Lav was still whispering his vulnerabilities to Ghost, his attention entirely inward, suddenly the pet Ghost went rigid and then bolted from there. He sprinted away from the pool towards a planter. Ghost rounded a geometric planter and gave a low, questioning bark and barreled into a heavily shadowed alcove formed by thick velvet curtains and tall decorative screens—a dim space clearly intended for illicit, private conversation. The lighting here was minimal, just a wash of purple from the pool.
Before Lav could call him back, a cacophony erupted
Ghost's immediate, furious barking shattered the quiet. Lav ran toward the sound and was hit by the sight: it was Shyan, his expensive evening attire badly rumpled, his hair askew, pulling himself urgently away from a blonde girl whose own dress was creased precariously. The situation was undeniable, suggesting a betrayal that was both arrogant and careless.
Shyan's initial shock turned instantly to pure, ugly rage. He saw Lav, saw Ghost, and his paranoia instantly clicked: this was disgrace to high mighty image to be discovered and barked at by a mere dog. Before Lav could utter a word, Shyan drew back his foot and delivered a brutal, contemptuous kick to Ghost's side. The pet yelped, a sound of agony that tore through the relative calm of the terrace, echoed there. Lav froze, the sheer shock , disgust , anger, creating a paralyzing blast of emotion.
Before Lav could process all what was happening there and react to it, his baby, his companion was kicked away without a tiny bit of compassion.
Shyan immediately began shouting, attempting to seize control of the narrative. "What the hell are you doing letting your filthy dog run loose, you freak? He ruined everything!" The girl, quickly adjusting her clothing, joined in with hysterical accusations: "He's spying on us! You planned this!" He was eyeing me but couldn't get me, so he did this to embarrass me.
Do you think your looks are enough to seduce me you useless piece of sh*t. She cursed him and acted as if she is some immortal fairy descended down the earth.
Lav was rendered mute by the vicious injustice and shameless of these two people right in front of him. Before He can come back to his senses, he watched in horror as Shyan, regaining his footing, took another threatening step toward the whimpering Ghost, raising his foot for a second, more vicious strike.
It was then that the emerald green hem of a girls dress with sequins and stones and delicate embroidery flashed into the scene.
Roo had been moments away, drawn by the commotion and the distressing yelp. She didn't pause to process the sight of her boyfriend's betrayal or the state of their clothing; the brutality against the innocent pet was the only thing that mattered. Before Shyan's foot could descend, Roo launched herself forward, grabbed his ankle with a force that surprised even herself, and wrenched. Shyan crashed heavily, the air knocked from his lungs.
Roo stood over him, her chest heaving, her eyes burning with a cold, terrifying moral clarity that eclipsed all the expensive glitter of the reception.
"If it's to do bad, then these feet are not needed at all," she spat, the words low and steady. "Your debauchery is another thing I am forced to ignore, Shyan, but the deliberate, callous violence against a living being like this is not acceptable. You are an entitled, cowardly blight on this entire party."
She didn't stop. She condemned his cruelty, his arrogance, and the emotional abuse he had inflicted on her for years, using the pet's defense as her final, freeing catalyst. The tirade, delivered in a sharp, quiet voice, completely crushed Shyan's public ego. Humiliation and fear—not rage—flashed in his eyes. He scrambled away from Roo's foot, grabbed the whimpering girl, and retreated. They practically ran out of the terrace, shoving past the curtains and back into the noisy oblivion of the ballroom.
Roo, Lav, and Ghost were left alone. Roo knelt beside ghost, completely ignoring anyone's preseence, her hands gentally moving over and checking for any possible visible damage to ghost. Her hands were shaking as she assessed Ghost. A string of tear slowly flowed through her cheeks that she urgently and secretly wiped away. Lav watched her, his cynical soul completely stripped bare, his heart overwhelmed with a gratitude that felt like something melting into soft there, in a corner of his heart.