Saving the Villain

"Are you alright?"

Cosette snapped out of her trance when Maxen's voice came from her side. She turned her head at him, smiling. They were already on their way home, riding the bus, but she had been zoning out since coming back to their room.

"Yes." She smiled. "Of course I am."

"Are you sure?" his brow raised, observing every little change of her facial expression. Good thing Cosette had mastered the art of concealing her emotion. However, just as her lips parted to reassure him, his brows rose, creating lines on his forehead.

"No," she blurted out. "I'm a little worried about Luke."

"Oh." Maxen rocked his head in understanding. "He's been skipping classes. Did you search for him earlier? That's why you missed one class?"

"Mhm." Cosette heaved a sigh of relief as she leaned back on the chair comfortably. She lowered her eyes.

Initially, she didn't want to burden Maxen with her current concerns. However, Cosette had been honest with him most of the time. The only thing she kept from him was her rebirth. She didn't want to return to those old bad habits of keeping virulent secrets that would eventually poison their relationship.

"Apparently, he's been hanging out with the wrong crowd," she continued, frowning. "I saw him in the back of the school. He's gambling. I dragged him with me and told him harsh things."

Maxen studied her side profile and sighed faintly. "So, are you worried he'll be angry at you? Or the fact he is hanging out with the wrong crowd?"

"Max, that's the dumbest question you asked me until now." She looked back at him with a deeper frown. "Both! I realized I was a bit cruel. Should've chosen my words carefully?"

"Are you helping him if you sugarcoat your words?" Maxen pinched her cheek mildly. "He's arrogant and had been pampered all his life. Persuading him won't help him, but some tough love."

Cosette arched a brow at him. "You sound like you're his father."

"And you're the mother?" He quipped. "I didn't like him at first. Until now, I don't. But he's your precious friend and… I know how you value your friends."

"Max…" Cosette bumped her shoulder against him, biting her lips to stop herself from smiling like a fool. She tucked a portion of her hair behind her ear as a short giggle escaped her shut mouth.

Meanwhile, Maxen watched her with a smile. If it was just Maxen, he would prefer to monopolize her. If he was going to be selfish, he wanted Cosette to only care for him, to love him, to only look at him, and just be her whole universe.

But he couldn't.

Cosette was not only a pretty face, but she also has a beautiful heart. She radiate the brightest doing what she loved and surrounding herself with the people she genuinely cares about. He didn't have the heart to take that away from her nor did he have the guts to suppress her radiance.

​ "Stop looking," she joked as her lips stretched even wider. "You're making me feel very shy."

"Really? Then I'll close my eyes."

Cosette frowned when Maxen looked away and closed his eyes. "I was joking. Didn't you get the joke?"

Maxen kept his eyes shut as if he didn't hear her. Her frown grew uglier, tugging his arm mildly.

"Look at me more," she murmured, still tugging his arm mildly. She pouted when he peeked from one eye, smirking teasingly at her. "Gosh… look at him unveil my delicate mask."

The side of his lips curled up, tilting his head until its side bumped against hers lightly. "Behave."

"I am behaving." Cosette pursed her lips and sneakily hook an arm around his arm. Her smile stretched wider, looking back at him as if nothing ever mattered in this world. Maxen smiled back at her.

Today was just the same routine, but Maxen and Cosette would never get enough of it. Even if they repeat the same thing over and over, they would do it again; as many times as they could for as long as they were together.

******

Cosette was writing in her daily journal with a big smile on her face. Today's entry was almost the same as yesterday with some added events. The smile on her face faded, leaning back against the chair, thinking about Luke.

"Just what is that guy planning to do?" she asked herself, narrowing her eyes as her mind drifted far away. Cosette folded her arms under her chest, her leg resting over the other, letting her foot swing back and forth.

No matter how she tried to put herself in Luke's shoes, she didn't know how his mind works. Luke was the most unpredictable person she had ever met. Maxen and Asher… were too predictable since they tend to make things easier to their advantage.

But Luke…

"I wasn't friends with him in the past," she mumbled, recalling the vague memories she had about Luke.

What was written in the 'novel' happened. Maxen being a Devilsin, Asher and Mia, Luke's death, and many more. Everything that was written had no exaggeration or addition to make the story more appealing.

They were real events. Hence, Cosette was a little frustrated she didn't get to befriend Luke in the first timeline. If Maxen was the one acting this way or Asher, she would guess it correctly. But now, she could only rely on how she knew Luke.

"What can that troublemaker do…?" Cosette trailed off, arching a brow as her eyes fell on her phone near her journal. She stretched her neck to see who it was, and a dry laugh escaped her mouth seeing that Asher sent her an email.

Cosette reached for her phone to check what sort of email did Asher send her. As soon as she did, Cosette only saw a formal letter with an attached file, regarding some minor part of the joint project which Cosette worked on during her internship.

She scrolled up and checked her exchange of emails with Asher. The side of her lips curled up, seeing that all the emails they had exchanged were regarding business. Nothing more nothing less.

"Asher Quinn… he is really something, huh?" she mumbled, typing a short reply to tell him to send anything regarding the project to another employee next time. She then forwarded the email to Warren, asking her father's assistant to forward it to the person in charge.

Ding!

Cosette arched a brow as a message notification popped out on her screen right after she sent her email to Warren. She tilted her head to the side, leaving the message on-read, which says;

[  You dropped it? ]

"I dropped it?" she read under her breath, only to receive another message from the same sender.

[ The project. ] and then another one came. [ Why? ]

Cosette pressed her lips into a thin line, placing her phone in front of her. She let the message on-read for a good ten minutes, humming a tune, wondering whether to reply or not. In the end, Cosette snatched her phone and replied.

[ So you can't flirt with me. ]

A loud giggle slipped past her lips as her reply was immediately read by Asher. Cosette didn't bother to wait for his reply, placing the phone to the side while she returned the journal inside the locked drawer.

Cosette then fixed the desk to how she was used to it. Looking at it, her satisfied smile faded ever so slowly. Everything was arranged at the exact position before she touched them, making her recall Maxen Devilsin's words.

"Don't let this control you," she whispered, repeating Maxen's words. Cosette ground her teeth and rearranged everything.

She winced at the sight of it. It wasn't like her desk was a mess as she simply tipped a few pencil holders and change the clock's location. Yet, it bothered her, making her hands itch as a strong urge to put things back to how she was used to prickling under her skin.

"It'll be fine," she mumbled, nodding encouragingly. "It'll be… no, it's annoying."

Just as Cosette submitted to her urges, another 'ding' resonated in her ear. Her hands instantly veered towards her phone, jumping from her chair. Cosette forced herself not to look back, setting her focus on her phone and Asher's reply.

[ What a shame. ]

Without thinking twice, Cosette tapped his name and then pressed the call button while marching back to her bed. As she placed the phone in front of her ear, listening to every ring, she plopped her butt down on the edge of the bed. Her back was facing the desk, knowing looking at it just once was enough to sway her.

Every ring she listened to increased her anxiousness at the thought of her desk. When she thought the call would end without getting picked up, the line suddenly connected.

"If you hate someone, how will you destroy that person?" Cosette asked as soon as the line connected. "Humor me or I might murder my desk by splitting it in half. Answer?"