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𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 17

"𝕌𝕙𝕞.. ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟 ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕝𝕖..? 𝕎𝕖'𝕕 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦." Ace gulped. Behind him was Deuce, nervously looking anywhere but you.

You waved over to them, stuffing one last piece of your dessert into your mouth. Grim snickered quietly as you pat his head softly and gently.

"Ah, it's you two. Have you finally understood your mistakes?" Riddle asked, sipping on his almost-empty teacup. He placed it down, and by reflex, you stood up to refill it. Riddle stopped you almost instantly, pushing you back down to your seat. "You are a guest here. Relax. We are the ones to attend to you, understood?" Riddle scolded you, but with a hint of appreciation and happiness.

Truth be told, he couldn't be happier. Just you being here was enough to lift his mood drastically. He felt awfully... Calm and safe around you. The feeling was new to him. 'Why do I feel so... Appreciated around her..? She hasn't spoken a word to me, yet she always shows me that beautiful, pure and innocent smile... Did she put a spell on me? ...No, she couldn't. I'd notice right away.. So why is my heart beating so fast around her..?' Riddle was in denial. He just couldn't admit to himself that there was a chance that he liked you.

After all that he went through, he thought that the feeling of love and safety was unfair to him. He didn't get it as a child, so why should he now? Would his mother take you away from him, too? She did take his happiness from him more than once. 'W-Wait, is she my happiness?! What's going on with me...?!' Riddle thought, quickly realizing he was staring at you.

He snapped his head back to the duo just as Ace started talking.

"Sure, we have... Um, as a return we made you a tart!" Ace grabbed a big plate that was placed next to him.

"Hmm, and what kind of tart?" Riddle questioned, noticing your eyes sparkle with proudness. You must've known what they've made, then. If you liked it, then he must like it too, he thought.

Oh, how wrong he was.

"I'm so glad you asked! We made a chestnut tart! The chestnuts were freshly picked from the botanic-" Ace was interrupted, Riddle's face overcoming with shock and anger.

"A chestnut tart?! On an Unbirthday party! Don't tell me you've forgotten rule N. 562?! 'One must never bring a chestnut tart to an Unbirthday party! Now, thanks to you, an otherwise perfect Unbirthday is ruined! Throw that tart away this instant!"

"WHAT?! You're not serious, are you?! It's a perfectly good tart!" Deuce shouted, shocked at the strictness of the rules the Queen of Hearts bestowed them with. Grim jumped up from his seat, and onto the table.

"If you wanna throw it out, just let me eat it instead! We worked our butts over that tart! I'm not goin' to watch as my hard work gets tossed down the drain!" Grim said, obviously mad.

Trey stood up, a nervous look overtaking his normally calm expression. "I-I'm sorry! It was my idea, I made them do it! I was unaware there was a rule like that! I was only able to memorize the first two hundreds... I apologize!" Trey defended you four. You stood up two, but not because you were going to shout too, but because you spilled the steaming tea over your forearm from the shock.

You winced, silently mocking yourself with your clumsiness. You wiped the tea off, and continued to listen to the conversation.

By now, Cater arrived at the scene, and he was certainly surprised at the situation. He smiled nervously, "Yeah, it wasn't their fault..!" Cater raised his hands in an apologetic matter.

"Unacceptable! The making of the tart is not the problem. The problem is bringing it HERE! TODAY!" Riddle shouted and your brows furrowed in worry. Where could this all go?