THE FOOL-Chapter 45: Til Death Do Us Part

----Continuation of Flashback 3 years ago----

"James!! What happened? Why did this happen to Alfi?!"Loren screamed, her voice breaking as she continued to cry uncontrollably, still holding her battered and barely conscious boyfriend tightly in her arms.Alfi's eyes could barely open, and his whole body trembled in pain from the brutal beating he had endured.

James, meanwhile, nonchalantly pulled out a cigarette from a crumpled pack tucked into his pocket.He lit it calmly, inhaling a long, deliberate drag before exhaling a thick cloud of smoke into the air.

"Alfi, Alfi," James began mockingly, shaking his head with a smirk."If only you had cooperated. If you hadn't caused a scene, none of this would've happened. You could've gone home peacefully."

James leaned back against the wall casually, as if the sight of Alfi's broken body meant absolutely nothing to him.

"It was simple, really. We just needed you to hand over whatever you had.A small payment, a little cooperation—and that would've been the end of it.You would've been free to leave," James said, sounding more arrogant with each word as he puffed on his cigarette.

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"But no," he continued with a scoff, "you just had to make a big scene at the airport, didn't you?All it would've taken was a small fine, and everything could've been settled."

James shook his head slowly, wearing a disgustingly smug smile."You're the reason everything escalated, Alfi.You brought this on yourself," he said coldly, placing all the blame for their cruelty squarely on the man now barely clinging to consciousness in Loren's arms.

"James! Why? You've known me and Alfi for so long... Why are you doing this to us?" Loren cried out desperately, her voice shaking as she pleaded for answers from the man she once trusted so deeply.

"Blah, blah, blah," James replied arrogantly, his voice dripping with mockery as he looked down at Loren with a twisted grin.

"You know, I've been irritated with you two for a long time," James said, his tone growing darker.

"Even back in school, you two were always the stars. Always the perfect couple, always getting all the attention."

James sneered, taking another drag of his cigarette before continuing.

"It was sickening.And you know what, Loren?" he said, stepping closer, his eyes gleaming with something sinister.

"I've fantasized about you for years. But did you ever even glance my way? Not once. You were always so fixated on Alfi. Even when I saved your ass during group projects, even when I helped you with everything—you never noticed me. You never appreciated anything."

The horrible truth unfolded:

James had been harboring this obsession with Loren for years. And when he saw Alfi about to be taken to the police station, he seized the opportunity. He secretly ordered the officers to bring Alfi to this hidden house instead, under his personal control. There, he had Alfi brutally beaten and stripped of his belongings, distributing whatever he could steal among the corrupt officers.

Now, standing before him, was Loren—crying, vulnerable, and desperate. And in James' twisted mind, he saw this as the moment he had been waiting for A sickening number of dark, evil ideas began swirling in his mind as he stared at the woman he had secretly longed for all these years.

"Do you want to go home with your boyfriend, Loren?"James asked with a wicked grin, his hands gripping Loren's trembling shoulders.His voice dripped with malice, his intentions clear as he leaned closer.

"J-James, what do you mean? James, please..."Loren stammered, her voice shaking as tears streamed down her face.She clutched Alfi tighter, desperately hoping for mercy.

"It's simple, Loren," James said, his voice thick with perversion."Just entertain me and my friends here...Come on, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too."His sickening words and the twisted look in his eyes made Loren's blood run cold.

"James, please...Let us go home. I'm begging you..."Loren pleaded over and over, but James' face darkened with frustration.

Tired of Loren's repeated begging, James growled, his voice now filled with anger,"If you don't give me what I want..."he hissed, pulling a gun from behind his back and cocking it in front of her,"...I'll just kill Alfi right here in front of you."

The chilling sound of the gun being loaded echoed through the room,and Loren, frozen in horror, realized how truly dangerous and twisted James had become.

Loren trembled in terror, frozen in place as James pointed the gun directly at Alfi's battered body.James's eyes gleamed with vile excitement, and the group of dirty officers around him watched eagerly, their faces twisted with sick pleasure at Loren's growing despair.

After several long, agonizing seconds, Loren, realizing she had no other choice, swallowed her fear and forced herself to speak."O-Okay..." she stuttered, her voice breaking."I'll do what you want, James... Just promise me you'll let Alfi go afterward. Safe and unharmed."Her body shook violently, but she stood up, putting herself between the gun and her boyfriend.

"There! See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"James laughed, savoring the control he held over her.

Meanwhile, despite his brutal injuries, Alfi—barely conscious and bloodied—could still hear snippets of the conversation.With all the strength he could gather, he pleaded through cracked lips,"Loren... no... please... don't..."

James sneered at him coldly."Better keep your mouth shut, lover boy," he growled, tightening his grip on Loren's shoulders as he turned her to face Alfi.

Then, slowly, with a sick grin, James began unbuttoning Loren's blouse, one button at a time.Alfi's eyes widened in helpless fury as he watched Loren tremble and silently cry, forcing herself to endure this humiliation—all for his sake.

Tears streamed down Alfi's face as he struggled to lift his broken body, rage and desperation surging through him.He tried to summon every ounce of strength left, willing himself to move... but in that cruel moment, no miracle came.No matter how hard he fought, his body refused to respond.He could only watch, powerless, as the nightmare unfolded before him.

Until finally, no matter how hard Loren tried to hold her courage together, she could no longer endure it.She screamed, "James, stop! Please! I can't do this!"She clutched her blouse tightly to cover herself, the buttons already loosened by James's filthy hands.

But Loren's resistance only fueled James's rage.With a sharp bark of anger, he commanded the two officers beside him to grab Loren's shoulders and forcefully strip off her clothes.

Alfi, seeing the horror unfold before his eyes, was overwhelmed with an unstoppable surge of rage.Though his battered body was at its limit—broken, bruised, barely able to move—an uncontrollable force, pure adrenaline and wrath, flooded through him.

In that brief moment, while James and his men focused on Loren, they made a fatal mistake: they underestimated him.

Fueled by nothing but sheer fury, Alfi pushed himself off the ground and charged straight at James.The impact sent James tumbling backward, knocking the cigarette from his mouth and causing his head to slam against the floor with a painful crack.

"Son of a bitch!" James roared in pain, clutching the back of his head.

Alfi, standing shakily but with fire burning in his eyes, growled in a voice Loren barely recognized,"I'll kill you! I don't care what happens to me — I will fucking kill you!"His bloodshot eyes locked onto James with murderous intent, a chilling sight that even made James instinctively back away in fear.

The two police officers who had been trying to restrain Loren immediately turned their attention to Alfi, realizing that they now had a bigger problem to handle.

It was no longer just a broken man they were facing —it was a man willing to die just to protect the woman he loved.

The cigarette that James dropped accidentally landed among Alfi's scattered belongings — papers, souvenirs — and quickly ignited into flames.James immediately barked orders at his police lackeys to put out the fire, but it was clear that neither of them had any idea what they were doing.Instead of extinguishing the fire, they panicked and threw flammable cloth over it, only fueling the flames further.

"You idiots!" James screamed, his voice cracking in frustration as the fire rapidly grew out of control inside his house.

Yet even amidst the chaos, Alfi remained consumed by rage.His bloodshot eyes never left James — pure hatred radiated from his entire being.There was no reason, no fear left in him. Only vengeance.

James, realizing the situation was spiraling out of control, considered evacuating with the two police officers and dragging Loren to another hideout.But before they could even move, Alfi, mustering every ounce of strength left in his battered body, lunged again at James with reckless speed.

Overwhelmed by fear — fear of Alfi's rage and fear of the fire devouring his house — James reacted instinctively.His finger squeezed the trigger of his gun without thinking.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed through the small house, deafening in its finality.

The bullet struck Alfi directly in the chest.For a moment, time seemed to freeze.

Alfi stumbled, his body finally surrendering.He collapsed face-first onto the floor, right in front of Loren — who was still lying helpless, frozen by horror and disbelief.

"Tsk," James clicked his tongue angrily, realizing the loud gunshot would have surely alerted the nearby police station.

"We need to get out of here now!" James barked at his men, pure panic in his voice.

"But boss, what about them?" one of the officers asked, glancing at the bloodied Alfi and devastated Loren.

"Leave them!" James snarled."We can't afford to be caught! Other cops will be swarming this place any second now!"

As a final cruel measure, James locked the house from the outside to trap Alfi and Loren inside.Then, without looking back, they all jumped onto their motorcycles parked outside and sped away into the night — abandoning the burning house and the two innocent souls inside.

Loren, bruised and battered from the abuse she suffered at the hands of James and the corrupt policemen, could only cry helplessly.She couldn't even find her voice as she crawled toward Alfi, who lay sprawled across the floor, bleeding out from the gunshot wound to his chest.

"Alfi... Alfiii..." Loren's voice trembled as she sobbed, crawling through the growing flames, caring nothing about the heat or the burns slowly spreading across her body.Her entire world was falling apart in front of her, but all she could think of was reaching him.

Alfi, despite the agonizing pain in his body, also fought to move.He struggled, inching himself closer to Loren, his hand outstretched with every ounce of strength he could muster.

"Loren..." he whispered weakly.

Finally, their hands found each other — two broken souls clinging to one another amidst the chaos and fire.In that fleeting moment, they were together again — but under the most tragic of circumstances.

Shaking and gasping for breath, Alfi reached into his pocket with trembling fingers and pulled out a small object.It was a ring.He placed it gently in Loren's palm, his body quivering from the overwhelming pain.

"Loren..." he gasped again, barely able to form words as the thick smoke filled the air.

And Loren — coughing, her tears mixing with soot and ash — looked at him with wide, heartbroken eyes.

"Will you... marry me?" Alfi whispered with the very last of his strength, as his blood poured freely from his wounds, his life slipping away.

Loren, though engulfed in despair and choking on the heavy smoke, forced herself to smile through her tears — a smile full of love, sorrow, and acceptance.

And just before the spreading flames could completely swallow them whole, Loren uttered her final vow with a trembling voice:

"I do."