" corruption,, ty. "

01

yim.       point of view

"nu!" i said and noticed other people i didnt know there, putting my hands together, "sawatdeekhrap." i said bowing a bit, turning to nunew, "i haven't seen you since nats birthday party." i nodded and noticed, "i saw you at james celebration but you were too drunk to talk." nunew scoffed, "it was net that persuaded me to drink a lot, my punishment from hia zee was fucking hefty." i shoved nunew, "i dont want to hear how zee hurt your body, hes my damn cousin." nunew nodded and looked around, "i thought it was masquerade, no one is wearing their mask." i turned to the door, "we have to wait till the party starter comes." the lights flashed off and the lights around the door were white, the giant doors shot open, there was mark, his sons, and another family,
one that looked damn remarkable.

it was THE family, the one who REALLY runs everything, they were abroad for most of the year so this comeback was shocking, their only son, tutor was someone whose look could kill.
well not me but he could kill girls like love.

"shiaa.." i heard nunew say as he got closer to me and whispered, "its tutor, he's back." i looked at them and back at nunew, he looked scared for me, "ahh.. nunew come on he probably forgot about me.. right?" i took a deep breath as the families went on the high stage in the front of the giant room,

"sit, sit."  the people on the stage said, i immediately sat down, just trying to compose myself,

"welcome everyone, to the masquerade, put your masks on." he took a pause and i picked up my mask, it matched the color of my outfit, a pale navy blue,

"now, we have guests who lead us here, as so as this was a masquerade, it is also a celebration for the return of this family from the states." they walked forward, i felt actual fear in my heart, i hoped he didn't recognize me. i really did, there were just hellos being said, a speech and clapping but the speech ended, we were directed through another door, big enough to fit everyone, in there was another stage, multiple seats on another side, stairs to a second floor, a bar, foods and private rooms, as so as dim, red lights, "this gives me deja vu." nunew said, i laughed, "of the day zee destroyed you with dim red lights?" nunew sucked his teeth and turned away, "its extremely beautiful, but what are you going to do about tutor, if he recognizes you, its going to be like you have a stalker on you." i shivered, what tutor did was extremely scary, and what was scary is everyone except nunew and james said it was "romance"
romance? no way in hell.

nunew grabbed my wrist, "yim, if you see him and he recognizes you, pretend your a twin, or that your the wrong person, or say you dont know him, either way you'll either be beside me or ne-" we both saw net talking with james and a crowd, and that wouldn't save me from anything, my only hope was nunew because zees family was higher than them so it would scare him away, but other than that, i was done for, half an hour passed and all i did was pick up some snacks, get a small drink, go talk to some connections, and talk with nunew, but the worst happened.
nunew disappeared without a sight, all i did was turn to talk with someone, a searched around for a few minutes and found out zee asked nunew to do something, now i was just lest here, alone, we were in public but i was definently scared because of his position in this hierarchy he could kidnap me but everyone would ignore it, i made sure my mask was tightly on, looking around slowly.

then my wrist was slightly grabbed

just like how tutor did when he wanted me, that was when my heart dropped below grounds, my breath hitching and my heart rate increasing, my legs almost folding, i slowly turned around to see tutor, he smiled and looked down at me, "yim?" i remembered what nunew said and shook my head, he immediately dragged me out to somewhere i bet even the builder of this building didn't know it was damn scary, i couldn't show how scared i was from tutors presence, "yim, you missed me right?" my voice hitched for a second, "n-no, i'm not yim i'm just a twin, yim is in china." he laughed and got closer, "but yim dosen't have a twin, does he?" my heart stopped for a second, im so stupid, after this i couldnt escape, "remember your 5 precepts, ah?" god, i couldn't help but nod, "what, see how easy that was?" i stayed silent and looked down, i felt my face getting lifted up by tutors index finger, "you've changed." i looked at tutors eyes, "how..?"  i looked at him deeply, he looked even deeper, "are you scared?" i shook my head and looked down at my fingers playing together,
"yim, stop lying."