White Rose by Gao Yang (ink book reader .TXT) 📕

"What was that you said?"

"I said, yes." She said in a low voice but louder for her father to hear now.

She saw her father raise his hand once again, but stopped himself. She wondered why her father stopped in his actions of hitting her. Instead he lowers his hand back down and dismisses her to bed.

"Go to bed, Isabella." She's now confused on why her father had stopped his action. She walked out of the living room. "I want you to think about the actions you had done tonight." He said, loud enough for her to hear as she was walked up the stairs.

She walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She walked over to her bed and laid down and silently sobbed in her sleep.

She still remembers the last time her father had ever slapped her for the first time. She closes her eyes as she thought about the memory that separated Colin and her forever four years ago.

She was coming home when she heard a argument in the living room.

"Your son is wooing my daughter and I don't appreciate it!"

"And what's wrong with that?!" She looked around and saw that her father was arguing with Colin's father. "They're only good friends. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"Well, it doesn't look like that nowadays! I saw your son get into my daughter's bed one night and I didn't like it one bit." Colin's father's face immediately turned into disgust. "That's right."

Isabella's father spotted her at the door, listening to the conversation. "Isabella!" This was the first time she ever heard her father yelled out her name. "Come in here right now!" She went into the living room.

"Let me ask you a question." She nodded. "Did you sleep with Colin the night he came over?" She furrowed her eyebrows at her father, confusingly.

"What?! No, we had never slept together!" Her father walked up to her and slapped her for the very first time in her life. She lift her hand and held her cheek where her father slapped her. "Father, you-" she paused in shock as she looked at her father who had just raised his hand to slap his own daughter.

"This is what happens when you lie to my face." He just simply said with his anger written all over his face and she could see it in her father's eyes.

This was the very first time she had ever seen her father like this towards her.

Colin and his father just stood there in shock from what he just saw. "David! How could you raise your hand to hit your own daughter?"

"Go to your room!" He yelled at his daughter and she didn't look at her father one bit, she just quickly turned around and dashed to her room.

And this is the same place where she cried when her father raised his hand to hit her, then she heard her door open. She was afraid that it was her father walking through her door, so she quickly closed her eyes and faked sleep.

"Isabella, I know you're still awake." She opened her eyes and turned her body when she heard her brother, Jack's voice.

"Jack? What are you doing here? Father could come in and-" he put his finger in front of his mouth, signaling her to not talk very loud.

"Father went to sleep, and mother did too as well." He walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Did father hit you, again?" She curled herself into a ball under her sheets as tears streamed down from her eyes.

She nodded.

"I saw what you did as well." She looked at her brother and sat up and backed away from him, moving herself to the corner of her bed. "Isabella-"

"No, don't touch me." She cut him off as she watched her brother reach out to her, yet he stopped himself when he heard his sister cry out those words.

"Isabella, you know I didn't mean it in that way." He quietly spoke as she hugged her legs, resting her head on her knee and quietly cried. "I never told Father about what you did tonight, nor did I tell him those four years ago." She lifted up her head to look at her brother.

For a long time, she always thought that she could keep Shawn a secret, but not until her father found out about her and Colin those four years ago.

"You never told father?" He shook his head.

"And I know you had your reasons to hide your relationship with Colin, I would never tell father anything that has happened so far and so for." He looked at his sister and reached out to her. He feels really sorry for her, not because she was his sister, but because she had to go through a lot and he wasn't there for her all the time.

"If you didn't tell father, then who did? Alison couldn't possibly tell father because she already married Hunter the week before everything went down." Her mind was too busy analyzing things. She shook her head and looked at Jack.

"If you ever need anything, I'm still here." He said to her as he stood up from her bed and walked over towards her door. She lifted up her head, and felt sorry for her brother because he didn't know anything that she was going through.

She felt really sorry for Jack who had to deal with her at her worst. "You're always there, I know that."

"I know that as well but I'm not a hero, Isabella." He said as she looked at him. "Good night." He said as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

The next morning, she woke up with her blanket covering her from the cold outside, although it was only windy, it was only getting colder and colder as each day passed by.

She opened her door and looked around her surroundings to see if anyone was up.

No one was up yet, but she had to wash her face and brush her teeth and take a bath.

* * *

She walked back into her room and fixed her bed and sat down on her bed for a few minutes. She walked over to the window and saw the villagers opening their stores.

The silversmiths' fire were already smoking from their chimneys. The bakers were already setting out their foods and everything from what they cooked from the night before.

The Fall Festival was only tomorrow. After the villagers had opened up their stores, they had to get ready for the big day tomorrow.

Then there was a knock at her door, it was her brother. "Isabella, father wants to speak to you." She had a gut feeling saying it was from last night.

She nodded and followed her brother downstairs. She feared that she was going to get yelled at again like the last time, but when she got downstairs, her father was nowhere to be found.

"Jack, did you lie to me to just get me out of my room?" She complained.

"No, he didn't." She was greeted by a familiar voice from behind her. It couldn't be. She thought as she knew who's voice it was.

Her breathing stopped as she heard the voice, her heart stopped for a whole second. She could feel his presence very close to her, his breathing on her neck, syncopating with hers.

Jack looked at his sister, he could see her sadness and her heart breaking or slowly healing. He looked at the guest; the guest nodded.

He walked up to his sister. "Isabella," she didn't respond but he knew that she was listening. "You already who it is, but why do you still look sad? I saw him sleeping on the doorstep."

She looked at her brother and he nodded. She turned around to face the person who she wanted more than anything,

"Colin." She ran up to him and hugged him and just started crying. He put his arms around her and letted her cry into his chest.

He mouthed two words to Jack. Thank you. Jack nodded and left the two in the living room.

"Isabella, I didn't come here for no reason. I came here to speak to you about something very important." She pulled back and looked at him.

"Here, let's sit down first." They both sat down. Colin looked at her and he could tell she was really worried about what he was about to say.

"Colin, what is it?" She could tell it was something important.

He took in a deep breath and told her what was happening. "Isabella, after we saw each other last night, my father was arrested by the King." Her mouth dropped.

"Your father was arrested-" Colin covered her mouth and told her to not shout.

"Sh! I don't want anybody knowing. Half of the village already knows about this." She slowly breathed in and out.

"What are you planning to do?" She looked at him and she already knew what he was going to do.

"I'm planning on getting out of town." She gasped in shock, Colin covered her mouth again. "Like I told you, I don't want anybody else knowing about this."

"So I'm the only one who knows that you're going to run away?" He nodded. "Why did you come to see me?"

He placed his hand on top of hers and held her hands gently tight.

"Isabella, I want you to run away with me." She looked at him like he was out of his mind. "Just you and I. We could run away together and live the life we've always dreamed of, together."

She couldn't think this through. Colin wants her to run away with him. Ever since she has known him, he was always so innocent, she had never seen him rebel against anyone like this. This time he wanted to run away.

"Isabella, I know this is a little over the top for you to think this through right now. But I can't stay here while my father is in the palace dungeons." He held her hands to chest and looked at her.

"I'll give you as much time as you need to think about this. Isabella, you know very well that I love you, there's no place for any other girl in this village, perhaps in the world, to ever replace you." She looked at him and he kindly smiled at her.

Inside in the palace, of course there was the king, King Henry Rivet and Queen Janelle, and their sons, Prince Charles and Prince Walker. The family was both wise and proud, the village loved and praised to them.

Then there was Chamberlin Duncan and his wife, Victoria and their son, Bryce. Their daughter, Nicola was married to another noble family in another kingdom.

There was also another family that lived in the palace, that was the Wasley family. They were well respected by others, perhaps they were the top Courtiers in court because of the respect they had from the King. In the Wasley family, there was Noble Chamberlin Harold and his wife, Elizabeth. Their sons, Curt, Percy and Clyde and their daughter Ava.

All the servants had to either live in the village or in the palace, if they were requested by the King, they'd had the privilege to reside in the palace otherwise.

"Percy, your mother would like to see you." His advisor, Rogers,