This Time, I'll Find My Own Happiness [HIATUS]

Chapter 11

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, then that would mean that you can't even erase your feelings for that best friend of yours, whom?" he paused. I looked at him to the side, but his eyes and lips began pointing towards my back.

"Oh, don't look at your back, my sidekick, because right now, I might have felt like a dagger had been thrown at my hands," Vaxius spoke and chuckled before giving me some space.

"He's already in a bittersweet mood," he said in a small voice.

Still, I felt like I wanted to rip his face for that smirk that he had. It only ignited a fire in my soul, that if I never got to see him rip that grin, I would rip it off, myself.

If that's allowed.

I shake my head once more.

These crazy thoughts kept on building in my mind, just to let me have a headache afterward.

"So what do you suggest right now?" I asked.

He chuckled. I gripped the edges of my dress.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"This?" I felt warmth around my hands. Then I looked at his hands, wrapping mine around his even though I'd been wearing my gloves.

"Aside from biting your lips, is this one of your deadly hobbies?" The smirk stayed on his face. Now, it's like glue, and it's infectious.

I didn't even realize; I'd been staring at him if he hadn't said any words.

"I might melt, you know."

"E-Excuse me, but my hands"

"Oh, we needed to hold hands like this, sidekick."

"You're familiarizing yourself like I'm your sidekick, huh?"

"What's wrong? I'm your master in the end, right?"

"Why you..."

I couldn't continue my words when I heard him laugh. I don't know why. Perhaps, because of his hands gripping mine tightly? Or was it because of this different kind of warmth I felt whenever he held my hands? My stomach seemed to be tense right now.

Perhaps, it was only a spur of the moment.

But, even in his laughter, why do I feel as though everything dazzles when he chuckles like this?

"Viona..." I gulped and blinked.

Finally, I was put out of my reverie, but as soon as I wanted to begin my thanks to the person, another trouble went my way.

I saw Klein holding my shoulders. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink. Eyebags continued to roam around his eyes. Though he had been neat like a true nobleman, his face says he's been exhausted. But for what?

"I think we needed to talk---"

"Oh, Klein, you're here!" I stepped behind Vaxius. He pulled me behind him and all I could do was look at both.

I tiptoed to see what Klein had in his expression. When I saw him, a familiar gust of angriness from my past life erupted.

Klein's eyes began to thin, his ears moved, and his hands continued to clench. An unfamiliar way to see him in this lifetime and yet so familiar to notice how angry he is.

"Vaxius, it seemed that you're enjoying yourself with my best friend for tonight," finally, Klein let go of any formalities he had with Vaxius just as what Vaxius wanted.

As a teaser, Vaxius' smirk never faded.

"It's all thanks to you that I got to meet the lady of my dreams, Klein, so if you will----"

"Don't speak like that Vaxius"

"I don't understand what you're trying to say, Klein," I could hear them talk. Klein stayed silent for a second, but his jaw clenched. His right hand was about to move upward when I hadn't interrupted them.

"Klein, don't tell me you came alone?" I asked. I held his tightly clenched hands and walked him away from Vaxius.

I saw Klein calm. He exhaled the breath he might have been holding earlier from having conversations with Vaxius.

Speaking of him, as I tried to walk Klein away from the hall, I could feel Vaxius' look. It had the same expression when he had looked into the crown prince's eyes earlier.

A shiver ran down my spine, but I managed to shrug it off.

Closing the door to the balcony, I went to sigh and face Klein.

I could see the moon from afar and how the radiance it had shone brightly on the young man in front of me.

Klein had been handsome from the moment he was born. Like a ruby, his eyes couldn't be even shinier than now. The wind even caressed his hair, like it was a normal thing to do.

The only difference now is in my eyes, or was it because of my confused state of mind?

I never felt the same dazzle I had whenever we were together, anymore.

I sighed.

"Klein," I started. I tried to hold his hands, but he began to step away from me. He held his own hands and put them on his chest.

His eyes, which seemed too angry earlier, began to feel swayed.

This is the first time I have seen him like this.

His eyes began to glitter, and I didn't even know that warm water would penetrate down from them if he hadn't given me some words.

"Why him?"

I was taken aback.

Why him?

Why is he asking me this?

I don't want to settle in the past, where I got to have this false hope only to end up tragically.

I don't want to assume things when there's nothing to expect in the first place.

But right now, in this very moment, I saw a very broken, and vulnerable man to ever appear right before my eyes.

I felt my mouth shake, and yet I couldn't even close it.

"Viona, why? Can't you see that?"

Before he could continue his words, the door from the balcony opened. A strong gust of wind walked by. My dress and hair got swayed up, but it only took a second before warmth invaded my shoulder down to my back.

"I guess that five minutes I have given you is already time... Sorry, Klein, but as I have promised, no matter what you say, I won't hurt your best friend. Besides, you say that she's only a sister to you, right?"

The night was still young, but my heart felt too old to break after hearing those words come from another man's lips.

"Klein, I think we should head back now," I said. Vaxius guided me to turn back to the hall but a strong grip remained on my right hand

"Vaxius, she's never your property, to begin with."

"Klein, may I ask," Vaxius paused. I saw him looking at Klein's hands, and his eyes began to thin.

"What do you think you're doing right now?"

***

"I'm sorry, Lady Viona, but could you please send this to Vaxius?"

"What do you mean, Lady Valentina?"