I've Been There Before

“If I ever met someone in this world that could mess with my emotions, I would kill that person with my own hands.”

That was what Caden thought to himself when he was a teenager.

He was the successor to the Shaw family and would be at the helm in the future. Caden went through strict education since he was a child, it made him emotionless. His grandfather was the one that personally made his grandchild a cold-hearted robot.

His grandfather always said, “You cannot have any weakness. One day, if a person shows up and the person can easily change your mind and mess up your emotions, then this person will be your greatest nemesis. And what do we do to our nemesis, Caden? Yes, we have to make them disappear.”

When Caden told Humbert what his grandfather said, Humbert who was the same age as Caden was shocked, though he didn’t take Caden seriously. It was common that teenagers would say something that they thought was “cool”, and after they became adults, they would just reminisce about it and cringe about their hot-blooded teenage days.

Humbert might not even remember that Caden had said that to him before, Humbert probably took it as a joke and had forgotten about it long ago.

But Humbert never would have thought, what Caden went through as a teenager was far from one could call “normal”.

Caden put his fingers around a woman’s throat on a large bed, he locked his fingers around her neck, but he wasn’t using any force.

He was puzzled, why was it always so easy for this damn person to mess with his emotions?

Why did he get mad so quickly around her?

Why was it that he couldn’t help but go up to check on her when she curled up into a ball in pain?

He sat on the sofa and tried to hold himself back from going up to check on her, even though she was crying in pain.

He had a hard time suppressing his urge to not go up to check on her.

He had to use all his might to control himself. It was all her fault! It was her fault for continuously crying out so painfully.

down on his lips and started to put some force. It would be okay, he said to himself, just a little more force and he could easily get

and he wouldn’t need to rush her to the

treated

whimpered and curled up into

reflected clearly in Caden’s eyes

fingers were still wrapped around her throat, suddenly, he let go. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t kill

energy the moment he pulled his hands back, his palm was supporting his body by the

raised his head only to see the person

still suffering, in the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and rolled on the bed,

hand was slightly yanked,

hand that was injected with the saline tube, but then the other parts of her body started flailing around. Caden had no choice, he was in for a

“Let go off…”

suddenly realized, that her cries were all nonsensical mumbles, from the beginning till the end she never said a word and that she never said that she was

some reason, she was in pain

wake up!” He lifted his hand and smack her cheek roughly, “Hey, wake up!

react to what was happening but she could instantly feel

be

his eyes resentfully, “What happened to

“Hmm?”

“Why am I here?”

you to not go to work if you’re still sick. You fainted

she was trying to talk and trying to apologize, but she could

pain was immeasurable, luckily Grace was still lucid enough to tell that Caden was standing in

wanted Caden to see her in

want Caden to joke about