The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 31: Weaknesses

"Hate doesn't end hate. Love ends hate."

Elios cleared his throat for a moment when he found a trace of impatience in Akram's question. Suddenly he was nervous.

The idea was actually very simple and he thought about it spontaneously, not expecting that Akram would respond to his idea as something important.

Will Akram be disappointed after listening to his usual idea?

Elios quickly dispels his doubts, knowing that he must immediately pitch his idea because Akram seems to have been waiting for him impatiently.

"I thought that you could conquer Miss Elana through her stomach" he said quickly.

Akram's eyes immediately narrowed sharply. Through stomach? What does Elios mean, he should focus his love technique on mucking Elana's stomach? Elana is very sensitive in that part and Akram remembers that the woman always tiptoed when Akram rubbed her fingers on the surface of the skin of Elana's slender abdomen.

It may be true that Elana's stomach is one part of the woman's body that is sensitive to touch. But..where does Elios know all that?

"Where do you know that Elana's stomach is one of her weaknesses?" Akram voiced his question in a tone full of murderous threats.

Meanwhile, Elios is confused to hear Akram's tone of voice turning cruel. He glanced at the dark expression of Akram staring at him from the middle glass of the car, and realized that his master had misunderstood him in digesting the sentence he had thrown

"I don't mean like that..." Elios cleared his throat, his cheeks blushing without cause as he tried to explain his meaning. "I don't.. uh I don't mean to call the stomach a weakness in that sense. I uh.." Elios' voice was somewhat swallowed as he tried to concentrate on getting his point across. "I mean, you can conquer Elana by using food."

"Food?" Akram frowned. Elios' statement was so compelling that he forgot the murderous lust that had previously radiated from his soul.

"Yes, food. You know, I noticed when Miss Elana's eyes sparkled so happily when I told her that she could buy any food sold in all the restaurants around the company using an employee card. Even when I give her a black card or inform her about the special deposit you made for her, Miss Elana is not that enthusiastic."

Akram immediately recalled Elana's reaction when he bought her so many clothes, accessories and jewelry, then compared it to when he observed how Elana always enjoyed her food with greed and gratitude. The woman was thin in stature, but had a great appetite and always enjoyed large portions of her food very voraciously.

Well. Maybe Elios was right. Elana's weakness may be in her stomach...

One of Elios' words suddenly reminds Akram of something so he makes sure of it.

"Have you taken care of any additional clauses regarding the disbursement of deposits in Elana's name?"

"That if anything happens to you, then the entire contents of the deposit will be handed over automatically to Miss Elana? The lawyer has cleared the clause, sir..." Elios seemed hesitant before continuing. "But are you sure? The deposit was made to hold Miss Elana's monthly salary, but you instead added such a large amount of funds in it that it might be enough for the cost of living to old age without the need to work anymore."

Akram nodded his head and leaned his back casually onto the chair.

"If anything happens to me, according to the inheritance of the strong, then all my company and assets will be left in the hands of the right professionals who guarantee the company will continue to run normally and all employees will be guaranteed the livelihood. All assets, assets, and profits earned from business turnover will be donated to charity. The world would be fine if Akram Night did not exist," Akram looked pondering. "But for Elana, she'll be a kara without any guarantee if anything happens to me. That's why savings are so important. At least without me, he could have the grip to live independently, own a home, and not starve for the rest of his life." Suddenly Akram seemed to remember something, the body moved back when his lips spoke the command firmly. "Turn the car back, Elios. There's something I need to buy."

Elana peeked out of her room carefully. Her wet hair was still wrapped in a towel, while her body was wrapped in comfortable sleeping pajamas after taking a bath. Elana's body was still left inside the room when her head carefully looked out the door. His eyes looked around vigilantly, trying to scan the slightest movement. While his ears are fitted well, try to be as sensitive as possible to the sounds that may occur.

Silent.

Elana's eyes glanced at the door of the room next to her tightly closed room. Elisha's aunt had said in passing that her master Akram slept in the room while living in this apartment. And now, seeing no signs of life from that room, it seemed like Akram had not come home yet.

The silence stretched across the vast apartment space was almost horrible. Luckily the lights that are light sensor technology can directly detect the darkness that crawls the air, so that when night falls, the lights immediately turn on automatically in each room, he said, making all parts of this apartment brightly lit without a speck of darkness that gets room to be mastered.

Elana was used to being alone, but it was also mostly spent in her small rented room with a limited area of motion. Much different from this apartment which is actually dozens of times the area of the rented room. Even the bathroom area was larger than the entire rented room in the past. And now, being alone in a space this big felt so intimidating to him.

Actually, if you may choose, tonight Elana will prefer to lock herself in the room, curled up in a thick blanket, and take shelter behind the tightly closed door. He heard clearly the threat from Akram last day about what the man was going to do to him tonight, and it further encouraged his natural instinct to hide. Unfortunately, his stomach could not be compromised, continuing to rumble as if protesting for filling.

This is all because Akram Night who has no heart, took his meal break and made him dragged away from the restaurant at the office, even though he had just devoured five bribes from his lunch menu.

Elana glanced at the clock on the wall and her hand instantly rubbed her stomach that felt sore. It was only fitting that he was starving, it was already late at night, it had been several hours since his stomach was filled with food.

Again, Akram Night was the main culprit that kept him confined to the apartment in a state of starvation. The company driver who looked stiff like a robot drove Elana up to the front door of the apartment, waiting for Elana to get into the apartment room, then closed the door from the outside, locked Elana alone in that apartment. When she had just entered, Elana was looking around to see if there was anyone else inside. But the apartment was empty. Aunt Elisha, the maid who had been sent to this place this morning, seemed to have returned to the central house that she called her place of origin.

After the driver died, of course Elana did not want to stay silent and give up resigned. He had already tried to squeeze a few buttons out of a sophisticated-looking digital box located right next to the door with different variations of the code he remembered. As she saw earlier this morning, Aunt Elisha, the servant whom Akram sent to wake her up and take care of her until she was ready to leave for work, seemed to press a certain button while opening the door for Elios and Nathan. Now Elana regretted that she did not try to peek at the code suppressed by Aunt Elisha.

Finally, due to the wetness, Elana tried to press various kinds of codes randomly. Unfortunately, his efforts did not produce anything, the apartment door still did not want to be kind enough to open up for him, with the heart to lock Elana alone inside without any preparation.

Elana immediately hoped, Akram Night - who knows where she is at the moment - also had misfortune like her. Let's just hope the guy feels as hungry as he seems out there, but can't find food.

Elana finally gave up trying to get out of the apartment. He also calmed down, because even if he managed to get out, there was still a 'mine' elevator with cards and special codes that were almost impossible to pass. There was always the option of using the stairs, but Elana knew that this place was dozens of floors above the ground, and also going down the emergency stairs alone at night would not be a good idea. That's why Elana finally decided to take a warm bath, to relax her tired muscles after work.

And finally here he was, slumping like a thief as he stepped out of that apartment room and down the stairs to the brightly lit lower floor.

For a moment Elana stopped her steps on the bottom of the stairs, her eyes were fixed on the dark kitchen area which was immediately visible when she finished going down the stairs.

Excitedly, he opened the refrigerator door and his eyes widened to see the contents in the refrigerator that did not match his expectations.

The fridge was almost empty, so clean as if it had never been used, most of its contents filling only one of the shelves, these were glass bottles filled with various kinds of sauces and drinks with foreign inscriptions that Elana did not understand. Of course Elana would not risk tasting something that she did not know what it was, which is why she ignored the glass bottles.

Elana's eyes scanned the contents of the refrigerator again, and finally came to the conclusion that the only thing worth eating inside was just a few red apples lying pitifully with slightly wrinkled and withered skin as if it had been so long ago touched.

What kind of life does Akram Night live in this apartment? How could the man not keep any groceries or snacks in his cold, sterile apartment at all? Elana in the past certainly could not be able to accommodate the luxury of a kind of refrigerator in his rented room. But if he was lucky to have a refrigerator, he would fill it with various ingredients, snacks, fruit and pastries to the brim

With no other choice, Elana took the apple, washed it, and then bit it. The sweet apple's thick juice immediately soaked her mouth as Elana chewed on the apple's flesh vigorously.

Also good for his stomach, Elana was heartbroken while noting to herself that tomorrow she had to buy food with an employee card and was purposely wrapped back home to avoid the confinement and famine repeated.

As Elana was about to finish her apple while leaning against the kitchen counter, a loud 'bib' sound rang out from the direction of the entrance. Elana stiffened, her head turned cautiously towards the door. And his conjecture was right, what he most did not want to be present now, was already standing in that open doorway.

Akram Night, who was still wearing a full suit and carrying a large pouch in his hand, appeared to step into the apartment. Akram's eyes immediately rubbed with Elana's eyes as the man stepped straight towards the kitchen area and placed the pouch he was carrying on the kitchen counter near Elana with a stiff expression.

"What are you doing here?" Akram watched as Elana's body stiffened as if she was ready to jump if she stepped and broke the safe distance between them. Akram's expression turned grim as he took off his suit, simply put it on the kitchen counter and loosened his tie.

As if caught red-handed, Elana was forced to show the rest of the apple she had just spent.

"Eat dinner" he answered slowly.

Akram looked at Elana and the rest of the apples in his hands alternated, then raised his eyebrows. "With your great appetite, is an apple enough for you?" her taunting was crushing, making Elana's cheeks flushed.

"Your driver locked me in here and this apple is the only thing worth eating in this place." Elana answered flatly, trying to hold back her emotions in front of the man.

"Elisha's special aunt came in the morning to clean the house and went home during the day. I was rarely home and when I came home, it was so late that I went to bed. That's why there's rarely any food here." Akram explained in passing. "But if you want, you can have Aunt Elisha prepare stock for dinner before she leaves. So, at night, you just heat it in the microwave." Akram made a suggestion in a flat tone while his eyes watched Elana's reaction closely.

Elana instantly shook her head in an instant, her eyes shining with a real flame of defiance.

"No. I'll buy lunch and dinner at my diner office, using my employee's ID card, and you can cut everything out of my pay by the end of the month" she said quickly.

Expressions Acram hardened. "Did Elios not tell you that I'm the one who's gonna pay whatever your bills are? Your salary will remain intact transferred into your account as your savings."

"I don't want you to pay all my bills! I am not a beggar who hitches a free life for you. I've been working and I want to make ends meet!"

Akram narrowed his eyes, his gaze trailing down Elana from head to toe in a disrespectful manner.

"You don't ride my life for free, you pay with your body." he sings cynically and insults.

Elana's hand instantly swung uncontrollably, her emotions controlling her body, making her slap Akram furiously, with no recollection of the consequences behind her. A slap sound rang out loud in the air and Elana's palm was hot after she slapped Akram. Elana then clenched her hands while looking at Akram sharply, her breath stung with anger and hurt from humiliation.

"I'm not a whore!" spray Elana with teary eyes. Immediately bitten by the lips to hold the sobs that come out.

Nah! Elana must be strong! He will no longer show his weakness in front of Akram! The man is not worth his tears!

Akram rubbed his former cheek slapped by Elana. His lips were thinning and a terrifying lightning seemed to shine in his sharp hazel eyes. Then, Akram moved towards Elana, pushing her to the kitchen counter in a menacing gesture, making Elana's hand raise to protect herself, afraid that Akram would slap her back.

"You're not a whore, you're my woman." Akram hissed his sentence with great emphasis. "And the women of Akram Night will never be lacking. More than that, they do not need to meet their own needs. I've got so much money that you won't run out even if you do, and you're gonna pay your own meal, deducted from your pathetic little paycheck as cleaning service?" Akram pulled Elana's chin to look at her fixedly, right in her deeply piercing eyes. "It's not going to happen, Elana. Not as long as I'm alive! And you don't have to use your hands to protect yourself! I would never lower myself by hitting my woman!" said Akram ketus while stepping back to release Elana, then suddenly took the large pouch he had placed on the counter and pressed it into Elana's body so inevitably Elana hugged the bag containing a large box that felt warm was confused.

"This what?" Elana couldn't help but ask, curiosity overcame her desire to get into a fight with Akram.

Akram thinned his lips while his molars hardened as he spoke from between his gritted teeth.

"Pizza and soda. Junk food is unhealthy. But you like it, don't you?" Akram of course remembers clearly the details of Elana's personal data that he had read. On one of the biodata filled by Elana, the, the woman plainly wrote that pizza was the most delicious food she had ever eaten even though Elana could not eat often because pizza for her was an expensive luxury food.

Elios says that giving Elana a favorite meal can be one way that Elana can slowly accept their relationship and no longer consider it a compulsion. But it seemed that way was not very successful, as if the two of them were indeed destined to always be in a fight.

Thinking about it all made Akram's expression even darker. He lowered his head, gave a threatening look at Elana and his lips uttered an indisputable ultimatum.

"Take that junk food. Then wait for me in your room. I'll take a shower, clean myself up, and when I visit you later, I want you to be ready for me."

Akram did not wait until Elana could react on his arrogant orders. The man instantly turned his body, stepped up the stairs towards his room, then entered the room while slamming the door behind him, stepping up the stairs to his room, left Elana who stood stiffly while hugging the pizza-filled bag in her hand with anger mixed with heartache.