The Villain's Sister - Chapter 52

Bang! Bang!

A bullet shattered the window.

It struck right where my head had been just moments ago.

Johan, sitting in the driver’s seat, fired back. My ears rang from the gunshots.

“Kyaa!”

I screamed belatedly.

Glass shattered and rained down on the back of my neck.

Bullets struck the car frame with a metallic clang.

As Johan hit the accelerator, my head thumped against the glove compartment.

My body shook left and right with each twist of the steering wheel.

My shoulder slammed into the car door, sending pain through me.

The gunfire grew louder and louder.

Not just handguns now—there were rifles, too.

Thunk!

As a dull sound rang out, someone grabbed a handful of my hair.

“Agh!”

Someone had latched onto the passenger-side door and was grabbing at me.

With brute strength, they tried to yank me out through the shattered window.

Bang!

“Gasp.”

Johan shot the man in the face.

Blood and flesh splattered hot against me.

What did I just see?

A person’s face—his eyes, his nose…

I couldn’t move my eyes, couldn’t turn my head.

Frozen, I stared straight ahead.

Tap.

Something ran down my cheek.

When I moved my stiff neck and looked down, a piece of skin with an eyebrow stuck to it had landed on the back of my hand.

“Gkkhh.”

I meant to curse, but what came out of my mouth were gasping breaths.

“Aah… uuuh…”

I couldn’t breathe. My throat closed up.

“Hhh… hhhuuhhh…”

“Breathe…! Gise—”

Johan shouted beside me, but I couldn’t understand him.

Screech!

Even as black cars chased us from behind, Johan pulled over to the shoulder.

He grabbed my shoulders and shouted, “Giselle! Giselle! Look at me!”

“Uuhhh, hhhuuhhh.”

“Breathe!”

Johan paused his shouting to fire his gun outside.

That’s when I realized I’d been clawing at my own chest.

Eyes gleaming in a hue different from Raphael’s locked onto me.

His voice pierced through my ringing ears and gripped my nerves.

“Slowly. Inhale when I say one, exhale when I say two.”

My nails scraped my skin through my clothes.

I couldn’t think. My mind was blank.

My head spun, my heart pounded like it would burst.

One of the cars behind us sped up.

It looked like it was going to ram us.

Johan, having reloaded, leaned out the window and fired.

In the rearview mirror, I saw the driver get shot in the chest and collapse.

Still, the car didn’t slow down.

“Damn it.”

Johan cursed and snapped his fingers.

The speeding car that was about to engulf us soared into the sky like a lie.

Crash!

It smashed into a roadside tree, flinging the passenger far away.

The car exploded.

“Uuhhhh…”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

The explosion’s heat brushed against my face.

Men poured out of the other chasing cars.

With guns in both hands, they fired at us like mad.

I felt an urge to tear apart this wretched reality in front of me.

I didn’t have the power to do so, but it was easier than forcing myself to accept it.

“Damn it all… screw… everything…”

If I had powers like Big Bear’s, I would’ve beaten Raphael into a pulp and run away with him.

The strength drained from my hands, which had been clawing at my chest.

My choking eased.

I expected pain and noise, but none came.

When I opened my eyes, I saw bullets swirling mid-air in a vortex.

It was such a surreal sight that I nearly gasped.

“Giselle, breathe slowly. Inhale… exhale.”

Johan rummaged in the glove box, found a plastic bag, and pressed it to my mouth and nose.

He seemed unaware I was recovering, too focused on the hitmen.

When I tried to push the bag away, he held it firmly in place.

The spinning bullets suddenly shot off in one direction.

Tat tat tat! Bang! Bang! Thud!

They pierced the car bodies and windows, tearing through the men inside.

Blood splattered across the hole-ridden window.

My heartbeat grew clearer, and the tears on my cheek burned hot.

“You shouldn’t look.”

Johan covered my eyes. My eyelids slowly closed.

I let out a harsh breath and asked, “How are you so calm about this?”

Reality is so heavy, life feels overwhelming.

The helplessness and fear are hard to bear.

And the anger I’ve tried so hard to ignore scares me.

It feels like it could burn my soul to the root and leave me hating the world forever.

No, I’ve already hated it for a long time.

I resent the city that corrupted Raphael. I curse Andrew.

With no mercy, no forgiveness—none at all.

“If I hadn’t killed them, you would’ve died. Emotions aren’t necessary for that.”

I held Johan’s hand, the one covering my eyes, with both of mine.

Even when I gripped tightly, I couldn’t hide the trembling.

“I wish the fairy godmother would appear.”

A sob escaped me.

I wished everyone would just die. That this wretched world would just come to an end.

I wished I had the power to kill, not to heal.

“If I can’t escape in a pumpkin carriage, then I hope someone gifts me great power.”

Still holding onto the flinching Johan, I breathed in deeply and exhaled, over and over.

It felt like someone was grabbing my ankle, dragging me underground.

The more I tried to calm down, the more burning breath poured out.

“This really is a mess. I’m just trembling like an idiot.”

Johan couldn’t watch any longer and pulled me into his arms.

Burying my face into his chest where I couldn’t see, he clumsily patted my back.

In the instant his warmth reached me, he felt threatening.

The heartbeat I felt against his chest frightened me.

In a reality that had shown not a single ounce of mercy, the warmth of a heartbeat offered for the first time terrified me.

“Let go.”

“Calm down.”

“I said let go.”

I struggled to break free, but the more I did, the tighter his arms held me, leaving me unable to move.

“What’s your real reason for coming back? What do you want from me?”

“You always speak like you know something.”

“Weren’t we pretending not to know each other anyway?”

“That’s why I’m pretending too. I think it’s best we keep pretending from now on.”

I had planned to win over Red Shadow’s heart, not to offer mine.

So now that Johan felt threatening, it was only right to break away, to keep my distance and stay wary.

But the way his callused hand gently pressed the back of my head was so tender, so warm, that I couldn’t resist anymore.

“It’s all right. The fairy tale where you’re the protagonist will have a happy ending. I’ll make sure of it.”

Johan was as solid as the calluses on his hands, while I had barely stitched together the wounds I carried, living on.

So when someone like him offered me such warmth and comfort, it was easy to crumble.

He was supposed to point a gun at my head and threaten me, yet here he was, giving me warmth.

Afraid of collapsing under his clumsy kindness, I curled up and said, “Let’s go home.”

***

As I stood under the stream of water, red blood spread across the white tiles.

I threw away the dirty clothes.

I had come out to drink some water but ended up collapsing over the table from exhaustion.

My body felt as heavy as a sponge soaked with water.

Johan opened the fridge like it was his own house and took out some ice cream.

“I heard sweet things help improve your mood.”

“Who said that?”

It was surprising that someone around Johan had given him such advice.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked again, “I was told you like sweets. Was I wrong?”

“Me? That’s not something I like.”

“Is that so? I’m sorry.”

Johan shoved the ice cream back into the freezer.

I called out to him from behind. “My preference is the chocolate one next to it. The vanilla one you took out is Raphael’s favorite.”

The arm that was about to close the freezer paused mid-motion.

He stiffly turned to look at me.

His face looked the same as always, expressionless, but his frozen demeanor seemed a bit like a betrayed cat.

“Are you playing the godmother now?”

Johan quickly composed himself and brought back the chocolate-flavored ice cream.

He forcibly placed the spoon in my hand.

The ice cream was so sweet it made my tongue sting.

As he had said, I wanted to believe that this overwhelming sweetness could save me, so I ate like a madwoman.

After taking a spoonful himself, Johan opened his mouth and grimaced as if his tongue had gone numb.

“It’s deadly, isn’t it?”

“It’s awful.”

“I’ll take that to mean it’s awfully perfect.”

Maybe it was a sugar high, but a stupid laugh escaped me.

Even after all that, I could still laugh.

As I sucked on the spoon stained with chocolate syrup, Johan stared at me.

My eyes, nose, lips.

He studied me as if trying to memorize the face of the first person he had ever truly seen.

Like a believer who thinks they can understand someone just by looking at them.

Then again—eyes, nose, lips.

This time, he observed cautiously, as if gauging my mood.

He measured my gaze, followed the direction of my eyes.

Again, eyes, nose… and then lips. His gaze fixed on my lips.

Slightly dazed, with a bit of tension.

“You’re careless,” he said.