The Obsessive Villainess Vol. 2

16. Boy with the matches, I'll let you burn me.

Chapter 16:

You'd think I know better than to play with fire.
But it comes out of nowhere

The urge to burn the house down.

Hey, boy with the matches
I'll let you burn me tomorrow

If only you hold me today.

"You made another girl cry, you know."

I walked into the huge balcony of the estate, that looked over the garden. In the moonlight, light that he owned, sat the blonde-haired boy with his strands lit up like gold. He raised an annoyed eyebrow at me.

"She was asking useless questions. Leave."

It was a gruff reply I was expecting. Of course, not one I cared much about. "And what about the boy you fought with? You burned his sleeves right off. Scared him shitless."

"He was being rude to Wynter. I'll do the same to you if you don't get out."

Wynter was the lavender-haired boy he kept around him at almost all times. His aide, and best friend. I eased a smirk as I sat on the same bench as him. He turned to glare at me but then looked away with an irritated sigh. We watched the few clouds pass through the moonlit sky and he clicked his tongue. Not being able to bear silence between us, or anything at all really, that part of him reminded me of Rezel. For some reason, I also remembered Risor in that moment. To anyone's eye, perhaps there was only silence between us, but in truth it was anything but quiet. Ah, I miss that boy. The person I've had keep an eye on him in the manor at the capital sends me messages everyday about the things he does. Like yesterday when he smiled so sweetly at a flower, and today when he pricked his finger on a thorn... it was almost funny. How much I wanted to rush to the estate at just that line. When had he gotten so precious to me, I wonder? I can't go a day without an update of him, or a week without a letter from him.

"Did Cassian give that to you?" Caeles surprised me with a question. He pointed with his chin towards my fingers that were playing gently with a pendant hanging from my bracelet. It was a deep green gemstone.

"No," I smiled. "It was a gift from my aunt. Said it belonged to my mother, and she wanted me to have it as a birthday present." Then I frowned, thinking about the party that was coming up. Of course I was nervous. There was no way I wouldn't be when I thought about how many people my father had invited to celebrate me. Not to mention because it was the last big party before he left for the war at the bordering kingdom.

I thought back to one of the moments I tried to stop him.

"A party isn't necessary, you know?" I furrowed my brows, biting into a biscuit. "I would have been more than happy to just spend the day with you."

It's not like I even remembered my birthday, nor knew how to convert it into the calendar used by this world. And really, how old am I anyway? Twenty-one, or fifteen?

"Letting the day of your birth pass by without celebration?" My dad looked incredulous. "It is one of the happiest days of my life, and why, it should be one of yours, too. After all, it is the day that let me meet you, and the day that eventually let you know what warmth, hugs, kisses and chocolate tastes like. The day that let you know the same sour of strawberries can give you the sweetness of its jam. Never underestimate such a glorious day, my dear," he warned me, and I couldn't help but feel the warmth he talked about. After all, how could his lectures and reprimands sound like such sweet poetry? And he wasn't done. Wiping at my mouth with his handkerchief, he continued.

"Not to mention, after how your mother strived so hard and how she did her best on such a day? Why, I could hardly let such hardship go to waste. She'd have my head if I did!"