Trapped in a Novel as the D-Class Alpha I Hated Most

Chapter 226: It Was Just A Dream....

The voice reaches me through the darkness—soft, insistent, pulling at something deep inside my chest.

It drifts through the haze of sleep like a thread of gold in black water, wrapping around me, drawing me upward from whatever depths I’ve been lost in.

"Zyren... Zyren... open your eyes... look at me..."

I don’t want to open them.

My eyes feel sealed shut, heavy with a weight that feels like more than sleep—like exhaustion pressed into my bones, like grief soaked into my skin.

But the voice keeps calling. Keeps pulling.

And slowly, I feel myself surfacing, breaking through the invisible barrier between unconsciousness and waking.

The sheets beneath me are soft. Warm. Familiar in a way that makes my chest ache before I even understand why.

This voice...

It’s Deniz.

Again.

"Zyren... I love you... please look at me..."

My eyes open.

Light floods in—not the harsh, sterile lights of the hospital or the cold glow of the mansion’s bedroom, but something softer.

Sunlight pours through the window, golden and warm, catching dust motes in the air and turning them into tiny drifting stars.

I blink against the brightness, and slowly, the world swims into focus.

A ceiling. Plain white. Ordinary.

Not the mansion’s expensive plasterwork with its gilded edges and crystal chandeliers.

Just... a ceiling.

I blink again, and a face slowly emerges from the light.

Deniz.

He’s leaning over me, his bare chest inches from mine, dark hair falling messily across his forehead in soft waves. A gentle smile curves his lips—the smile I fell in love with, the smile I thought I’d lost forever.

His fingers brush my cheek, tracing my skin with a tenderness that makes my heart stutter painfully in my chest.

"Good morning, my bunny."

I stare at him, frozen. My mind struggles to catch up with what my eyes are seeing.

What is he doing here?

I sit up too quickly and look around.

This isn’t my room.

It’s Deniz’s apartment.

The small bedroom with its simple furniture. The familiar walls. The old wooden coffee table beside the bed. The bed where we spent so many nights tangled together, breathing the same air, sharing the same warmth.

"How am I here?"

My voice is hoarse, scraped raw from sleep—or maybe from crying. I can’t tell anymore. His fingers lift my chin, tilting my face toward him until our eyes meet.

"What are you looking at?"

"How did I get here?"

He smiles softly, warmly—the way he used to smile at me before everything shattered.

"What are you talking about?"

His finger traces slowly down my bare chest, following the center of my sternum, light as a whisper.

"Did you forget about last night?"

I shake my head, confusion tightening painfully in my chest. "But we already broke up—"

He presses a finger gently against my lips, silencing me. "Don’t say that."

His voice is soft. Insistent. "How could we break up?"

A small frown appears between his brows. "Didn’t you promise me? We love each other. Forever."

My eyes sting instantly. Tears rise hot and sudden, spilling over before I can stop them. "You cheated on me," I whisper brokenly. "With your ex. You played with me. You used me."

Each word feels like dragging glass from my throat.

"You dumped me. You pushed me away."

My voice cracks completely.

"You told me you never loved me."

He immediately pulls me into his arms, holding me tightly against his chest. Warmth seeps slowly into my skin.

"Zyren, how could you think that?"

His voice sounds almost hurt. "I love you. I love you forever. I could never love anyone else." He pulls back just enough to look at me, dark eyes searching mine carefully.

"You must have had a bad dream."

A dream?

The word echoes through my mind, soft and seductive, offering me an escape from all the pain I’ve been carrying.

Was it really just a bad dream?

The breakup. The betrayal. The cruel words.

None of it was real?

More tears spill down my cheeks, warm and endless. He cups my face gently, his thumbs brushing away the wetness with impossible tenderness.

"I’m yours," he whispers softly.

"Always yours."

My lips tremble.

"Are you telling me the truth?"

He nods immediately, soft and sure, dark eyes never leaving mine.

"It’s not some kind of game?"

He shakes his head quickly, almost desperately. "Why would I play games with you?" He looks at me like the question itself wounded him

"I love you, Zyren. I’ve always loved you. I always will."

A weak smile spreads slowly across my lips—fragile, trembling, but real.

"My Deniz."

He nods, and I reach up, cupping his face in my hands, pulling him toward me.

Our lips meet softly at first, hesitant, almost fragile—as if we’re both afraid the other might disappear. Then the kiss deepens slowly, and I feel his hands against my cheeks, holding me like something precious. Something he’s terrified to lose.

I close my eyes, and relief floods through me, warm and overwhelming.

It was just a dream. A nightmare.

He’s still mine. He still loves me.

We’re still together.

A hard shove—

His hands slam against my shoulders, shoving me backward with brutal force. My back hits the bed with a harsh thud, pain jolting through my spine as the breath is knocked from my lungs.

My eyes snap open in shock.

Deniz is laughing. Not the soft, warm laugh I know. This laugh is loud. Cruel. Mocking. His head falls back, shoulders shaking as laughter spills from him uncontrollably.

"Deniz...?"

My voice trembles weakly. "What are you doing?"

He laughs harder, bending slightly forward like he can barely contain himself. "How can you be this stupid?" He wipes beneath his eyes carelessly.

"You fell for my act so easily." A pause. A cruel smile spreads across his lips.

"Again." freewebnøvel.coɱ

I reach for his hand desperately, panic tightening in my chest. "What are you saying...? What act—"

He shoves my hand away immediately, disgust flashing across his face. "I don’t love you." His voice turns cold instantly. "Do you understand now?"

Another pause. freewebnøvel.com

"I never loved you." His lips curl slightly. "It was all a game." His eyes lock onto mine.

"You were just a game."

The door opens.

Bryan steps inside barefoot, a white towel wrapped low around his waist. His hair is still damp, water glistening faintly against his skin. He looks at Deniz with lazy familiarity—like this is their room, their morning, their life together.

"Darling," he says casually, voice smooth and warm, "what are you doing? Let’s go."

Deniz smiles. A soft, private smile meant for someone else. Then he takes Bryan’s hand. Their fingers lace together naturally as they turn toward the door, shoulders brushing lightly against each other.

"No."

My voice cracks painfully, splintering apart like old wood. "Deniz... how could you leave me like this again?"

My chest tightens violently. "How could you—"

They step out of the room. The door closes behind them with a soft click.

I stare at it, chest heaving violently, my heart splintering into pieces I’ll never be able to gather again. The wood grain blurs behind my tears. Silence presses in around me, thick and suffocating.

He left me. Again.

He chose someone else. Again.

How could he—

A sharp pain suddenly stabs through my chest, right behind my sternum—white-hot and blinding. I press my palm against it instinctively, trying to hold myself together, but the pain only spreads.

Through my chest. My throat. My head.

Voices start echoing inside my head—loud, sharp, overlapping until I can’t separate one from another.

Deniz’s cruel laughter. Bryan’s smooth voice. The things they said, the things they did, the way they looked at each other—

I don’t love you.

I was just playing with you.

He’s so good in bed.

You were just a game.

Tears spill uncontrollably down my cheeks, dripping onto my hands, onto the sheets beneath me.

It hurts so much.

More than anything I’ve ever felt before. More than my parents abandoning me. More than watching my father build a new family without me in it.

More than every lonely night in my cramped apartment wishing someone—anyone—would love me enough to stay.

I can’t bear this.

Please stop.

Please don’t do this to me.

Please.

Please—

Please...

GASP—

My eyes snap open.

For a long moment, I don’t move. I can’t move. My body feels frozen somewhere between waking and dreaming, between the nightmare I just escaped and the reality I’m afraid to face.

My heart races wildly against my ribs. The pain is still there, echoing through my chest like a wound that never really closed.

I stare at the ceiling above me.

Not the plain white ceiling of Deniz’s apartment.

The mansion’s familiar modern ceiling. Clean white panels and soft recessed lights. Above me, the glass chandelier catches the morning sunlight, scattering pale rainbows across the walls.

What was that...?

My vision blurs with tears and confusion. I blink again and again, trying to understand what I’m seeing.

A warm hand presses against my cheek. I flinch slightly, and my eyes finally focus.

Moon’s face hovers above me. His blue eyes are wet with tears spilling silently down his cheeks. His jaw is tight, lips trembling slightly, his entire face raw with an emotion I can’t understand.

I just stare at him, my mind still trapped somewhere between the dream and this moment, my chest aching with a pain I can’t explain.

The tears fall from his eyes onto my face, warm and soft, and suddenly I don’t understand anything anymore.

Why is he crying?