Violet POV

  Maka reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a small case. His hands are shaking slightly, it must be important. He presents it to me, and I stare at it for a moment before I reach out my hand and take it.

  I can feel his eyes on me as I open it. Inside is a small necklace with a blue gemstone. Realistically, it is just a normal rock, nothing special. Yet, my heart skips a beat when I see it. I look up at Maka and he is staring at me intently, I can tell that I am the only thing he is looking at.

  It is strange to have someone pay attention to you. Usually they are not actually paying attention to you, but rather things related to yourself. Wealth, status, power, and other such things. But whenever Maka looks at me, I get the feeling that the only thing he sees is me.

  It is unsettling, and yet not unpleasant.

  I don’t understand why he would give such a necklace to me. It is clear to anyone with eyes that I do not have need of such things. Yet he chose to give it to me anyway. “It is so pretty. Why?” Is the best question I can come up with.

  “Why what?” He asks back, an idiot just like always. His brow furrows ever so slightly, in the way it always does when he is confused. Which is quite rare, he is rather intelligent, for an idiot.

  “Why would you give this to me? I have no need for jewelry." I expand upon my previous question so that his feeble mind can comprehend it.

  “It looked super pretty so I immediately thought that I should get it for you.” It takes a moment for my brain to make the connection. It was pretty, so he bought it for me. My heart rate accelerates, and it's all I can do to stop my hands from trembling.

  No. I am not going to get all flustered over being called pretty. I have heard it a billion times. Pointless flattery is not worth getting worked up over.

  Regardless of my desires, it seems my body has other plans. A blush creeps onto my face. I am such an embarrassment. The only chance I have to retain some sense of respect is to make him look like even more of a fool. Which should be a simple task.

  I look up into his eyes, careful not to get lost inside them. I plaster my most mischievous smirk over my face. “Put it on me?”

  That damn idiot does not waste a single second as he grabs the necklace. He doesn't hesitate even slightly as he slowly moves behind me, stretching out the moment as long as he can. I can smell the scent of his petrichor cologne as he passes by. It makes him smell so fucking good, how could he have known its my favourite scent? Not a single one of my servants ever managed to figure that out.

  Stay calm Violet. It is just Maka, the super annoying idiot squadmate. Nothing more, nothing less.

  He puts the necklace on me gently. Just when I think all is fine, he gently brushes his hand against my neck. My heart leaps, and I completely lose control of my ever growing blush. That damned idiot, I should slap him.

  Alas, I only have one more chance to redeem myself, so I take a step forward and turn around. “How do I look?” I ask innocently, then I lean down slightly to accentuate my cleavage, a classic trick. I look up at him, but his gaze seems to be turned a bit too far down to notice, what an idiot.

  “Fucking beautiful.” He says it so directly, so honestly. I forget the direction of his gaze instantly as my heart loses all sense of space and speeds off into the distance. I stare at him, utterly dumbfounded. My smirk disappears and my face and neck are practically on fire.

  Then, he takes a single step forward, closing the gap between us. I can feel his all-too-familiar warmth. Wait, when did I get that familiar with his warmth? I should push him away, slap him even for the audacity of his actions.

  But, I do not. I move not a single muscle as he reaches his hand up to brush a strand of hair off my face. Time slows to a crawl as his hand ever so gently brushes against my cheek. Why is it it so fucking soft?

  My body betrays me and I incline my head ever so slightly upwards. That idiot leans in a bit closer. I can feel his breath against my lips now, he is far too close. I should push him away, but I can not seem to control my body.

  A bird flies by and caws loudly.

  I regain control of my body and shove him away. He tumbles onto the ground, I hope he did not get too badly hurt. Wait, since when do I care about him getting hurt?

  “This was a mistake. I should not have come here.” I can see his face change, from that ridiculous smile, to confusion, to something else. I can not pay him any attention right now.

  I call my glideboard from where I left it propped on my balcony. I run towards the water, putting as much distance as I can between me and that idiot. I leap into the water just as a boom sounds in the distance. I brace for the water, but in the nick of time my board arrives and I grab onto it.

  Wasting no time, I interface with it and zip away. The familiar thrill of rushing over the waves fills me, distracting me from how I nearly lost it. It was so close… too close. To think if I just-

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  No. That can not happen. I will not drag that idiot into my problems.

  Though, I have no doubt he would not care.

  I shake my head and do a spin, splashing my face with a nice burst of water. My hair comes undone and I get soaked, but I do not care anymore.

  I launch out of the water and soar over the city. I hear shouts and cries as people point up at me. The crazy lunatic that is probably breaking at least ten rules. Oh well, I doubt it will take that many bribes to get it ignored.

  I land on my balcony and rush into my hotel room. I collapse onto my bed, only to jump right back up as I realize that his damn scent is all over me. I take a nice long shower and remove every trace of that idiot from me.

  At last, I collapse into bed again and stare up at the ceiling.

  I was so damn close.. Just a few more millimeters.

  No. I slap myself. I will not fall for that idiot. Even if his eyes are beautiful, and I love the way he looks at me. Or that thing he does with his jaw when he is thinking about something important. Or how nice and soft his hair looks after he comes out of a shower for a midnight snack. Definitely not about how he also loves rice balls.

  Especially not the way he always seems to be paying attention to everyone in the room, yet he still gives everyone the attention they need. Damn, how I wish he would pay me just a bit more attention.

  Fuck. Violet, you will not fall in love with him. That idiot has no idea…

  I try to fall asleep, but every time I close my eyes I can only see that wonderful grin of his. Dammit. I need to get a hold of myself. I should not be acting like this. As I think this, I can feel the weight of the necklace that I couldn't bring myself to take off. It feels too nice, I don't ever want to take it off.

  I am Violet fucking Sharpe. Owner and operator of a massive company. I own countless planets, hundreds of shipyards, millions of ships. Billions of people are employed under me.

  There is no fucking way that I am going to fall for some hayseed idiot that happens to know his way around a blade.

  No. Fucking. Way.

  Maka POV

  I grab another mug of ale and tip it back. “Chug! Chug! Chug!” The crowd of the bar says, egging me on through my sixth mug. I down it in a solid forty seconds. Not the best, but not the worst time either.

  An older man by the name of Max slaps me on the back. “Atta boy! You've got great pertential.” Apparently he is some sort of police officer in the next system over, but his wife has dragged him here to see the jellyfish, only to fall asleep and miss them. “Oi boy, you ever thought of taking up competitive drinking? I ‘ear there is lots o credits to be made. You've definitely got it in ya.”

  I let out a massive burp, loud enough to shake some nearby glasses. Then I slouch onto the table. Was my head always this heavy? I feel like shit. “Eh, I've got a job or whatvez. Blowin’ up monsters and such.”

  “Ah yeah, ye are one of those guard fellows, eh? I bet it pays well, plus you get a dragon an’ all.”

  I sigh and flag the barkeep down for another mug. “If you ignore the blood, death and all that other stuff, it ain't so bad. Though I've got this squadmate… a real piece o work.”

  “Ah, one of dem pretty ones that own the world?” He slams his mug on the table and calls for two more. If anything, he should become the competitive drinker.

  “Quite literally so.” I sigh and down the mug of ale, this time in thirty-eight seconds.

  Max slaps me on the shoulder. “Well, good luck with that kid. You’re gunna need it for sure.” he scratches his beard idly. “Perhaps the light of life can guide you on such a perilous journey.”

  Taking his suggestion, I flag the barkeep down again. But it appears I have been here for too long. “Boyo, im cutting ye off. I am not going to take responsibility for a kid drinking ‘imself to death on my watch.”

  I then get promptly thrown out (gently) from the bar and onto the streets. I try to stumble a bit and try to head back to the hotel, but I end up bumping into a very buff guy with a girl on his arm. The guy turns to look at me and his face turns to that of shock. “Maka?”

  I take a closer look at him, and low and behold. “Stephen? Liv too? Fancy meeting ya here.”

  I back away and sway on my feet a bit. They really don't want to work properly, it's strange what a bit of poison can do to the mind.

  Stephen reaches over and steadies me a bit. “Maka, what the fuck happened to you?” He pauses for a moment. “Oh wait. Yeah that makes sense. Come on, let's get you back.”

  On the way back, Liv pokes tons of fun at me and tries to get all the details about my ordeal. Stephen tries to bat her away, but I end up spilling just about everything. Eventually we make it back and Stephen helps me back to our room, where I promptly head into the bathroom and puke my guts out.

  I collapse into my bed with a sigh.

  So Maka, I take it you had a very fun night? Lemon says from her spot at the foot of the bed.

  Yeah. Very eventful. Is all I can say. She can read my mind, so it's not like I have to explain.

  Stephen enters the room. “Hey Maka, you good?” I bet I look quite bad, as people often do after being completely rejected and then drinking themselves to death.

  “Been better.”

  “Definitely. By the way, man. You are a complete fucking lunatic.” He laughs and the mood lightens a bit.

  “Yep. But what's life without a bit of insanity, eh?”

  “Fucking boring that’s for sure.” He hands me a glass of water and I down it thankfully. Then, with the scent of lavender still in my mind, I sink into a dreamless sleep.

  Next Chapter: A Vase

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