The Mask of Cruelty (Jasmine Palace Novel)
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The Mask of Cruelty
In a defining twilight moment, Laila takes off her mask of innocence and replaces it with fake arrogance, shattering "Adam's" simple dreams with merciless sarcasm and acceptance of suspicious money. As Adam collapses under the weight of betrayal, a demon thirsty for revenge is born from the ashes of his love, swearing to crush her pride in the future. From behind the glass of her luxurious car, Laila hides her brokenness behind a deadly numbness, declaring the beginning of a hell she chose herself to save the one she loves through his hatred for her.
The twilight was gathering its pale trails over the roofs of the ancient buildings, when Laila stood in front of the mirror of her worn-out wardrobe. She wasn't looking at her beautiful face as usual, but was looking with suspicious focus at a luxurious leather bag placed on her bed, stuffed with bundles of money no one in this poor neighborhood had ever seen before.
She moved with cold mechanics, wiped away a single tear that disobeyed her orders, then put on a mask of cruelty that nothing could break. At that moment, the door opened for Adam to enter. He was wearing his simple shirt that had faded from too much washing, and in his hand was a small velvet box, his eyes radiating the gleam of hope that always precedes storms.
"Laila.. I did it!" he said in a voice trembling with joy, "I got the extra job, and I collected the down payment for that apartment you always dreamed of.. we will leave here my love, we will start our lives as we planned."
She didn't turn to him. She kept caressing the handle of her luxurious bag, then turned around slowly, and in her eyes was a look Adam hadn't known throughout their seven years of love; it was a look of contempt.
"An apartment?" she said in a sarcastic tone, tilting her head to the side, "Do you mean that concrete grave in the outskirts of the city? Adam, don't you see this bag? What you collected in two years, I got in just one night with a single word."
Adam froze in his place, his hand tightening on the ring box until his knuckles turned white. "Laila.. what are you saying? Where did you get this money from? And who gave you these clothes that exceed the price of this entire neighborhood?"
Laila stepped towards him with confident steps, overflowing with arrogance. She stood in front of him, taller than him with her fake pride, and said in an audible and clear voice:
"I am sick of 'patience', Adam. Patience is a word invented by the poor to console themselves for their failure. I am sick of the smell of cheap food, and of your dreams that do not exceed the ceiling of a narrow room. I have found my true place.. there, where power, gold, and men who do not tremble for a few pennies are."
Adam was stunned, taking a step back as if lightning struck his chest. "You are joking.. this is not the Laila I know. The loyal Laila, who told me one day that a hut with me is enough to spare her the palaces of the world!"
Laila laughed a short, dry laugh, leaving a mark like a scar on Adam's soul.
"I was a naive child then, and now I have matured. Love doesn't buy silk dresses, nor does it book a seat in first-class planes. I am leaving Adam, don't follow me, and don't look for me. I have chosen a life that suits my beauty, and you.. stay here, drowning in your alleged purity and your endless poverty."
Adam approached her, grabbing her arm tightly, his eyes overflowing with tears of oppression: "Say you are lying! Say you are doing this to provoke me! Laila.. I love you more than my soul!"
She shook his hand off her with contempt, and pushed his chest away from her.
"Your love? Your love is the shackle that would have suffocated me. Take this cheap ring of yours, and sell it to buy a dinner worthy of your level."
Laila left the room, leaving behind a man whose heart transformed in a single second from a burning ember of love into a solid mass of hatred and malice. She didn't look behind her as she got into the luxurious black car waiting for her below, driven by a huge-bodied man with criminal looks.
Inside, Adam was falling to his knees, staring into the void, while her harsh words echoed in his ears like whips. At that moment, the "affectionate Adam" died, and a new demon was born, swearing in his secret to make her pay the price of every ounce of hope she stole from him.. swearing to return rich, strong, and cruel enough to crush her pride beneath his feet.
As for Laila, behind the tinted glass of the car, she was gripping the leather seat tightly with her hands until she almost tore it, her eyes looking at the road with a deadly numbness, while in her secret she was bidding farewell to her life, and saying to herself: "I succeeded in making him hate me.. and now, let hell begin."