LOVE AND HATRED

"How did she leave?" A coarse voice bellowed aggressively.

"I... I have no idea, sir... I swear on my children! I had nothing to do with her disappearance!" Peter exclaimed fearfully.

"Hahahahaha!" A peal of deep resounding laughter spread through the walls of the room, "But of course, they won't be alive by the end of the day."

"But.. I left her in the care of Sam and Benji," Peter said suddenly as if he just had a brainwave.

"Well, why didn't you say so sooner? Go go, tell those two that the big boss has invited them to tea," He announced.

Although he had spoken in an attempt to be nice, he ended up looking even scarier.

Peter left to inform the two unfortunate guards of their early misfortune.

***An hour ago.****

"They're going to kill you," Peter spoke softly.

"You have to leave... You have to let me help you."

"I don't need your help," A softer voice spoke. It belonged to a younger lady who had seen the most of life.

Jade had been tortured and locked up for over a year, nearing two even.

"You made me this way."

"I didn't do it intentionally, I was drugged!" He defended, "If you don't leave now, he will kill you!" He begged.

"Aren't I better off, dead?" She demanded softly.

"I'm not even human anymore!" She muttered under her breath. If anyone had told her that she would be having such a conversation, or any conversation at all, with the second man she hated in her life, she wouldn't have believed it.

"Please, let me pay for my mistakes… I beg you!" Peter pleaded desperately.

"Hahaha," Jade laughed softly.

"I knew it. You probably think I'm a rag doll, you can use it at any time and simply reward it. I am worth more than that to myself! Get out!" She screamed.

She started hearing voices in her head.

'You worth nothing!'

'You're useless!'

'Monster!'

'Nobody loves you..'

"No!" Jade softly cried as she covered her ears. She put her head down to her folded knees, hugging them as she sobbed.

Silence.

That was what she had grown used to. She opened her eyes, the man was gone and so were her shackles. Jade stared at the broken metal before her.

"He's right," She whispered, "I have to leave."

She picked the clothes on the ground which appeared to belong to an over wounded guard. Regardless, she put it on. She ran out of her prison ward and joined a line of guards who were running out of the building. She joined them in a vehicle but sat up front beside the driver.

***Present.***

"Hey." The driver called gruffly. Jade did not answer, "Aren't you too wounded to be going out again?" He interrogated, but she was silent.

He chuckled, "You must be bait then… Going to the Mustard mansion to beat up that old fart and steal the mystery item in his possession," The driver explained. Jade's attention centered on the name, Mustard.

"Did you say, Mustard?" She inquired softly.

"Uh, yeah… funny name, right? Yeah, I know." He laughed.

"Like, why would anyone name their child, Mustard?"

"But, sadly, they did.. and he's in possession of one of the mystery items that could bring immense wealth and...-"

"Mustard.." Ruolan muttered, ignoring the rants of the driver. "Mama,"

Mustard was her mother's family name. Why didn't her mother stay with her grandfather anyway? It's obvious the man was very rich.

"Hey, why acting strange? Muttering Mustard... Do you know something-ugh!?" He gagged as she sl*t his throat. She put a heavy box on the accelerator and climbed out the window.

Jade brought out a bow and a pack of arrows that had imploding bombs attached to them.

One by one, she fired at the nine vans behind them. Nobody knew what was coming until it hit them like, Boom! Are you looking for this?

Jade threw a smoke bomb into the van she was riding in and waited for it to diffuse. When it did, she jumped into the van and killed everyone there.

After her killing spree, she went back to the driver's seat and took over from the now-dead driver.

Following the map, she drove to the Mustard Mansion. She recognized it from all the stories her mother had told her.

She parked the vehicle far from the main entrance and alighted the van.

The walls were exactly like the description Shimmer had given her. She started knocking on each brick, putting her ears to the wall as she did.

Fourth from the center, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and then an echo.

Ninth and a louder echo. Tenth and she pushed it in. The wall made some noise, sunk in and she moved forward only to fall into a tunnel.

"Ah!" She gasped as she hit bottom. She turned around to see the pitch black around her. She fumbled with a small lighter in her pocket before she found it. She pushed the switch and the light came on.

"Okay, okay… deep breath." She chanted. After taking deep breaths till her breath became steady, she began to recite the directions her mother had once given her.

"Okay, go forward, turn left first... Left again… Left… Right… Left… Right… Right again… Right, a third time… Look for a moon symbol…"

"Aaaannnddd... Aha!" She wiped the sweat off her face.

Jade scratched the moon's surface three times and the wall turned her around. The place she was in seemed brighter than where she came from. That was due to the hole which was above where she stood, but meters away from her.

Jade saw a rope dangling through the hole and she grabbed it.

It took her five minutes of strenuous climbing before she arrived at the top. It seemed like she had arrived at the basement.

Jade turned to her left where wooden stairs awaited her. She climbed the stairs to the top where a wooden door also awaited her. She twisted the knob and pulled the door.

Everything was white.

Jade coughed and sneezed at the pent-up dust in the room. She pushed the windows a little open and gasped for fresh air.

After calming down, she entered the bathroom which had everything intact as if it hadn't been used for years.

Surprisingly, they were all new products and none were expired. Shrugging to herself, Jade made a bath ready for herself and scrubbed till she was white.

Then, she soaked it for ten minutes to relax her nerves. After that, she brushed her teeth till they were white again, emptying a tube of toothpaste and a cup of charcoal powder in the process.

Jade dressed in a baby blue dress and stood before the mirror. Her wounds were already healing and her eyes were so mysterious in themselves. She sighed at her new self. She was no longer human.

Jade had just finished cleaning her body and applying some skin moisturizer when she heard the door unlock from outside.

A young lady in a supposed maid's attire was there, staring as if she had just seen a ghost. Her mouth was wide open, just like her eyes... And ears probably.

"M.. my L.. Lady," She stuttered. "You're.. alive?"

"Uhm.. there's a-"

"Ahhhh!" She screamed as she ran off.

"Lord M! Lord M!!" Jade had to follow her as she ran off.

"No, wait... You're not getting it. I'm not your lady!" Jade tried to defend herself, but her words fell on deaf ears.

"Little El, what has got you running and screaming so much on this hot afternoon?! Are you going nuts?" Lord M demanded.

"You are startling me, little girl!" He scolded.

"I apologize, Lord M., I have just seen my lady, Shimmer!" El exclaimed.

"What?" Lord M sat up immediately.

"Where? Where did you see her? Quickly.." He got up. "Bring me to her!"

"There she is!" El answered as she sighted Jade coming down the stairs. "I found her in her room."

Lord M turned to see his Shimmer standing there awkwardly as if she didn't know what was happening.

"Uhm, Lord M.. whatever. I'm not er... Shimmer." Jade said awkwardly.

"Oh no! She must've lost her memory! I must prepare the memory recovery tea for her-"

Lord M signaled to her to stop. Then, he looked up at Jade who was staring amusingly at El.

"Are you really not my Shim?" Lord M asked hopefully.

"Er, no. I'm not Shimmer, I'm Jade." She answered awkwardly, "Shimmer.. is my mother."

Lord M stared grievously at Jade. His exaggerated stare made her feel very uncomfortable. She shifted her balance between her left and right foot.

Lord M felt his eyes well up with tears for the sufferings of his daughter.

'Whatever could my Shim have gone through to have a daughter as old as this?' He wondered in his broken heart.

"Is she still alive?" He asked, "My Shim, is she still alive?"

"Uh... I have no idea. I just managed to save your *ss from some assassins and all I get are questions?" She demanded softly.

"Alright, I have questions for you, Lord M!" She exclaimed.

"Why did you chase my mother out? You caused her lots of miseries." Jade demanded fearlessly. She walked to the couch and took a seat like royalty.

"You are every bit of your mother's defiance and violence and... " Lord M chuckled, "I'm proud," He continued, much to the annoyance of Jade. When he saw her expression, he knew she wanted answers.

He cleared his throat, wiping his smile off his face.

"I loved my daughter, dear. I loved her so much. I loved her to the extent I became obsessed with her safety, and locked her in whenever she tried to leave. Yet, she was able to escape. I knew when she left... I couldn't go after her because I felt betrayed." He continued,

"I wanted her to experience the hard life outside and come back to me, begging," He sighed heavily,

"I guess my pride was the one thing that was more important than my love for my darling daughter."

"My wife, her stepmother, left me, together with her daughter, claiming I loved Shimmer more than I did to them."

"She's living happily now, and is probably the reason for the problems I'm facing right now…"

"The secrets of my family keep getting to the public and there's no other person but her who's doing that."

"She's the only one capable."

"Grandpa..." Jade tested out, "Why did my mother never have any inheritance?"

"She did, dear. She had so much…As a matter of fact... I'm willing everything to you right-"

Bang!

The sound of an explosion interrupted them. The blast was so great that it shook the entire building.

Lord M held his chest in a fit of coughs. El ran over to him to rub his back.

Jade stood up immediately at the sudden turn of events. Was she about to lose a family member she just found?

"Grandpa? What's going on?" Jade asked a bit shakily, "Are you alright? We need to leave this place right now!"

"It's my time, dear. I'm already almost dead and… cough cough... I can only ensure your safety." He said weakly.

"Follow me."

He led them to a room that was made of pure metal. It was four feet thick, all around. They got in and he brought out a small box that contained a lot of documents and red packets.

He picked one and handed it to El, urging her to accept it. He gave the remaining documents to Jade.

"Grandpa? Where are you going?" Jade asked even more shakily.

"To save you. Something I couldn't do for my daughter." He replied emotionally.

"This room can only be locked from the outside and opened from the inside." His gaze went around the safe room, before finally landing on her.

"I... I still don't know your name, child."

"Jade... It's Jade," She was on the edge of crying.

"Jade... beautiful," He smiled softly, "It was nice meeting you." He got out and shut the door. The tears in Jade's eyes dropped.

'Goodbye, grandpa.'

Lord M sat on his comfy chair, staring at the men, clad in black clothes before him.

"Gentlemen.." He greeted, "Tea?"

"Where's the diamond?" The leader asked gruffly.

"What's a diamond?" He replied. Bang! He was shot straight in the head and died.

Jade and El could both feel the heat of the battle through the vibration from the walls.

Jade tapped her feet constantly on the metal floor. She was very much uncomfortable. She stared at the box at her feet.

She crouched down and unzipped it. There were a lot of documents in there. They were arranged neatly and alphabetically.

"Father likes to make things easy for himself but hard for his enemies." El explained softly, "Sister Jade, you have to understand that father loved the young mistress very much. Every day, he always spoke about her."

Jade ignored El's words totally as though she hadn't heard anything, although she heard them clearly.

She could feel a different vibe from El since after her grandfather left them in the safe room.

"What did father give to you?" El inquired curiously, "He gave me one of his houses here in NYC."

"Whatever he gave you is none of my business and v