Scars To Your Beautiful : A Modern Beauty and the Beast retelling ✔

13. Through the sunny days

Viola Fawn knew people thought Damien Pierce was dense, even though everyone loved how handsome he was. Blue eyes she was drawn to, and a face that should be on the cover of a GQ magazine. Unfortunately, he just always seemed to say the most baffling things.

Damien Pierce pecked her cheek, before twiddling himself to the chair on the terrace. "Brighten up, Vi. You look like you'd start a tornado, just by the frown on your lips."

Viola scoffed. "I hate our monthly family dinner. I don't think I want to hear Aunt Mae boast about Tori's hot doctor fiancé." She had managed to pull him away from the family's usual gossip time and dragged him onto the porch where they could spend some alone time, far away from everyone.

He shrugged. "It's not wrong for her to talk about her daughter's love story."

"You are so naive, I swear. Two months ago, she gushed about her job promotion making Uncle Ray feel bad, since he lost his job around that time."

Damien Pierce shrugged again, irking the hell out of Viola. "So she's a little insensitive. That's what makes Aunt Mae who she is."

"A little insensitive? Your whole family's insensitive." She spat. "Great gram still acts so racist around me. It's like she sometimes forget that I'm in your family."

"OUR family." Damien Pierce corrected. "It's our family. It's like you forget that you're a part of it too."

She mumbled inaudibly. "Too bad, my mom married your uncle."

He shifted his gaze back to her, absentmindedly. It didn't seem like he caught what she said. "What did you say?"

"Let's talk about something else, okay?" Viola managed to say. It was always awkward being the only black girl in this very large family. Heck, it was much worse being one of the few black people in this predominantly white community. That's why she promised herself to always remain tough. So that no damn person would look down on her. She'd always remain at the top, even if people didn't like it.

Damien Pierce grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth. "Whatever you say, cousin."

"Adopted step cousin." Viola gritted her teeth, reminding him how far they were in relations. She hated how it stood in the way of him looking at her in a different way. It was difficult because of how unwitting he was to her decade long crush. He never noticed. Never realized how her heart fluttered whenever she saw him. It was no use now. They had been family for half a dozen years and her mom was too happy to even think about leaving Joe.

His laughter skyrocketed the beat of her heart. "You are hilarious. Fine, let's move on to another topic. It's about mi Bella."

"Not that again, I swear one of these days, you'd finally see her true colors." Her tongue clicked. Talking about his blind love for Callista Blanco always made her furious. "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me. I know what I'm saying."

"I don't get it. Why don't you like her?" Damien Pierce scratched the top of his hair.

Because you love her! The words itched the back of her throat, begging to be said. But she answered alternatively. "She doesn't like you. Why can't you see it?"

"You sound just like Harvey, but none of you know her like I do." His nose flared. "She likes to keep me around and all those things she says is just a front."

Viola nestled her hands on her hips, looking completely bewildered. "Why the hell would you think that?"

Another flash of smile sprung up. "Think of all the greatest love stories of all time. Titanic, the notebook, even popular teen rom-coms. What do they all have in common? I'll give you a hint. All the leading men don't give up on the ones they love. They try and try, until they finally win the hearts of the women. That's my endgame."

"So you're using plots from stories that aren't real, and applying it to the real world? You're full of shit."

"I promised myself not to let go of anything that means a lot to me. I know you don't like it, but I've given up a lot of other things in the past. I don't want to do that anymore. This is the only thing I can hold on to." The strained tone in his voice quivered.

Viola sighed to herself. Judging by the look on his face, she knew what he was talking about. His parents' divorce did wonders on his psyche and it took a while for him to pick up the pieces of their tumultuous marriage. It was an unspoken moment in their family and the trauma didn't seem to leave him. "I just hope you don't let yourself get hurt in the end. I'm afraid you won't recover."

Damien Pierce snorted. "Nothing's going to happen. She'll love me. I can feel it. Besides, Shakespeare once said. 'If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking and you beat love down'. Shakespeare's never wrong, you know."

"I can't believe you quoted him right now. But even Shakespeare also said 'don't waste your love on someone who doesn't value it'. You can do better than her. That girl attracts problems." He looked mildly surprised by her quoting Shakespeare, and Viola couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "It's pretty disappointing, y'know."

Pierce hissed. "Stop talking already."

"Just because your dad never loved your mom doesn't mean you have to chase after love every damn time. You're going to end up hurting yourself." Viola countered gruffly, then her face softened. "It's never worth it. Trust me."

"Enough with your negativity." Damien Pierce snapped, startling Viola Fawn. He didn't want to hear her talk about his parents. She had no right to do so. He took a moment to let out a slow breath. Seeing the widening of her dark eyes, he gave an apologetic glance and hastily averted her gaze. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have flipped out. I'm just—" he paused and sighed softly. "Never mind."

Viola stared at him quietly. Seeing him like this broke her heart and it hurt to see him try so hard to please Callista. She doesn't deserve him. Clearing her throat, Viola recovered from her shock with a calm reply. "So what was it you wanted to tell me about Callista Blanco?"

The spark in his eyes had returned, restoring the Damien Pierce she knew and loved. "I'm going to audition for the lead role of her play. I'm hoping to win the part, so I can impress her."

"You're willing to go that far. For her?" Pierce nodded, when she questioned. Then she gave a tired sigh. "Try not to get hurt, okay? I just have a feeling it'll happen soon."

A ghost of a frown sat on his lips, bringing no words out of his mouth. Good, she liked that he was dumbfounded. Maybe he'd finally listen to her for once.

★★★★

Larkin thought he was seeing things, when he noticed the back of a familiar brown hair through his window, passing by the hedge garden from a distance when he woke up that Saturday morning. The glittering sun poured rays through his well layered window blinds and then his eyes finally caught the moving figure from afar. Beautiful long locks glistening in the sun, as its length travelled to the middle of her back.

Mustering much strength, he dragged his legs and limped closer to get a better view but unfortunately, the person had gone before he could take a better look. He shook his head. No, it couldn't be her. There's no way Callista was at his house. They had no ties together anymore. He made sure of that. Maybe he was having hallucinations, as a side effect from his drugs. That had to be the only reason.

Treading out of bed, his maroon bathroom robe hugged his body warmly, the moment he put it on and he made his way to the living room. Whispering voices came out in hushed tones that made it hard for him to pick out any word, but he was able to sniff out a familiar voice he couldn't take out of his head for days. He paused in his tracks, when he saw Callista talking to Mrs. Esther.

Their faces perched up almost at the same time when they spotted him and Callista put on her classically entrancing smile.

Mrs. Esther quipped. "You're up early."

"The dog woke me up." Larkin lied through his teeth, not breaking eye contact from Callista.

She made a small wave. "Hey, boss."

"Boss?" His voice held a stiff note.

Callista shot Mrs. Esther a confused look, before turning her gaze back to him. "I work for you now. I'm your new part time housekeeper." Oh, God. This certainly wasn't what he wanted to hear.