Chapter 227 - The Real Reason

"So this is your house."

Trisha looked around before comfortably sitting on one of the couches.

"It's simpler than I'm imagining."

"What were you imagining in the first place?"

Teren asked from inside his room as he changed his clothes.

"I don't know... maybe something more bloody and gory?"

"That's dirty."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. That's why I'm wrong."

Trisha nodded and looked around more.

"You live alone?"

"I wouldn't allow you here if I'm not."

Teren came out in his school uniform which made Trisha ask.

"You're still going to school?"

"Why not?"

"..." Trisha looked away at first before she answered with a low voice, unbefitting of her character, "I just massacred a lot of families earlier... shouldn't schools be at least off due to that tragedy?"

"I forgot about that."

Teren stopped on his track. As he thinks about it, Trisha's right.

"Wow... you forgot. You almost died earlier too, you know."

"A lot happened... are you hungry?"

"Yeah!"

Teren then cooked while the television was on. However, the news didn't say anything about the destruction Trisha made that night, making her scratch her head.

"I thought the news media is fast... how come they still not noticed what happened here?"

"It's because the cause is unnatural. I'm sure the SSDA has stopped its disclosure."

"SSDA?"

"... I can't be bothered to explain right now."

"Geez... keeping me in the dark like that."

Trisha took the remote and changes the channel until she got bored and shut it off.

"How do you even know if there's no school?" she then asked as she walked to the kitchen.

"I'll look at the school's social media page." 

"Ugh, technology, I'm bad at it."

Trisha complained before her attention was taken by the sweet smell coming from Teren's cooking.

"So you really know how to cook. I thought you're joking."

"..." Teren chose to just not reply to that.

"How long have you been living in this house?"

"Don't you feel bad about killing all those people you don't know?"

Teren looked at Trisha, ignoring her question.

"Come on, don't just suddenly change the topic like that! But I am, really... I'm just trying not to think about it."

Trisha sat and leaned onto the dinner table with a sad expression.

"I agree with you, a lot happened. I didn't know I will reach a strength making me capable of destroying everything with my every move... no, I didn't know that this strength will return to me."

"So you had that strength when you were a child?"

Trisha nodded to Teren's question before sighing.

"At least, this time, I can control it. But still, it killed a lot of people."

"Yet, you're here."

Trisha looked at Teren when she heard that and asked-

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm saying, you seemed to want more power. Do you even have any motive for it?"

"Huh... I just want to be stronger, not just physically, that's all. Following you here is the same as facing my greatest fear. If I cower now, I will regret this for the rest of my life."

"So you're saying that it's me that you have to overcome?"

"That's right. Once you can no longer scare or threaten me in any way or any how, that's when I'll truly be strong, wouldn't I?"

"I don't know... that's your opinion."

Teren then set the food on the dinner table.

"Also..."

Trisha muttered.

"Also, what?"

"Nothing."

She then shook her head before digging into the food. Teren was curious but just focused on the food too. 

After they ate and washed the dishes, Teren was barely able to look through his cracked phone to see that classes are canceled for today.

"No school?" Teren then heard Trisha's voice.

"No"

"What will you do today?"

"I'm still thin-!"

Right after Teren placed down his phone, his wrist was taken by an insurmountable force before his other wrist got taken too.

Trisha then pinned his wrists onto the wall with one hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked. He tried to move but Teren still lacked the strength to resist her. It seemed that the table has officially been turned.

'But if I expected she would act like this, I would've been able to do something.'

Teren regretted the fact that he got too lax and let his guard down.

"Remember when I said that I will remember all the pain you gave me?"

Trisha whispered with a confident smile.

"..."

"But I'm willing to forget about it."

"So there's a condition?"

"Not really. It depends on your future actions. Because I don't know if you're aware but... halfway through, I began to notice your guilty expression whenever you torture me."

Teren frowned since he didn't know about that. This just strengthened Trisha's confidence.

"Another reason why I followed you was that I'm interested."

She finally revealed what she omitted earlier.

"Interested?"

Teren didn't try to resist as he knew Trisha wouldn't do anything to him yet. He's free from harm, he thought.

"After we're finished... after I've unlocked my true potential, will you still continue to torture me?"

"Why would I do that?"

This made Trisha giggle.

"I see, I see. Also, I found that you're not a total psycho. You have emotions. I've made a lot of people miserable, I very know well the feeling of guilt. I regretted my actions, I want to help their family, and compensate for what I've done. But I'm still stuck on how I will do that, scared of revealing that I'm the one who killed their loved ones... it's hard."

Teren now has the gist of what Trisha was trying to convey.

"So... after you torture me, how will you treat me? With the guilt that you accumulated, I wouldn't be so surprised if you'll take care of me like a princess afterward to compensate for what you've done."

"You'll forget what I did to you if that happened?"

Trisha nodded.

"Depending on how it turns out, I'm willing to be your woman."

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me, I know what sexual torture means. After that, do you think I have the face to present myself to another man? Also, it's not like you're bad, in a sense. You gave a sinner like me get a taste of hell like what she deserves. After that all these hardships, I'd like to see what kind of heaven you're capable of giving. Finally, you're as special and strong as I am. Something that it's impossible to see in other men."

After hearing what Trisha has to say, thoughts appear in Teren's head.

'Unbelievable, this woman just looked at her torturer as a potential mate. How mentally strong can one be to consider that?'