madelein | ✔

twenty-two

"I don't know what to do anymore, Russel," Sian admitted as she sat at one of the booths inside the tattoo place she and Jennie went to beforehand. Her feet lead her there after she received a call from Russel who just called to say hello.

"Why don't you admit the truth?" he rubbed her back, trying to comfort her friend but before he could say anything more, her hands suddenly wrapped around his torso and pulled him in. Her head burying onto his chest and he could feel the cloth of his shirt being wet.

Sobs came out from her lips and all could Russel do was to rub her hair in a soothing manner and whispering comforting words onto her head.

Russel knew that Sian was vulnerable. She was too naive with love, to be exact. The moment she entered his tattoo shop a few years back, he already knew that she wasn't even sure if she wanted to have a tattoo. She was clueless and has to be protected at all cost.

The moment Sian told him about Law, as she calls him, he swore he could see the hearts forming on her eyes back then. He just chuckled that time and proceeded to ask why she still wears that mask onto their school. Sian just shrugged and proceeded to tell him all about this Law guy.

"I miss Law," the girl suddenly whispered onto his chest, with a few sobs in between. He grabbed both of her shoulders and looked at her. Her eyes looked tired, they weren't as alive like they had been before. Her hair was a mess in that ponytail, some stray hair sticking onto her cheeks that was wet from crying.

His thumb wipes her cheeks as he tries to smile. "I'm sure he misses you, too."

Sian just nodded and sighed. She lifted her hands up to her face and wiped the tear-stained cheeks. She was glad that Russel called her. She had the chance to escape the suffocating scene before her. She felt that she was already letting go of Duke when it truth, she has nothing to hold on to.

"Why don't you just admit everything to him?" Russel whispered but was loud enough for her to hear him. This was the repeated question that her friend was asking her over and over again.

The shop was empty, which was a good thing, when she arrived. She immediately saw Russel in one of the booths arranging his inks, a clean towel in hand. He was cleaning the equipment when she ran to him, sat beside the tattoo artist and vented out everything.

Just like what she did back when she's still in Colton.

"I simply can't," she answered while shaking her head, "Chelsea and I made a promise. That I would just watch Duke from afar and she'll come back here and admit that she was Madelein..." That was the main point of the deal. Chelsea had connections inside the Zagaya's and she managed to get in to have a job with a decent pay.

She should've thanked Chelsea for such an opportunity but doesn't know if she deserves it. It was such a torture watching how helplessly Duke was searching for the girl. The pain in his eyes stings her insides, like hundreds of needles stabbing her heart at different times, different rhythms.

"What's the point of the deal, Sian?" Rus argued. "A deal is a deal? Promises can be broken, so does a deal. It depends on the circumstances and as of right now, that circumstance is that you still love him and doesn't want to let him go."

Sian gulped and felt her eyes welling again. She wiped her hand down her face trying to erase the new trace of tears emerging from her eyes. Russel was right. He always was. She loves Duke, she loves him still but it wasn't right.

"It isn't right," she repeated her thought out loud, "Everything isn't right."

"What isn't right is the fact that you still hadn't admitted everything to him yet," Sian looked at Rus who was staring at the entryway at the back. She slowly dragged her gaze to a newcomer standing by the doorway. Her heart almost exploded to see Titus standing there, his gaze penetrating to her soul.