Spring flowers bloomed overhead, trees brushed past in a stream of vibrant colors.
Pink, red, yellow, pink.
Ryuha hated it. She hated the colors and the sounds and the happiness, her sister's smiles and her gentle lilting laugh. She wanted to hate her so much, Elly stole everything from her, her love, her place, her smile but yet she was happy, yet she was so fulfilled. Ryuha really, really wanted to hate her.
The silence stretched thin, as if hanging by the last thread of a worn out piece of yarn. The air conditioning pressed on her clammy skin.
"Do you hate me or something?" She heard a voice ask. Ryuha turned around to meet Xavier's gaze. His blue eyes peered into hers, eyebrows furrowed as if confused. Ryuha wanted to laugh looking at his face. Was it so strange that someone would hate him?
"No." Ryuha paused, resting her head on her hand, "I hate everyone." She smirked and shifted her eyes towards his.
That was the truest lie she had spoken to him in all of those stilted one syllable conversations that she had shared with her supposed 'fiance'.
"Your sister too I would suppose?" Xavier asked, an amused sort of expression flitting across his face for a moment.
"She's the only exception I suppose."
A car honked at them.
"Really? I suppose you are nicer to the people you hate than the people you love?"
He must have listened to their conversations then. Elly with her big smiles, full of teeth and heart and her staring out the window wondering how far the ground was, her words like background white noise. Honestly, she couldn't bring herself to match her energy. She couldn't bear to look at her eyes crinkle and her nose scrunch, her pureness, her love. Ryuha loved her.
But she also hated her.
Some nights, some days she wanted to kill her.
Some days she wanted to hold her so close, so close, so all her warmth would seep into her. And then maybe she could run across meadows and make flower wreaths like they had when they were kids.
Ryuha was a bitter, bitter person, who hated everyone, who didn't like anyone, who smiled with lips that didn't stretch to her eyes.
She was ugly. She was hideous.
"Is my sister the only person you think about, Mr Fox?" Ryuha tilted her head, her hair bobbed into her face.
"Are you jealous?" He smirked.
"Your self confidence must be astounding because I just implied that I hated everyone." Ryuha said, watching the car slide into a big botique, fancy letters, marble floors, and automated doors.
"Oh well. I guess it was a stretch to think that my fiance would be jealous." He bit out all snide and snark. He opened the door and stepped outside, adjusting his tie and fixing his buttons. Xavier walked to her door and opened it, his hand held out for her to take. At least he had manners. She remembered when she had a crush on him. When she loved him. When she didn't see past his sculpted mask. He wasn't perfect. He wasn't the good gentleman he pretended to be.
She had believed in princes and knights. How she would be whisked off to safety. That she was the heroine of a novel, how her family would realize that they were wrong, that they would beg her for forgiveness, but Ryuha, with her husband who was richer than her family would protect her and love her, how she would turn her nose against them and walk away as they pleaded in a pool of their regrets. Dreams were funny.
It was the only thing that helped her survive.
Sometimes, she wondered if everything was pointless. What if she hadn't dreamed? What if she hadn't found the prince, her first crush, her first love?
What of she had died back then rather than hope?
But Ryuha wouldn't have wanted to die before finding freedom. Even if she ate cup noodles every day, she was alive, even in a tiny roach infested apartment, she was free, Ryuha was truly alive. Working day and night, little snacks sneaked in between breaks, nightless days of completing assignments and cramming, studying for college.
Ryuha didn't have friends, she didn't have family, she hadn't known love for a long long time. But all the things she had were hers. And she was truly happy for some time. If she had died in the dark basement without ever experiencing true happiness, the taste of air, the smell of money, and the satisfaction of working to pay for things that were only hers, that belonged to her, it would have been her biggest regret.
A call buzzed from Xavier's pocket. She stared at him waiting for him to finish talking.
He ended it with a resigned sigh, as if he had expected it. Ryuha cocked an eyebrow in question.
"I apologize. I have to leave immediately. The stylist will be waiting with the options. You can choose whatever you want. The car will pick you up in an hour." He stared at her unchanging expression, "I apologize again."
Ryuha shrugged, "I don't care"
He let out an incredulous laugh, "Yes. I think we established that already." He glared at his platinum watch. "Farewell. Let's meet tomorrow."
Ryuha stared at him with an expectant expression as he moved into the car with haste. Xavier looked at her for a moment through the window. Ryuha nodded in acknowledgement and turned around to head into the building. She heard the faint clicking and rumbling of the engine starting, the wheels speeding away. She sighed. It was all so bothersome.
"Stop him!" Someone shouted from her side.
Ryuha didn't have time to react when a huge body barreled into her and she tripped on her pencil heels, when his hands catched her. Brown eyes stared into her as she flinched away. He didn't let her go. His long blonde hair was windswept, drops of sweat beading down his forehead. His long palms caught her wrist as he gazed back. Ryuha looked in that direction, alarmed when a group of people in black security officers turned around the corner towards them.
He gazed at her. "We have to run."
"We?" She almost shrieked. But he didn't seem to have heard her because his palm twisted into hers and dragged her, "Run!" His eyes seemed panicked. She didn't know why she ran.
But it was just as glorious as she imagined it would be.