"You said you have something to confess to the world..."
Kaiwan turned to where it was coming from and was shocked beyond words to see Ash disguised as Zuriña on the screen of a tv, hung on a building across the road.
"Yes..."
"Then can you say it now?" The reporter asked.
Everyone's attention went up to the screen and he wondered what Ash was up to.
"I'm a...vampire."
This seemed to have shocked the anchor as he fidgeted in his seat and everyone's attention became fixed on the screen.
"Um...this is the first person to admit being a vampire. Coming out like this must have been very hard for you.Why are you making such a confession?"
Kaiwan turned to see Zuriña staring up at the screen, almost in disbelief.
"It was hard for me..."Ash fake cried as she spoke. "No matter how much I restrained myself, my desire to drink blood only increased. I couldn't resist and the temptation..."
"This is completely crazy..." A passerby said
"You said you had another confession, right?"
"I'm a blood..."
"No." Kaiwan muttered under his breath.If she said she was a pure-blooded vampire, Zuriña's human life was over.
"You're a..." The anchor asked.
"It's nothing. I'm done here..."Ash said and turned to head out of the newsroom.
"Hey... where are you going?... stop that student..."
Murmurs rose up in the street and he didn't know what to do. Zuriña was lucky she was wearing a face cap over her face otherwise would have been spotted almost immediately. "How dare she speak in front of the camera when she drank human blood?" One asked.
"A girl that looks so gentle is actually a vampire... who can be trusted?"
"Why do all vampires have to be criminals?" Another asked.
"What's so great about being a vampire? My daughter died because of you."
She covered her ears with her hands and he looked down to see her trembling. "Zuriña... Zuriña." He called as she snapped her teeth, trying hard to block out the noise.
"Are you okay?" He asked and she held her head.
"What's wrong with her?" Someone asked and he noticed her cap almost slipping off and immediately wrapped her into her arms before any disastrous incident could happen.
"Calm down..." He whispered.
"It's not me... I'm not the one who did..."
"I know that." He said softly as he stroked her hair.
"Everyone..."
"No one knows you're the lady who was just in front of the screen so...let's just stay like this for a moment he said wishing they hadn't walked out that morning. It had been a total disaster.
Zuriña adjusted her disguise as she walked into the university premises a couple of days later. She'd been in bed for two days and had particularly found it difficult to leave her room as she felt completely ashamed to face the world. However on the third day she couldn't stand doing nothing anymore.
She sported Roshan walking out of the senate building and she hid herself. How could she face him after everything that had happened? He'd probably be terrified to see her.
She peeked out her head from hiding just in time to see journalists walk up to him.
"You must Roshan, Zuriña friend,right?" She heard a reporter asked.
"I told you I'm not meeting with any reporters so stop bugging me and leave." He said and brushed his way past them but halted when one of them asked. "Aren't you afraid of vampires?"
Zuriña watched him turn to them with a scoff.
"Who wouldn't?"
"You must feel betrayed right now." The reporter said and she was mad at the way the reporter was trying to manipulate him.
"Yes, I feel betrayed. I didn't know she was a vampire because she didn't act like one...however she could have at least told me. I thought we were friends. Do you know how much I blame myself for not noticing she was probably going through a hard time and yet she smiled like everything was okay?"
The reporter frowned and it was obvious she hasn't seen that coming and they stepped back as Roshan slowly walked towards them, a stern look on his face.
"Zuriña isn't that kind of person. She isn't a blood-sucking beast unlike the others."
The reporters hurriedly left here and tears welled up in her eyes. At least Roshan didn't think bad of her despite that, she still wanted to apologize to him.
Her siblings will probably be safe, she thought since no one knew about them.
She was surprised however to see Henry's bruised cheek on arriving the orphanage.
"What happened to Henry's face?" She asked almost terrified.
"People are saying you are a..." Rietta was saying when Henry clasped a hand over her mouth.
"I fell while playing soccer." He said and she knew he was lying.
"I'm sorry...it's all my fault." She said and lowered her head.
"You know... Zuriña. After Father Michael died, you haven't smiled as often as you used to."
It was true. "I'm sorry...I don't have the right to smile like that anymore.I don't deserve it."
She was surprised when Henry walked up to grab her cheeks. "Do you think that Father Michael would like to see you suffer like this? No I think he would be angry. " He said and mimicked Father's voice.
"Zuriña Anderson, what is this face? I don't think I taught you to be depressed. That's what you would have told you if he were still here..."
"And he would start drinking plum liquor." Rietta added.
"Yeah, that's true...so it'll be nice if you could find your own happiness in living, it really would."
"I have to go." She said once the nun walked out.
"You'll come again, right?" He asked and she nodded that before she sped away.
How was she going to live from now on? How long would she wear disguises to go out? That kept her up until eight at night and she kept burying her head in her crown of thorns every now and then.
"What do I do, Father?" She couldn't live like humans and now she was really scared that everyone would point fingers at her and treat her like an outcast afterwards. Should she just rip her out her heart and end things?
"Rip it out then."
She raised her head to see Father Michael in her room, his usual grim look on his face.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She'd missed him.
"Father..."
"If that makes you feel better then do it." He sighed as he clicked his tongue. "Look at you, you still don't know how to hide your feelings. It's true you can't live like humans, but you are still attached to your human appearance. You haven't managed to detach yourself from it, after all these years. You have to get rid of it you can finally find peace."
"I have to get rid of it so I can finally find peace." She repeated and the priest patted her hair.
"You're a strong girl, Zuriña...so don't let this little obstacle block you."
The cold breeze from the window slapped her hair across her face and she turned to see Father Michael was no longer in the room. So she had been hallucinating.
She wasn't human no matter how hard she tried to leave like one, so the only thing she had to do was to leave like who she truly was. A purebloodedvampire...
She walked up to the dressing table in her room and had a seat. she carefully removed her contact lens before she took off her wig and she raised her head to look at the reflection in the mirror.
She wasn't going to run away from who she was anymore, she said to herself just as a text came into her phone. Just who she was waiting for.
Katherine was looking over wigs and glasses in the living room while Kaiwan had a worried look on his face when she walked out of her room without disguise.
"You're... you're going out like this?" Katherine blinked.
"I won't use a wig anymore. After all, my human appearance has already been discovered and no one will suspect I'm a vampire just because my hair is white and I have blue eyes."
Katherine tilted her head for a minute and gave her a thumbs-up. "That's cool." She said.
"That's the Zuriña I know." Kaiwan smiled as he leaned back into the sofa and Katherine looked down at the wigs and glasses.
"This was a waste of time."
Zuriña took in a deep breath. "Ash can try to break me...but I'll show her, I'm stronger than her."