Deception Trilogy (Taekook/Omegaverse)
PROLOGUE
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
The scent of roses has morphed into the stench of death.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
I stare down at the blood gushing from his wounds, at the life stubbornly leaving his body without pause or second thoughts.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
The red color is marring his fair skin, painting rivulets down his arms and legs and contouring his soft face.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
His eyes are open, but he’s not looking at me. Their blue is blank, vanished, already existing someplace else where I don’t belong.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
I cradle his head in my arms, gently stroking his dark brown hair.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
Lifting a wet strand, I inhale deeply, searching for what’s possibly my last fix of roses.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
What greets me is the furthest thing from roses. It’s not even death. It’s worse.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
A place where he can’t and won’t feel me. Where he ended everything just so he could seal his heart and his soul.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
Just so he could…disappear.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
I sweep his hair away from his face and brush my lips over his forehead.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
“𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.”
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
People say death is the end.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
For me, it’s only the beginning.
LA PREMIÈRE SAISON
Victor (Rare Omega)
I Think I’ve stopped feeling.
Victor (Rare Omega)
It’s not that I’ve turned off my emotions, but I’m pretty sure I’ve lost sense in my hands and feet.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I can almost see the blisters from the cold on my fingers inside my torn gloves and between my toes that are covered with old socks and alpha man shoes that are a size too big, making my feet slouch with every step I take.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The frigid air is even moving past the barrier of my four thin sweaters and the coat that’s three sizes too big
Victor (Rare Omega)
Snow season hit hard this year in New York City.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I feel like I’m a walking snowman with the weight of the clothes I’m wearing.
Victor (Rare Omega)
None of them feel soft or protective enough, but it’s better than dying from hypothermia.
Victor (Rare Omega)
It’d be ironic if I died from the cold when my name is Victor.
*VICTOR - THE CONQUEROR*
Victor (Rare Omega)
Is Fate a little too dramatic, or what? He must have laughed to himself when he whispered to my mom that she should name me Victor—the one destined to conquer every battle before it even began.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Fate also chose the worst state to throw me in. Not only are the winters here cold, windy, and wet as hell, but the summers are also unbearable with all the humidity.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But who am I to complain? At least here, I can slip through the crowd unnoticed.
Victor (Rare Omega)
As if I don’t exist.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Invisibility is a powerful tool. In a city that harbors over eight million residents, it’s actually easy for someone like me to go unnoticed.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The cold forces me to stand out more, though. As I walk down the wet streets among the hundreds of thousands of people, I get looks sometimes.
Victor (Rare Omega)
They’re not always out of pity oftentimes, they’re judgmental.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I can hear them say, "You could’ve done better, young lady".
Victor (Rare Omega)
But most New Yorkers are so desensitized that they don’t give a flying fuck about a nobody like me.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I try not to focus on the people exiting bakeries with takeout, but I can’t ignore the divine smells that waft past me.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I open my mouth, then close it as if that will get me a taste of the goodies.
Victor (Rare Omega)
If only I could have some hot soup right now or a warm piece of bread.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I swallow the saliva that forms in my mouth at the thought.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Whenever I’m starved and don’t have access to food, I picture a table full of delicious meals and pretend that I’m feasting on them.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But my stomach just believes it for half a minute before it starts growling again.
Victor (Rare Omega)
It’s hard to deceive that one.
Victor (Rare Omega)
As hungry as I am, however, what I’d really love is more to drink.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I lift the can of beer that’s wrapped in a brown paper bag and down the rest of it. There goes the final drops that were supposed to get me through my day.
Victor (Rare Omega)
It’s only the afternoon and I haven’t eaten for the last…when was it again? Two days?
Victor (Rare Omega)
Maybe I should go back to the shelter for a meal and a piece of bread…
Victor (Rare Omega)
I dismiss the thought as soon as it comes. I will never return to that place, not even if I have to sleep on the streets. I guess I should search for another shelter where I can spend the rest of the winter or else I’ll really freeze to death outside.
Victor (Rare Omega)
My feet come to a halt in front of a framed poster hanging on the side of a building. I don’t know why I stop.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I shouldn’t.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I don’t—usually.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I don’t stop and stare, because that would draw attention to me and ruin my chances of having invisibility superpowers.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But for reasons unknown, I halt this time. My empty can is nestled between my gloved fingers, suspended in mid-air as I study the ad.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The poster is for the New York City Ballet, advertising one of their performances.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The entirety of it is occupied by a omega woman wearing a wedding dress and standing on pointe. A veil covers her face, but it’s transparent enough to distinguish the sadness, the harshness, the…despair.
Victor (Rare Omega)
'GISELLE’ is written in script over her head. At the bottom are the names of the director and the prima ballerina, Hannah Max, as well as the other ballerinas participating in the show.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I blink once, and for a second, I can see my reflection in the glass. My coat swallows my small frame and my oversized high-top sneakers resemble clown shoes. My faux fur winter hat covers my ears, and my blonde hair is disheveled and greasy, its ends hidden inside my coat. My hat is pushed back a little, revealing my dark roots. Feeling somehow subconscious, I pull the hood of my coat over my head, allowing it to shadow my face.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Now I look like a serial killer.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Ha. I’d laugh if I could. A serial killer is smart enough to not end up on the streets.
Victor (Rare Omega)
They’re smart enough to not drown so much in alcohol that sustaining a job becomes impossible.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I blink again and the poster returns to view. Giselle. Ballet. Prima ballerina.
Victor (Rare Omega)
A sudden urge to gouge the woman’s eyes out overwhelms me.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I inhale, then exhale.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I shouldn’t have such a strong reaction toward a stranger.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I hate her. I hate Hannah Max and Giselle and ballet.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Spinning around, I leave before I’m tempted to smash the poster to the ground.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I crumple the can and toss it in a nearby trash can. This change of mood isn’t good—at all.
Victor (Rare Omega)
It’s because of the lack of alcohol in my system. I haven’t had enough beer today to get drunk in the daylight. The cold becomes more tolerable when my mind is numb. My thoughts aren’t as loud and I don’t get murderous feelings over a harmless ballet poster.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I absentmindedly cross the street like I do every day. It’s become my routine, and I don’t even pay attention to it anymore.
Victor (Rare Omega)
That’s my mistake—taking things for granted.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I don’t hear the blaring horn until I’m standing in the middle of the street.
LA PREMIÈRE SAISON
Victor (Rare Omega)
I don’t hear the blaring horn until I’m standing in the middle of the street.
Victor (Rare Omega)
My feet stop in place as if heavy stones are keeping them glued to the ground. As I stare at the truck’s hazard lights and hear its continuous horn, I think my twenty-seven-year-old life from birth until now will pass in front of my eyes. That’s what happens at the time of death, right? I should recall it all.
Victor (Rare Omega)
From the moment Mom relocated us from one city to the other, until life threw me into New York.
Victor (Rare Omega)
From the moment I flourished, until the accident that turned me into an incurable alcoholic.
Victor (Rare Omega)
However, none of those memories come.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Not even a fragment of them.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The only things that invade my head are little toes and fingers. A tiny face and body that the nurse put in my arms before she was taken away for good.
Victor (Rare Omega)
A lump forms in my throat and I tremble like an insignificant leaf in the cold winter streets of New York.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I promised to live for her. Why the hell am I dying now?
Victor (Rare Omega)
I close my eyes. I’m so sorry, BABY GIRL. So very sorry.
Victor (Rare Omega)
A large hand grips me by the elbow and yanks me back so hard, I trip over my own feet and stumble. The same hand gently holds me by the arm to keep me standing.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Slowly open my eyes, halfway expecting to find my head under the truck. But instead, the horn blasts as it passes me by, the driver screaming through the window
Truck Driver
“Watch where you’re going, fucking crazy omega bitch!”
Victor (Rare Omega)
Meeting his gaze, I flip him off with my free hand and keep doing it to make sure he sees it in the rear-view mirror.
Victor (Rare Omega)
As soon as the truck disappears around the corner, I start trembling again. The brief wave of adrenaline that hit me when I was being insulted withers away, and now all I can think about is that I could’ve died.
Victor (Rare Omega)
That I really would’ve let my little girl down.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I whirl around at the sound of the accented voice. For a second, I forgot that someone had pulled me out of that truck's path. That if they hadn’t, I would be dead right now.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The man, who’s Russian Enigma, judging by the subtle accent he just spoke with and pheromone he smell, stands in front of me, his hand still gripping my elbow. It’s a gentle touch compared to the brute force he used to pull me back.
Victor (Rare Omega)
He’s tall, and while most people are taller than my five-foot-seven, he goes way beyond that. Probably six-two or more.
Victor (Rare Omega)
He’s wearing a black shirt and pants with an open dark gray cashmere coat. It could be the colors, or the length of the coat, which reaches his knees, but he looks elegant, smart, in a lawyer sort of way, and probably worked as a model to pay his college tuition.
Victor (Rare Omega)
His face tells a different story, however. Not that he’s not handsome, because he is, with sharp, angular features that fit his model body. He has high cheekbones that cast a shadow on his thick-stubbled jaw.
Victor (Rare Omega)
His eyes are an intense shade of gray that’s bordering on black. The color of his clothes could be intensifying their appearance, though.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Color of his clothes could be intensifying their appearance, though.
Victor (Rare Omega)
The fact remains that they’re too…uncomfortable to look at. You know when something or someone is so beautiful it actually aches inside to look at them? That’s this stranger.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Peering into his eyes, however bizarre they are, hits me with a feeling of inferiority that I can’t shake off.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Although his words conveyed concern, I see none written in his facial expression. No empathy that most people are capable of.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But at the same time, he doesn’t seem like the type who’d feign worry. If anything, he’d be like the rest of the passers-by who barely looked in the direction of the near-traffic accident.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I should be feeling grateful, but the only thing I want is to escape from his clutches and his uneasy eyes.
Victor (Rare Omega)
His deep, imploring eyes that are decrypting my face, little by little. Piece by each tiny piece.
Victor (Rare Omega)
“I’m okay,” I manage, twisting my elbow free.
Victor (Rare Omega)
His brow furrows, but it’s brief, almost unnoticeable, before he goes back to his previous expression, letting me go as gently as he was gripping me. I expect him to turn around and leave so that I can chalk up the entire experience to an unlucky winter afternoon.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But he just stands there, unmoving, unblinking, not making one single step in any direction. Instead, he chooses to watch me, his thick brows drawing over his eyes that I really don’t want to be staring into, but I find myself dragged into their savage gray anyway.
Victor (Rare Omega)
They’re like the harshness of the clouds above and the merciless gust of the wind from every direction. I can pretend they don’t exist, but they still make me lose the feeling of my limbs. They give me blisters and pain.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
"Are you sure you’re all right?"
Victor (Rare Omega)
he asks again, and for some reason, it feels like he wants me to tell him I’m not.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But why? And to what end?
Victor (Rare Omega)
I’m just one of thousands of homeless people in this city.
Victor (Rare Omega)
A manlike him, who’s surrounded by an impenetrable air of confidence, hinting that he’s in some prominent position, shouldn’t have even looked in my direction.But he did.
Victor (Rare Omega)
“Yeah,” I blurt. “Thank you.”
Victor (Rare Omega)
I’m about to turn and leave when the authority in his voice stops me.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
“Wait.” ❄️
Victor (Rare Omega)
My big shoes make a squeaky sound on the concrete when I follow his command. I normally wouldn’t. I’m not good at listening to orders, which is why I’m in this state.
Victor (Rare Omega)
But something in his tone gets my attention.
Victor (Rare Omega)
He reaches into his coat and two scenarios burst through my head. The first is that he’ll pull out a gun and shoot me in the head for disrespecting him. The second is that he’ll treat me like many others and give me money.
Victor (Rare Omega)
That sense of inferiority hits again. While I usually accept change from people to buy my beer, I don’t beg for it. The idea of taking this stranger’s money makes me feel dirty, less than invisible and more like a speck of dust on his black leather shoes.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I intend to refuse his money, but he only retrieves a handkerchief and places it in my hand.
Jeon Jungkook (Enigma)
“You have something on your face.”
Victor (Rare Omega)
His skin brushes against my gloves for a second, and though the contact is brief, I see it.
Victor (Rare Omega)
A wedding ring on his left finger.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I bunch the piece of cloth in my hand and nod in thanks. I don’t know why I expected him to smile or even offer a nod in return.
Victor (Rare Omega)
He doesn’t. His eyes penetrate mine for a few seconds, then he turns around and leaves. Just like that.
Victor (Rare Omega)
He’s erased me from his unlucky afternoon and is now going back to his wife.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Considering the extreme discomfort I felt in his presence, I figured I’d be relieved when he left.
Victor (Rare Omega)
On the contrary, it feels as if my breast bone is digging into the sensitive flesh of my heart.
Victor (Rare Omega)
What the hell?
Victor (Rare Omega)
I stare at the handkerchief he placed in my hand. It has the letters J.J.K. embroidered on it and appears to be handmade. Something of value.
Victor (Rare Omega)
Why would he even give me this?
Victor (Rare Omega)
Something on your face.
Victor (Rare Omega)
There’s a lot of shit on my face. A layer of dirt, actually. Since I haven’t been in a public restroom for some time. Did he really think a freaking handkerchief would be the solution?
Victor (Rare Omega)
Pissed off at him and at my reaction toward him, I toss the handkerchief in a trash can and storm in the opposite direction.
Victor (Rare Omega)
I need a hot meal and a bed tonight, and if it means meeting the devil again to have them, so be it.
Download NovelToon APP on App Store and Google Play
