My Fair Lady (Dark Cacao Cookie x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 40

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So, unfortunately after so much time working on this project, I haven't been able to keep the same motivation I had before to complete this. The story felt so much more entertaining and fun to write in the beginning but now I just don't know how to end it comfortably since I added things in along the way. I'd absolutely hate to have you all be left hanging without any conclusion so this might be the last chapter before I release a finale that basically runs through the major points of the story in one big summary. I promise you all that I really tried to keep up with my passion for this story and really tried to make it to the end, but I don't know if I'll be able to anymore. Even after breaks I feel like this is an obligation to write rather than a hobby.

I really hope you all understand (and maybe you can change my mind). Flat out hate won't be tolerated, but I'm open to your thoughts and ideas. Maybe I can save the story somehow, but I'm very unsure.

I hope you all enjoy what might be the last chapter of My Fair Lady! It was a nice ride with you all and I can't thank you enough for how much support you gave me. I'd be lying to say it was never a huge uplifting moment every time I saw the notifications of you all loving this story.

Dough.

Icing.

Soul jam.

The three ingredients to bake a perfect cookie. (Y/N), on the other hand, felt like she had accidentally gained another ingredient.

A heart.

But wherever it was in her peculiar body, she couldn't find it anymore. Perhaps it shattered a long time ago. Perhaps somebody ripped it out of her chest. Perhaps it jumped so high once that it leapt free. Or perhaps something else happened to it.

Perhaps Dark Cacao had stolen it.

Of course, one doesn't just steal a heart with no reason to the thievery. Based on all possible conclusions that (Y/N) could come up with, the act wasn't done under his will. The villain was from someone else she knew better.

She had given it to him.

Even though it was a trade she witnessed with her own eyes, the own pit of her empty ribcage echoed groans of the new void in her body, screaming for a substitute. A hungry pit that could only be fed one ailment. Instead of digestion, though, it was the process of causing emotions. Nothing was in her body to deliver it. Luckily, the thief was merely a trader, and the missing piece was reunited with his own heart.

Maybe that's why they were never perfect until now. They simply didn't have the right "wrong" ingredient.

Before, her heart would beat at strange times, like an untuned instrument that didn't quite correctly hit the right notes. It would simply play whenever it felt like at uneven paces.

Ecstasy.

Disappointment.

Dreariness- no, apathy.

. . .

Jealousy?

As expected, the reactions of the heart being uneven and asymmetrical only threw her mind into chaos and confusion. It seems that her own family recognized the disfunction happening internally that presented itself externally.

"And you wonder why we are embarrassed by you."

"Do you even know how much pain I went through just to have you?"

"Your brother showed much more promises in living a wonderful life unlike you."

The words became numb to her ears. You, you, you. So patronizing to be called such a short word instead of her actual name. It was like they were trying to prune her unruly branches, taking the scissors with impatient hands and snipping off the whole trunk instead. After a while they had sheared off so much of her there was nothing more to cut away. Dressing up her lifeless corpse of a cookie was the final option to convince people that the quality and potential was still there.

The only time some cookie held her hand to walk her through life was when her mother was helping her take her first steps. After that, life was just something she had to figure out on her own. Despite the freedom one expects to come from this, the guidelines were hidden from her and she would be severely disciplined if she broke one. That hand was more important than anything else to her, but nobody offered it.

Dark Cacao winced when (Y/N)'s hand squeezed down hard on his. She withdrew her grip and flattened her hands uncomfortably in the folds on her outfit between her legs, hidden like frightened animals.

"Is everything alright, (Y/N)?" he asked, rubbing his crushed hand.

She stared down at the encapsulated palms in her lap for a few moments before speaking. "There's more."

"More what?" he inquired.

"More than what I told you," she breathed, looking over to him. His interest visibly peaked. "Remember how I told you that I've been forced to be someone I'm not?"

"I mean, I didn't fully understand what you meant, but yes."

"I-" the words stuck in her throat. "Just... I'm actually what they forced me to be. It's just that I never wanted to be it after I kept on falling short of their demands. Uselessness got the best of me."

"Just like me, huh?"

"A little bit too much like you." (Y/N) saw his posture stiffen a little bit.

"You're not saying that...?" his eyes darkened, the realization growing more visible. "(Y/N), why didn't you tell me this?"

"Aren't we here then, on the same page? Like some cartoonish duo that happened to fall for each other escaping the same problems at the same time?" she asked firmly, her voice raised. "Maybe that's why I'm still hesitating, Dark Cacao. I can't help myself but worry about what I'm going to drag you into once we both go back into the wild again."

"A princess! And you never bothered to mention it?" the taste of guilt stung at the tip of (Y/N)'s mouth when he responded. "I thought you were going to tell me everything. Hell, we're literally throwing away our lives together and you thought that not telling me you're also royal was a marginal detail?"

Her hands were being pressed tighter and tighter between her legs. "How would you feel if you had no idea I was a prince when you made it more than obvious that you're a princess, hoping that you found somebody who'd be the most transparent cookie in your life because you're both risking your lives, and just out of nowhere I tell you that I'm royal like you too? Do you not see the problem here? I f*cking trusted you, and for what." He got up from his seat and clasped his arms behind his head, pacing back and forth.

"It's only been a month, Dark Cacao-"

"And so what? You've already confessed and we're mutual about how we feel about each other. I thought we would've already reached this point somewhere when we first exposed ourselves to each other, but now? Right now?"

"Dark Cacao!"

"NO!" he shouted. A dreadful silence fell onto them like an anvil. Taking a few breaths, his face melted to sheer disappointment, making (Y/N) shuffle in her seat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, but why? Why now?"

The words boiled in her mouth and made her tongue numb to any feeling. "I don't know."

"...Then I guess we're stupid for even doing this in the first place," he turned his back on her to leave the cottage. Right as his hand brushed the doorknob, he shifted a side glance over his shoulder at her. "You told me you would keep your promises, (Y/N)," his voice shuddered. The door quietly hissed as it shut behind him.

It was just then that (Y/N) found her given heart thrown on the ground in front of her, beating weakly.

Word count: 1072

At least I made it to Chapter 40.