madelein | ✔

twenty-three

Opening another can of liquor, Duke winces, forcing the metal cap to fly off onto the floor. Without hesitation, he lifted the bottle and drank almost half of its contents in several gulps. He let out a loud "ah" and smiled to himself. When was the last time he wanted to get wasted?

The warmth of the booze drafted its way down his throat, leaving a trace of heat on his chest, spreading outwards to other parts of his body. He didn't mind. He unbuttoned the buttons of his polo and continuing to gulp down the rest of the liquid inside the bottle.

He was confused. Utterly confused.

What happened today was too much for him. He felt that his body went numb already, still remembering how she pushed his shoulders with such force, he stumbled backwards. She was crying. And it breaks him apart. She was begging. And that was his last straw.

"What... what did you want me... to do..." he asked in disbelief. He approached her once more and held both of her shoulders, his hand holding both of them firmly, "Say it again!" His teeth gritted as his eyes became blurry, staring right at her.

"M... Marry her..." she whispered, half-sobbing.

The energy from his body was drained. His hands fell onto his sides as he stares at her in disbelief. "I don't believe you," he shakes his head, "Why... what..."

"I am not her," Sian muttered, rather firmly, "I am not Madelein!"

Duke glared at her. It was too harsh and piercing for the woman that she didn't meet his gaze but he needed answers.

"Stop lying, Sian. Stop fucking lying to yourself and just admit it!" he half screamed, hysteria evident in his body.

Every part of him was fuming now. His knuckles felt hot, his palms being pierced by his fingers from the harshness of how he fists them, his eyes hot with tears brimming at the corners of it. He glanced at Titus who was approaching him but held out his hands at him.

"Stop this game, anymore," his voice broke. Suddenly, her eyes met his and his knees became numb. He approached her closer, almost limping. "I know it's you... Stop this, Sian. I beg you..." But she went on shaking her head.

"I am not Madelein," she repeated and Duke felt that all walls crumbled and fell down on his back. It was heavy, it was painful, it was suffocating. "That's all in your head. I am not her... if I was her, I would've admitted right from the start." A tingling sensation crept up in Duke's ear, all of his blood rushed there and knew that it was turning red.

His fists were now shaking, wanting to punch something. He felt a tear escaped from his betraying eyes, grazing his cheek so effortlessly like how the woman in front of him was breaking his heart. So effortlessly dangerous.

"Marry Chelsea," she begged, "She is Madelein. I am not..." She spoke as if it wasn't an assurance of a fact. It was more of a plead. A plead to spare her life from all of this. No matter what he says, she denies it. No matter what he does, she will just runaway.

"Will you be happy about it?" he asked preventing to taste the vile taste at the tip of his tongue. The poison has consumed him now. He doesn't want to make decisions anymore, she will. He handed her the win. He lost. He lost her once again.

"Duke," Titus approached him, successfully, grabbing him by his arm and gradually shaking it. His gaze never left the woman before him, those eyes that never changed since the first time they had met. "Don't do this..." his friend whispered but it went straight out the other ear.

Sian hesitated for a moment, as if thinking anything throughout, but then, after the killing silence, she nodded and tried to smile behind the flowing tears she also has before saying the words that silently killed him again, "I wouldn't be happier."