Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

Chapter 11: The Awakening

She once thought that the world was so nice and colorful; that those who were kind were spared and those who were evil were punished. But how come her parents were killed?

Katherine Young was the daughter of Mason and Natalie Young, and heir of Young Corporation. Her grandfather built their empire from scratch and had passed on the legacy to her father Mason. Growing up with very loving parents, she was modest, warm-hearted, and playful.

But the image of that loving family died when she was twelve. She was young then but her eyes had already seen how bleak the world was.

For her, it seemed that the only way to survive and to avenge her parents' death was to live and be trained in Shadow.

She was once an innocent child who was groomed to be an assassin and she didn't even know.

That was her life.

At least that was before she blew up Shadow's base.

"You get to save the world. You'll be doing this for the good of the country," they said.

Lies.

Spring Grove Hospital Harbor City, Esmea

Muffled background noises.

Beeping sounds.

Her eyes moved under her closed lids, seemingly trying to be attentive as to what was going on around her but none of it made sense. She tried to open them but she couldn't.

Everything remained black like she was looking into a dark bottomless pit.

'What's going on?' she wondered.

Feeling that something was not right, she tried to move at the same time that she tried opening her eyes, still she couldn't.

"Miss?" She heard someone say but she could not make out who it was.

It took her a long while before she was finally able to open her eyes, blinking a few times until she was able to adjust to the light as it was the first time in a long time that she saw brightness again.

"Oh my god, you're awake," someone said. "Doctor! She's awake!"

She scanned the room and wondered where she was when all she saw was white. Looking down at her body, she was lying on a bed with a tube connected to her arm. She wanted to take it off but it felt like moving even just a little was tiresome. "Who's there?" she groggily asked but her throat was so dry, her voice sounded hoarse.

A man came in and stood by her bed to check her vital signs. "Hello. Can you hear me? My name is Dr. Keith Blake. You were in an accident how are you feeling?"

"Nggh" she groaned.

The nurse gave her some water and assisted her to sit on the bed in a comfortable position.

"You're in Spring Grove Hospital. Do you remember what happened?" the doctor continued to probe.

She stared at Dr. Blake and noticed his oddly smooth skin, but she was still feeling weird that she averted her gaze and looked around as she tried to focus but her mind was blank. Shaking her head, she answered, "I...don't remember."

"What's your name?" Dr. Blake asked patiently, observing the way the woman in bed was reacting to his questions.

Turning her head towards him, she suddenly found his question surprising. "My name?"

"Yes, what's your name?"

Lowering her gaze, she tried to remember but nothing came up. She squinted her eyes as if doing that would help her remember, however, there was really nothing. "I I don't know."

Her brows knitted in confusion and frustration because she couldn't think of anything; it was as though her mind was swept clean.

Seeing her expression, Dr. Blake thought that she must be overwhelmed and disoriented because she had just woken up so he helped her. "Your name is Katherine Miller. Do you remember?"

"Katherine Miller" she mouthed, trying to familiarize herself with the strange name. However it felt like it did not totally belong to her.

"You have been in a coma for four months..." Dr. Blake told her about her car accident that happened four months ago as well as some things related to her health.

Before that day, she had already woken up a few times but fell unconscious shortly after. Yet Katherine did not have any recollection of those times. This was the first time that she was responsive.

The doctor left her room so that she could rest. She felt very strange after waking up and the feeling lingered even while she looked at the things in her hands. They said it was in her purse when she was brought to the hospital.

Inside the small bag, she found a wallet with a few cash inside and an ID with her picture and 'Katherine Miller' was written on it.

Feeling stressed, she placed it on the bedside table and stared outside the window. There was a beautiful view outside. Even though it was a hospital, there were lots of green grass, trees, and flowers. Looking at the smiling patients with their families outside, she wondered if she had one too.

Katherine was all alone when she woke up and it had been half a day since, yet no one came to see her. Did it mean that she had no family?

...

Five years later.

Outside a convenience store, a woman sat on the bench with her legs up. She hugged them as she stared at the bill in her hand.

"Kath!" Emma Chang approached and called her best friend who was in a daze again. "Hey" She poked Katherine's cheeks.

The corners of Katherine's mouth curled downwards. "I can hear you."

"Then why aren't you answering?" Emma sat down next to her. "Did you remember something?" She tilted her head, curious if that was why her friend was in deep thoughts.

"No." Katherine shook her head. After five years, she still had no memories of her past before she woke up in the hospital, rather, before the accident that the doctor told her.

Turning to Emma, her expression looked very worried. "Ems this is the only money I have left." She shook the fifty dollar bill in her hand. "How am I going to survive with only this until the end of the month?"

"Are you just going to give up?" Emma's brows scrunched up.

With a heavy sigh, Katherine slumped her shoulders and she fell onto Emma's lap. She laid while looking up at the starry sky and pictured the face of one man whom she thought was a friend but ran away with her money a couple of months ago. She raised her hands and wrapped them around that man's image, squeezing it with so much frustration. "Ugh!!! I swear, if I see Steven"

"You will poke his eyes until it bleeds and squeeze the life out of him." Emma finished her sentence for her. "Yeah yeah I know that already. I heard you like a hundred times."

Katherine darted her gaze to her best friend, annoyed that she pointed that out. "Oh believe it! I will do it!" She reassured but Emma just laughed at her words.

"How are you gonna do that? He's already gone far away. I doubt that he will ever come back. Who would dare after what he did?"

Emma's response made Katherine even more annoyed. Her money flew away with that bastard.

"Look, there's nothing you can do now. So instead of sulking, move on. Just treat this as a lesson learned."

"Fine." Katherine got up and looked at the time on her broken watch. "I need to hit the sack. I still have work tomorrow. I could already feel Mr. Sun's glare if I show up late again. Bye Ems!" She waved before heading towards her apartment several meters away.

Emma could only shake her head at the sight. Her friend had always been like this since the day she met her five years ago. She had already gotten used to it but Katherine's tardiness was almost always the reason for her to lose her previous jobs that is if she hadn't been fired from not doing her job well.

She had always wondered what happened to her friend but even Katherine did not know the answer. The way Emma looked at Katherine, she could see that she was not suited in the neighborhood where they lived in and the lifestyle that she had. Her complexion, her looks, even her body language appeared like she was from an affluent family.

But she did not have any skills. Because she could not remember anything from before her accident, the only source of money that she could have were from part-time jobs.

Inside the small shabby apartment, Katherine closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep but her thoughts were still running around like a headless chickens. She felt too irritated to rest because her rent was already delayed and the money she had left was not enough to last her for the whole week.

Slapping her cheeks in an attempt to clear her thoughts, Katherine became resolute. "You can do this, Kath!"

In the end, Katherine ended up falling asleep only after midnight.

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