Paper Hearts

(MAD LOVE) XIII: FAIRY EFFECT

"Hmm..." She looked upward as if thinking - her finger tapping her lips.

Natawa si Nikolaj. This Smith can really charm. "Exactly why Zuñigas don't take virgins as wives." With one powerful jump, he hangs onto one of the branches using one arm. "They make us weak."

"An anti-feminist, huh?" She crossed her arms infront of her chest.

Umalog ang buong puno nang tuluyan nang naakyat iyon ng binata. He sat on the branch. "It's the opposite actually. Don't take it the wrong way, Carlota, but you know how Varia works."

Natahimik siya.

"...and virgins can easily get attached and attachments – unnecessary attachments are what Zuñigas are not fond of. Our lives are always hanging on by a thread and no woman deserves to be paranoid all the time by thinking that anytime she'll receive a call that her husband is already dead and she has no choice but to surrender her son to succeed the empty throne and will suffer the same fate." He plucked an apple.

"You mean..."

Nikolaj grunted as he jumps down easily – ignoring the height of the tree. "Yes, we prefer whore... over virgins."

Charlotte winces by his choice of words.

"Because they just disappear after giving us a son in exchange for a hefty sum of money." He lends the apple to her. "No feelings tangled there. Neat, right?"

Tinanggap niya ang mansanas sabay umiling. "Now, that's just sad... Uno."

Nag-iwas ng tingin ang binata.

"You never felt love before?"

"I don't even know what that word means." His brown eyes are void with any emotions.

"And do you like it?"

"What do you mean?"

"This set-up. Depriving yourself of love... o-of happiness."

Nikolaj stared at the woman. "We don't have that luxury in Varia, unfortunately."

"B-But Juancho and Mayen..." patungkol niya sa kaka-engage lang na pares.

"There's no love lost between them, Carlota. Whatever fairytale is going on in your mind right now, it doesn't work that way here."

Niyuko ng dalaga ang hawak mansanas. Namayani ang ilang minuto ng katahimikan sa pagitan nila. "T-Thank you for this apple, Uno."

Tumaas ang isang sulok ng labi nito. "Can I pass as one of your dwarves now, Snow White?"

She laughed. "Obviously you can't! But you can be Beast though."

"That's from different story!"

"And here you are... well-versed with fairytales."

"Touché, touché."

"But really, Uno... I think you are capable of love." She wiped the apple against her skirt, then smiled sweetly at him.

No wonder Jasper is head-over-heels smitten over this woman, he thought. She can naturally charm her way to any man's heart. Is Nikolaj charmed? Yes. But does he feel like Jasper feels towards Charlotte? He doesn't know.