! EXTRACT:

Her feisty demeanor vanished immediately his furious face and the vicious aura that surrounded his presence came into full view, it made her heart to sink into her stomach and her hands tremble in fear.

“ Where were you last night?” Dale questioned sternly with a sinister look in his eyes. He had a cigarette stick pressed against the side of his broad lips causing small puffs of smoke to emit from his mouth as he spoke. Katniss’ heart faltered as she made an attempt to lie to Dale about her whereabouts but her orality failed her when she realized it was futile to tell Dale false words when he probably knew exactly where she was last night. Dale, the man Katniss’ father wants her to get married to at all costs was indeed a demon disguised in human flesh, one that she feared and loathed so much. He was much more hazardous than a monster with seven horns of fire sticking out of his head and lying to him will do her more harm than good, so what’s best is to keep shut and hope this nightmare ends soon.

“ I ask again. Where were you last night!” Dale growled in anger. The impact of his fiery hoarse tone hit Katniss hard making her breath to hitch as she flinched in fear.

“ I-“ Katniss tries to reply but ha, her orality failed her once more as her gaze caught a glance of Dale’s scary looking and menacing demeanor, his veins had popped out the side of his head like they were going to burst anytime soon as he breathed in and out with so much force.

“ You were with him.” Dale concludes in a more calmer tone then turns his back against Katniss. You could feel the disappointment and sadness in his voice as he spoke. Katniss couldn’t deny it. Off course, it was true, she was with him instead of attending the introductory party Dale threw for her, she rather preferred to ditch and be with her man, the man she loved and how on earth did Dale find out? From the look in his eyes, surely today would be the end of her.

“ You were with that riff raff, that smelly poor skunk your parents say you run around with huh? What do you see in him? I can’t believe you’d stoop so low and fall in love with a lowlife like him” Dale adds.

“ He’s-“ Katniss begins in a bid to protest and challenge Dale. He turns his head to look at her and his furious look softens her voice and she halts her sentence taking her word back and hid her face from his.

“I’m not afraid of him.” She encourages herself within then lifted her head up and faced the raging Dale with a firm and confident look on her face. She mentally sighs and braces up for what comes next after she lets the words embodied in heart for so long fly out. Nevertheless, she had how possessed the courage suitable enough to spit back words at the fearsome Dale.

“ He’s none of those things you’ve called him and yes I’m in love with him because he’s a much better man than you’d ever be in this life and in your next! You arrogant thwart” Katniss retorts with vigor and confidence and Dale turns to face her with a loud grunt, his hand already in the air ready and fit to land a resounding slap on Katniss’ face and she immediately winced and cowered protecting her face in fear. But his hand froze in the air, his attention was diverted, diverted to Katniss’ phone on the table nearby. It was ringing.

Katniss heard her phone ringing too. It was surprising to her because she had expected to have already been rendered deaf by Dale’s hand meeting violently with her face but no, nothing had happened, she could still hear perfectly. He hadn’t even touched her yet, thank the stars. Katniss slowly lowered her palms which served as a shield for her face and then her she saw Dale’s hand frozen in the air and his eyes were fixed on her ringing phone. Her gaze then slowly crept to the phone and her heart instantly skipped a beat when she saw the caller.

It was Asher. She was done for.