Chapter 33 | Scar

Hands circled around my waist as he hugged me from behind. The warmth of his body reached mine through the white towel wrapped around me. His warm breath feathered my ear as he softly spoke, "Here."

His hands reached out, grabbing mine and he put a piece of paper in it. It was white and glossy. Realisation striked me.

It was a photo.

The back of a photo.

I hesitated turning the photo to see his face for a moment. My heartbeat speeded and his breath on my shoulders were not helping either. He realised my tension, and started rubbing soothing circles on my arms, holding my arms as a gesture of comfort, but I could feel the tremble in his hands too.

He was scared for my reaction.

I slowly flipped then photo around and I could feel his body stiffen behind me, the grip of his hand on my arms tightening a little.

In the picture, there was a man. A handsome man. His pink lips lighting up his whole face as he smiled at the camera. His hair was all over the places, running wildly through the wind. He was tan, with a beautiful perfectly sculputured lean muscular body. One of his arms was hanging loosely around a man's shoulder beside him. What made me smile was the dashing blue eyes that seemed to pierce through my soul even if it was only a photo.

Puddin'.

"Jack..." I muttered under my breath, running my hands across the man's face. "You look beautiful Mr. Napier."

His arms around me tightened and his lips grazed my shoulder, feathering light kisses along them and I grinned happily. This time, my eyes shifted towards the man beside my puddin'. The man looked the same age as him. He had stormy gray eyes and small thin rosy lips that curved into a lop-sided grin as he smiled lazily at the camera. I could tell he was a womanizer just by his smug grin.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"He was my best bud, back then." He said, resting his chin on my shoulder and stared at the man in the photo. "Rikkard Knoevenagal."

"Oh." I was genuinely surprised and I thought of his past life. How he would have been back then? I wanted to know more about his past life.

"Where is he now?" I asked, turning around to face him and he moved away, looking above at the ceiling and brushed his hands through his hair, letting out a sigh.

"Up there." He said growling, looking at the sky through the window ceiling in the bedroom and I immediately realised what he meant.

Rikkard Knoevenagal, his best bud is dead.

I wanted to ask him 'how' but chose to remain quiet as I stared at him and looked down at the photo in my hands again. Jack Napier stared back at me with a happy grin and a smile lit my face once again.

I wonder what would have happened If I had met puddin' when he was like this?

I would have still liked him, but, I guess I love him this way even more. His unpredictability, his way of seeing the world, his unique idea of choas was what I fell in love with and I don't think I would have fallen this hard for 'Jack Napier.'

"Babe..."

I looked up in a second, to see him giving me a weak smile and held his arms out for me. I immediately reached him and hugged him, his hands circling around my body, holding me tight as his chin gently rested on the top of my head.

"I need to tell ya somethin'..." He trailed, his voice low, and I nodded softly, listening to his heart beat rise and I hugged him tighter, to soothe him.

"I was in the army."

I immediately looked up, showing my genuine surprise as I held him close. He smirked, looking down at me and continued. "My mother was an army doctor. She didn't have to constantly stay in the army camp but there were a few nights were she wouldn't return home. She would tell me everynight how she loved the men's sacrifices purely for the good of the nation."

His eyes shined love and admiration as he smiled, "I fell in love with the idea. And so, I joined the army."

My face still held shock and he flipped his head back, laughing heartily at my state and cupped my cheeks, kissing my nose playfully. "Don't look so shocked babe..."

I immediately composed myself, a smile making its way on my face as I nodded my head for him to continue.

"I met Rikkard in the army." He said. "We were inseperable. He had a horrible past life as well. We were the naughtiest and the most handsomest men of them all." He winked at me, making me chuckle. "We would prank around in the army, giving hilarious punishments for the juniors, but..." He held up his finger. "We would finish our duties without fail when given to us. We never missed. We were the best."

His eyes looked far, distant, like he was reminiscing a memory and I smiled, but it dropped a little when I saw his face become hard in a matter of seconds.

"There was another army camp a few miles beside us. We would always fight with them." He said, his voice hard and low, as he narrowed his eyes. "It would always end deadly."

"What happened?" I asked quietly and his blue eyes flickered to me, holding rage.

"Men from our army camp would get captured into theirs, and they would always torture them for days before killing them." He said, gritting his teeth.

"Rikkard got captured one day."

I gasped, feeling his pain and I held him tighter, resting my forehead on his chest as I heard the steady thrum of his heart beat. He growled lowly, before continuing.

"We..." He trailed. "...found his body in the lake after a week."

I gulped, knowing that the worst part is coming.

"They had... shoved a glass bottle up his behind and broken it inside. His eyes were filled with molten wax, and there were cigarette burns all over his body. There were cuts and bruises everywhere." He said, his voice cracking at the end of the sentence and I stroked his cheek softly, making him look at me.

His eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and his expression was rigid and hard as he gritted his teeth, continuing, with a devious smile on his face. "The next day, the whole army camp was perished."

The evil glint of revenge and the happiness of his achievement shone through his eyes showed me that he had done it and I grinned back, feeling proud of him.

"Jack Napier died that day too." He said, giving me a grin. "That's what everyone thought. After that... this happened." He pointed to his body and I chuckled, hugging him tightly.

"But... the soap." I dragged.

He narrowed his eyes at me and dragged me towards the bathroom. Making me stand in front of the mirror, he stood beside me, taking the white soap in his hands and started rubbing them all over his face, more accurately, his mouth as he washed them.

After a while, I realised that the white in his face had gone down a little. Just a little. He turned around to look at me.

His lipstick was gone.

And his lips...

No wonder he didn't want the soap to make contact with his body... more accurately his face. His skin was still pale but I realised that he had added extra white to his face to hide the scars that were etched into his beautiful face. His lips were bruised and there were cuts all over them. I never felt them before. I realised that I had never seen him without his lipstick.

I slowly reached for his lips, placing my fingers on them as I trailed the bruises and cuts on them. His body stiffened and I looked up to see his eyes full of fear. I traced the scar running down the side of his face. A cut above on his forehead which seemed fresh. A bruise on his cheek. But, the worst was his lips. They were a pale pink with a mixture of blue and black.

He was beautiful.

My eyes met his and he took in a sharp breath.

"You are beautiful." I said breathlessly, and slammed my lips on his, kissing him with such a passion and he held me in his strong arms, never letting me go and I wasn't planning to. I made sure to let him how much I loved him, how much I loved him every single day and that no matter what, I would never go away from him.

We pulled away after a few seconds, breathing heavily. His eyes held fear, and I stroked his cheek softly, reassuring him. "I love you Puddin'... I always will."

He closed his eyes, letting out a happy sigh, resting his forehead on mine and we remained that way for a pretty long time, whispering sweet promises to one another, as we held on tight, never letting go, never wanting to.

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HEY EVERYONE!

I won the Jarley Fanfiction Awards! I got the 'Most Favourite Fanfiction' Award! I am so happy guys! I can't believe it! I dedicate this chapter to JARLEYFANFICAWARDS 💜💜💜 Thank you so much guys for making this happen! I wouldn't have won without you guys! Gah! I AM SO HAPPY! Due to my happiness, I am going to reveal my name. Lol.

My name is Rini.

By the way, picture Rikkard as Ian Somerhalder.

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