𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 𖤓 - 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧.

ÉXI.

That was when Lyssa decided herself that their interaction had concluded - her desire further granted as she heard her chamber door click shut, and a lacking of an unwanted presence that wasn't the misanthropic air of the house.

Lyssa's self-forbidding thoughts were punctuated expectedly by the automated shrill notification that cried from her BlackBerry 7230, which was discarded upon her bedsheets.

She arose from her seat upon her vanity stool, maundering over and onto the mattress of her double bed, reaching for her cellular device.

Upon the pixelated screen displayed a blue notification bubble,,the slightly blurred text within reading;

FELIX
How are you feeling?
4:55 PM

From the newfound kindness of her heart that had unmatched the energy from herself last summer towards the boy, she pondered at the message box for a few seconds, before deciding to respond.

LYSSA
Fine, I wish I was lost in your Labyrinth though.
4:56 PM

FELIX
I know what you mean. You've worded it suggestively though. Never took you for a romantic, Lyss.
4:58 PM

LYSSA
Don't be a tosser.
4:59 PM

FELIX
The weather's meant to be boiling this weekend, fancy joining us for a swim in the pond?
5:01 PM

LYSSA
Possibly. I'll check my regime, Prince. Since yesterday, you've become confident that I want to spend time with you.
5:03 PM

FELIX
Good. I think that after how well last night went, we should experience it sober, or mostly sober.

And I think we both know you're regime is non-existent. You're imprisoned in that depressing house of yours, aren't you?
5:06 PM

LYSSA
I hate to admit this to you especially, but you're right. It's either I drink alone in my room or I drink with you lot.

Can't think which would be worse right now.
5:10 PM

FELIX
Always been too mouthy, Lyssa.
That sharp tongue of yours never fails to shoot me down.
5:11 PM

Just show up whenever, you're always welcome here. I hope you know that.
5:13 PM

Lyssa turned her phone over, concealing herself away from its screen - from his words.

Well, I do now.

Until the weekend transpired, Lyssa endured the joyous task of finding ways to entertain herself in this uninteresting shell of a house.

Hell, sometimes she'd even play Housekeeper just to find a way to bide time. Dusting the tops of the pantry cabinets surprisingly made time vanish fast, along with netting out the residue that had settled in their outdoor pool.

She knew that if she were to tell someone like Felix what her hobbies were, he'd be plainly mortified.

Based off of how Lyssa saw the state of his dormitory last year, she knew that the mere word 'Cleaning' didn't exist in his vocabulary.

If it wasn't cleaning, Lyssa would self-medicate with the half-drank Pinot Grigio bottles her mother would scatter around the house from her shenanigans the night before, left originally for their housekeepers to clean up after.

However, Lyssa was a firm believer in recycling. She'd even began to insert candle sticks into the necks of the bottles that now posed as candelabras upon her windowsill, proud of he growing collection.

Two days ago, Felix Catton's reemergence back within her life was fictitious and unheard of, doubtful that he'd ever materialise in her imagination at all.

Nevertheless, now that they'd met again, slightly matured emotionally, physically;

Lyssa had a secondary serving to the buffet of words he had offered to her, felt his bare skin, seen his face - felt him more intimately, she found the chunk of her soul that had been completely engrossed in him in first year hooked, lined, and sinkered.

The fruit in which he was, sun kissed, darling.

The most vivacious, succulent upon the branch, everyone he'd interacted with had to have a bite.

And Lyssa had him pending in her foraging basket since they'd met - morally torn on wether she utilise the fruit for her pleasure, since she'd endured nothing but what others would label as pain and unjust suffering.

In the same scandalous way in which Eve was tempted into indulging in the forbidden apple upon the tree, Lyssa had found herself provoked in a smiliar way.

Except, the whispering serpent that poisoned Eve's mindset had reincarnated into the form of Lyssa's own thoughts.

She had always been wired to make self-sabotaging decisions, wether she'd tried to stray away and resort to a rational alternative, Lyssa discovered a sick feeling of consolation within self-inflicted chaos.

And it was here, where Lyssa had found a similarity between her and the Saltburn Heir, that maybe she should've realised sooner.

Their desire for jurisdiction, for mightiness.

Except, his was handed to him on a silver platter, and hers was a desperate outlet to escape the confinement of her warped, downcast little life.

Felix Catton still posed as a sort of distraction to her, but this time, instead of pushing him away which she'd done once before,

She was willing to change her ways.

One bite.