The Obsessive Villainess Vol. 1 ✔

23. A boy dressed in flowers

#Chapter 23: If I'd known that a boy dressed in flowers could be this pretty...

I looked peculiarly at my open palm.

Didn't I have scratches on it yesterday? How did they just disappear?

"It's time for me to go," Cassian stood up from the couch after he'd calmed down, and I got up as well. "I keep running out of my meetings these days..."

Again?

"Why do you keep doing such useless things..." I mumbled, playing awkwardly with my fingers. We had been sitting in silence with our thoughts for the past few minutes. I couldn't get the moment of those little explosions around me out of my mind.

His power is scary...

He frowned. "It's not useless when it comes to you. You're the one doing useless things, hiding all this from me." Then he turned towards Avea. "Call a wind elemental to help clear up the glass. I'll take responsibility of all fees for getting everything fixed." He looked at me with furrowed brows. "I'm sorry about the mess, Nora. I really don't know what happened."

"It's fine, I'll take care of this stuff, you should just go." I smiled at him gently, but he shook his head with an annoyed face.

"...Tell me these things from now on. Don't worry everything on your own, I'll take care of it all. Who am I? I've been with you for all these years, haven't I?"

What...

I felt my heart clench at his words. I blinked at him before looking down.

As expected of the main lead. Kindness is such a pain. How do I push you away when you'd do all that for me?

I looked up and took a few steps closer.

I keep telling you to stay away. But you seriously...

"Aren't you tired of me?" I asked him. "I'm crazy, you know? Promises can be broken; you don't have to do all this."

At my words, he raised his eyebrows. "Are you the only one who's crazy?" Avea helped him put his coat on, but he continued to look at me. "I'm the one who's crazier for still sticking to you. I know that. That I should leave you for the both of us." His tone had a tinge of self-depreciation. "That's why I keep telling you to get better and remember already."

That wasn't possible even if he wished it. He'd tried leaving before, I knew that from my memories and the book, but Nora of course never let him go. But now that I was a shell without memories, he believes he can't just leave. Cassian is probably the biggest mystery with how stubbornly he refuses to let go of Nora even with all the irrational and extreme things she's done. I sighed at us. What a mess.

"You still don't love me, right?" I asked him.

"You know that, don't you?" He gave me a bitter smile.

"But you still won't let me go?"

There was silence. I kept watching Cassian. He had a complicated expression on with pursed lips. Then they parted.

"Do I only deserve to have my childhood friend beside me if I love you like that?" He ran a hand through his hair. "What have I done to deserve having to part from you? Aren't you the one who was selfish first by falling in love? Why am I the only one who can't be selfish and want you here?"

He said all this very quickly, with furrowed brows, as if he was very frustrated. It was an outburst that surprised me. I hadn't known from the book that he had depended on Nora to that extent. My mind was swirling in confusion. I couldn't understand him. And then his quiet voice reached out to my ears. It sounded weak.