

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