"What?" Aster and Leo exclaim at the same time with wide eyes.
"What if I let them take me again? Willingly, this time." I repeat and I know I must sound like I completely lost my mind and who knows maybe I did.
"And why the fuck would you do that?" Aster glowered at me and I flinched, making Leo punch his arm from where he was sitting.
"Aster." He warned and Aster took a deep breath.
"Hyacinth, darling you're not going to let them take you." Aster told me as he grabbed my face and made me face him.
"Aster." I said, pushing his hands off me, making his frown deepen. Since I met him I had never pushed his touch away, instead I was always craving it, craving him. "Let me explain at least."
"If they have a hold of me then surely they would take me to where the auction is going to take place. At the auction they're probably all going to be there and their clients and the girls. They would all be in one place. If you guys have some kind of tracker you can put on or even in me then you could show up the day of the auction and well do your cop thing." I said and Leo's eyes widened, probably realizing that this could actually work.
Aster on the other hand...
"No." He said firmly. "I'm not giving you to them. Are you mad?"
"But this could save all those girls! You could finally catch the sick people who are doing this. You could save Stella." At my last sentence his face hardened and he looked away from me.
"Aster this could actually work, man." Leo said after a moment of silence. "And if we catch them we could trace the other clients who have other girls from previous auctions and maybe we can save them too."
"But you could get hurt." Aster said, turning to look at me again and I felt my heart soften.
"I know." I whispered. "I'm willing to take that risk if it means I could help those poor girls that have been suffering at the hands of those monsters."
"But what if I'm not? What if I don't want to send the only person other than my sister that I care about to the ones who took her from me in the first place?" He softly said and I felt a lump growing in my throat.
"I..." I didn't know what to say at the words that he uttered and I turned to stare at Leo who was intensely looking at Aster.
"I know you care about her and I know you don't want her to get hurt and I don't want that either. I don't want another girl to suffer but this might be our only chance. Our last chance." Leo told Aster.
"Fuck." Aster breathed out under his breath.
"If-if we're going to do this we need to make a solid plan. We need to do everything we can to make sure Hyacinth doesn't get hurt, okay?" Aster said after a few moments of him cursing and groaning to himself and Leo turned to me with a smile of victory that I couldn't return because we had just succeeded in convincing the man I liked to give me up to the enemies.
For the girls Hyacinth. You're doing this for them. They don't deserve this and you can help them.
"I promise Aster I'll try to do my best to make sure she doesn't get hurt." Leo said and I gave him a small thankful smile.
Aster scooted closer to me and when he grabbed my hand this time, I let him. His body seemed to sag in relief that I didn't reject his touch and he moved his free arm to wrap around my waist, his head dropping in the crook of my neck as he took a deep breath to calm himself.
"You know." Leo said, breaking the tense silence. "You're a good person Hyacinth. Not many people would do this. We all say 'if only there was something I could do to help' when we hear of a bad situation but then when the opportunity of actually doing something comes up not many would step up and do it. But you did."
"Ah um thanks?" I said, not really knowing how to reply to what he said.
"Alright so I think for now you two should get some rest and then we can return to the city to think of what we should do!" Leo said and I nodded leaning back against the couch moving Aster with me as he didn't raise his head from where it was now buried in my hair.
Leo got up and walked back in Aster's room and I raised my hand burying it in Aster's hair.
"Are you mad?" Aster whispered.
"About what?" I asked, needing him to specify it.
"About me making you leave that day. About me agreeing to this." He said and I furrowed my brows.
"Why would I be mad about you agreeing to this? I was the one who suggested it." I told him.
"I don't want you to think I want to do this Hyacinth. I don't want you to think that I don't care that you're throwing yourself in danger. Because believe me if I had another choice I would never in a million years send you of all people there." He said and I turned my head to see his face.
His eyes were tightly closed and his jaw was clenched just like his hands that were holding onto me.
"I know you don't want to do this, Aster. If I'm being honest I don't want to either but I'm going to do it anyway." I said and he huffed.
"I hate this." He croaked out. "I hate this so much, darling."
"Me too."
"It's just- it's not fair! Why you? Why her?" He exclaimed.
"I know it isn't. The world is never fair, Aster. But we can make it right. We're going to make it right." I told him and I believed it.
I believed that he's going to do this. He's going to save Stella and all those other girls. He's going to put those monsters behind bars as they deserve and then he can finally be free.
And I'm going to help him do it. I don't care what happens to me while I'm doing it as long as I can help them.
I won't lie and say I'm not scared because I'm freaking terrified that I could cry. But when I think of Stella and all the others who were living their life one day and then ripped from it the next I felt the determination overpower the fear in me.
"I adore you Hyacinth Vernon and I want you to know it." Aster confessed against my neck and then he pressed the gentlest kiss there.
My eyes welled up with tears and I closed them to prevent the wetness from dripping down my face. "I adore you too, Aster."
"Even if I hurt you?" He asked and I could hear the vulnerability in his voice and it made me smile despite the situation we were in.
"Even if you hurt me, and I know you didn't mean to do it. At this point I don't think anything could stop my heart from whispering your name." I confessed and I felt his arms tighten around me.
Hello!
Thoughts?
Sorry for the short chapter 😭
-till next time <3