𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 || 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒏𝒐𝒘

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

"𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅"

                         -𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒏𝒅

______________________________________

Ismene only spent a few minutes in the bathroom to collect herself and get back into the role of the Perfect Capitol Lady she had to play most of the time. She was used to it, but sometimes it was exhasuting and the fact that nobody cared about Sejanus was too much for her.

However, she went back to the dining room and apologized with a smile, saying that felt a bit nauseous, but was fine now.

The rest of the meal was uneventful, they were talking about school and that Mr. Plinth wanted to renovate the park.

After dinner, she said her goodbye and Coriolanus accompied her on her ride home. There was a wall between them and the driver, so he couldn't hear their converstation.

"You can't act like that in public, you know that?" Coriolanus spoke after a while, removing his gaze from the window.

"I've lived here enough time to know what I should and shouldn't do in public." She answered bitterly. She wasn't pleased that he had brought this up again.

"I can't imagine what can be so importaint about him. Was he your lover, or what?" He came off as sarcastic but, he had to ask it. The possibility wouldn't leave his thoughts and he very much disliked the idea. She deserved better than a traitor who came from the districts.

"No, he was my friend. But I guess he was not yours." Ismene remarked.

"I don't befriend traitors."

Ismene scoffed. "As if you knew from the beggining that he was one. Besides, all he wanted was to help some people, it's a shame he was caught. He just wanted justice."

"Don't talk about him like he was a hero." Coriolanus said, irritated that she was pretty much worshipping him as if what Sejanus had done was the right thing.

"He certainly was better than whoever told on him."

"Excuse me?" Coriolanus asked, a bit more exasparated than he wanted to appear. "Ismene, he was a traitor, what he did was bad. The person who told on him served the Capitol right." He was talking to her as you would talk to a child, willing her to understand.

"Maybe what the Capitol is doing isn't right." Ismene whispered. She said it. She said it out loud what she has been thinking since she first watched the Hunger Games. She trusted him enough to tell this to him but it was still very dangerous to say something like that.

Coriolanus grabbed her wrist, making her look at him, then with his other hand, he grabbed her chin firmly with two fingers to make her look into his eyes.

"Don't ever say something like that again, do you understand?" He said, dead serious. "It will get you excuted."
Her behaviour was really going to get her killed, if she wasn't more careful, and he was not going to let that happened. He couldn't loose her.

"I am not stupid, Coriolanus. Don't tell me what to do." She said harshly, pulling his hand away from her china, causing him to tighten his grip on her wrist. Who does he think he is, telling her what she should do? He was acting as if he knew everything better and it was getting annoying.

"I'm trying to protect you!" Coriolanus said, loudly as he moved even closer to her face. He was angry now. Why couldn't she just do what he said for her own good?

"I don't need your protection!" She shouted at him and gripped his hand to remove it from her wrist, but he was stronger. "Let go!" She was even louder now and angrier too. She had enough of his behaviour.

"First promise you'll never say something like that again or talk about Sejanus the way you did." Coriolanus said, still gripping her wrist.

"I'm not promising you anything, leave me alone!" She yelled in his face and pulled her wrist, catching him by surprise, causing him to finally let go of her hand.

Coriolanus was angry. He was doing this for her safety and he just couldn't get that into her head. Furthermore, she was acting like he wanted her to commit murder. It used to be easy to control her but something was different. Maybe he wasn't the only one who changed in those weeks while he was away. But she welcomed him back so he thought everything would be like it used to be.
He was actually starting to be afraid of losing her, but he could not admit it and be seen as valnurable.