Could You Love Me? || Ms Venable

XI.

.･:*:･･:*:･.
"I must be cruel only to be kind;
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind."

(Hamlet, act 3 scene 4)
.･:*:･･:*:･.

****

I woke up with a yawn and stretched as far as my limbs would go at six in the morning.

"Good morning sweetheart."

I turned towards the voice and realised I was in bed with Ms Venable. We were still fully clothed so I guess we'd fallen asleep after last night's cuddle.

Ms Venable didn't look as upset as she was yesterday, her normal half expressionless and half mysterious look had returned.

"Morning." I mumbled, sitting up and smiling a little.

"I guess I'll have to go now, before everyone gets out of bed." I sighed. Ms Venable nodded sadly at my comment. A silence fell over us.

"I'll see you at breakfast?" I asked hopefully. She smiled in response.

"Of course sweetheart." My heart fluttered at the pet name, as it always did.

"But I'm guessing I can't eat with you in the library." I looked down to my hands sadly.

"I...." Ms Venable looked conflicted, but seemed to come to a decision in her head, "No, I'm not going to leave you because of silly matter." Her eyebrows were furrowed.

I whispered, taking her hands as she started to kiss me softly, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

*

"So how are we going to deal with this Coco situation." I wondered out loud after I finished half of my lunch, my head on Ms Venable's shoulder. I heard her sigh.

"I don't know. She's not one to keep secrets."

I nodded slowly, trying to think of something, anything, "I could talk to her. It seems like it's the option." I shifted so I could look Ms Venable in the eye.

"But she hates me. They all hate me. But they love you, and because of this, they might treat you differently." She looked away, staring off into the distance.

"Mina, even if they hated me for the rest of their lives, I wouldn't care as long as I had you by my side."

I could see Ms Venable's eyes water a little, so I cupped her face and kissed her cheek.

"Will you come to my room tonight? After you've talked to Coco?" She asked, sounding hopeful.

"Of course."

*

"Coco, can I speak to you for a moment?" I stood near the group of purples who were invested in a conversation about whether or not Pluto was a planet. A bit of a random evening topic if you ask me.

"Uh, sure." Coco followed me away and we walked in silence to the library. Once we were in, I closed the door and sat down, gesturing for her to do the same.

"Coco, about yesterday, you need to understand that you can't tell anyone." I spoke quietly, avoiding eye contact.

"And why should I do that? You can do so much better than her. There's nothing stopping me from casually mentioning to the others that Ms Venable is....pushing herself onto you." Coco looked a little smug.

"How many fucking times do I have to tell you? I want to be with her, I want to be able to hold her like she's mine! I fucking lo-" I cut myself off, realising how close I'd been to revealing something no one could know. At least not yet.