𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊 ; 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

THIRTY

RIDDLE'S POV

"I really don't think this is a good idea." 

My head turns immediately as I hear a familiar voice. One I hadn't heard in a while, but familiar nonetheless. They're hiding behind the stone wall lining the hallways by the courtyard. 

"Shut up, will you?" Pause. "Sorry, that was rude. I just met you." A frustrated sigh. "Just- c'mon." Kalen appears from behind the wall, clutching someone's arm. Ceridwen.

My eyebrows raise in surprise as they near me. I toss my apple core into the nearest bin, then fold my arms. "Kalen." I say coolly. 

"Hey... Mattheo." He says awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

Ceridwen steps out from behind him, avoiding my gaze. "Ceridwen!" I snap.

She looks up, her eyes wide with fear. Kalen steps in front of her. "Hey, man! I know she's your sister, and you'd probably never hurt her, but you can't talk to her like that!"

I laugh. "Please, Argent. You've known her for less than a day, I'm sure. Get the fuck out of my way."

Kalen narrows his eyes, then moves away. "I thought we were on a first name basis." He mutters.

I stop right in front of Ceridwen, staring down at her. Finally, I wrap my arms around her. "I missed you." I whisper into her hair.

Ceridwen laughs quietly. "Missed you too, big bro."

I pull away, my expression turning stone cold again. "Why the fuck are you here?"

"Because-"

"I was counting on dad to never let you set foot in these grounds."

"Mattheo, listen-"

"You shouldn't be here." 

"Mattheo!" She yells.

I finally stop pacing, to stop and stare at her. "What?"

"Dad sent me here to keep an eye on Vienna."

"Oh."

"And, well, you. Listen, I overheard dad talking with someone about Vienna. They're planning on killing her."

My heart drops at the thought of Vienna dying. I already almost lost her once, I couldn't go through it again. Even if she doesn't remember me. "Who?"

"I don't know. But I think they're already in the school. And Kalen and I think it's Aidan."

"Aidan? Montague? The one she's dating?" My grin widens, "Thank fuck."

Kalen looks confused. "What?"

"I've been looking for an excuse to maim the guy."

"Mattheo, wait. I said we think it's him. We obviously need-"

"Ceridwen. I have proof, remember?"

We both turn to Kalen. "Go on then." I say impatiently. Vienna's life is on the line, and Kalen's here taking his sweet time, trying to be dramatic.

"Okay well... let me rephrase. I've seen Aidan talking to someone about killing Vienna. I don't exactly have proof, but I have seen it. Also they didn't say Vienna's name but I'm certain they were talking about her."

"Explain." Ceridwen says bluntly.

"I went down to the common room at about two in the morning. He was kneeling by the fire, talking to someone in it. They talked about how Aidan needed to hurry up and kill her already. And Aidan said... oh! He said he thinks Vienna's memories of Riddle have slowly started coming back because he's done some things on their dates to trigger them."

"Like what?" I say quickly.

"Something about chocolate?"

"I hate chocolate." My face softens, "That time I gave her a candy bar with chocolate chips in it. I was carrying them around for her if she was ever hungry."

Ceridwen chuckles. "Aw, my big brother is suddenly a huge softie!" 

"Shut up." I growl and she immediately does so.

"What if we do things around her to trigger her memories of you, Riddle? Maybe then she'll get her full memories back, realise she's completely in love with you and believe us about Aidan!" Kalen exclaims.

"Yeah, that could work." My mind races at the countless memories I have with Vienna. I'm determined to make her remember them.

"Great. I'll tell Louis and Haisley when I've got the chance, then we'll all meet and Riddle can list down memories that're easy to trigger. Sound like a plan?" He asks.

"Sounds good!" Ceridwen replies. I give a curt nod then leave to go find Malfoy.

The next day, we all had a study period and decided to meet in the library. Well, I didn't have a study period but I was already excelling in all my classes, and didn't feel the need to attend Potions. "Alright, Riddle." Kalen says with his notepad, "Give us some memories with easy triggers."

They all watch me intently as I think. "Well, there was that one time..." And once I started, I couldn't stop.

Twenty minutes later, we had almost a page of memories and what we could do to trigger them. "This is gonna work, right?" Louis asks.

I shrug. "Only one way to find out. There she is." I nod in the direction she's in, and they all turn to see her sitting, practically covered in books. Thankfully, by herself.

"Who wants to take the first one?" Haisley asks as Kalen stands up and walks over to her.

VIENNA'S POV

"Kalen? Why're you here?"

He sits down. "What, I can't spend quality time with my best friend?"

"I really need to concentrate, Kalen. I've got a ton of assignments to hand in."

He leans on the desk. "Falling behind in classes, are we?"

"You-" 

He sifts through my many notes. "Falling behind in class now are we?"

"I'm still smarter than you." I retort, "No matter how hard you try, you'll always come second. My natural... smartness is no match for your cunning."

"Vienna, love, you don't need to tell me that." He leans close to whisper in my ear, "You proved you always come first last night."

My mind flashes back to yet another memory of Riddle. I can tell Kalen's watching me with curious eyes, so I have to pretend nothing just happened. After all, I hadn't told my friends my memories were starting to return because they'd try to retrieve them all, leading me to leave Aidan and get back with Riddle. I'm not sure that's what I want.

"Vi, you okay? You just stopped talking."

There's a hint of pride in his voice, and I choose to ignore it. "Hm? Oh, yeah! I'm fine. I just suddenly came up with the answer for a question I've been stuck on."

He frowns. "Oh."

"I hate to ask this of you, but do you mind leaving me to work in peace?"

I can practically feel the hurt radiating off of him, and I feel horrible. "Yeah, sure." He says, defeated. 

KALEN'S POV

"How'd it go?" They all clamour to ask me as I walk back to the table.

I stop for a second and look at all of them. "She's one sly fucking fox."