Chapter 99 - Fourth Wish

Persephone jolted out of stupor when Villain pressed on the brakes. "Did we reach?"

"No," Villain replied in an irritating voice. His cold mood was back with the coldness of this city. 

Persephone just sighed. From tomorrow onwards, she might not have to deal with this tsundere ever again. 

His split personality disorder was out of her sense anyways. Yet the thought enough that she wouldn't be able to see him ever again was enough to pierce her heart with millions of glass pieces. 

"Sit here," Villain then told her. "I would be right back." 

Before Persephone could say anything, Villain was gone from her eyesight. Looking out of the window, she was graced by dark streets and cold breeze against her warm skin. 

She would miss such an awesome climate too.

Although it could get hot in the day, the nights were always cooler here.

If she could, she would never go back to New York. 

Suddenly, her own thoughts were scaring her. If not to New York, where could she go? 

This place wasn't for her. And neither were its people. 

It was just her who had weaved so many tales in her head that she now refused to see the cruel reality. 

Chiding her conscious, she slumped on the seat once again. 'You have to go back, Persephone. You tasted what freedom feels like for the first time in your life. Just like you have fathomed, its taste sure is addictive. But you must remember neither of the addictions have ever proved beneficial for the existence of a human, if not deadly! Drop your thoughts and go back to where you belong.' 

Soon Villain was came back, jolting her out of stupor.

Without saying a word, he started driving again.

Unfortunately, the silence wasn't not so comfortable this time. It was pricking like a thorn to her for some reason yet she didn't dare to say anything. 

....

Persephone stood in the doorway of the abandoned building that Santiago explained they would be entering a few minutes from now, though her gaze fixated on him, she still maintained the uncomfortable silence that he had earlier created.

As soon as he had pulled into the driveway, she had noticed he was lost somewhere still she hopped out of the car, not bothering to entertain a certain tsundere again. It was her last day with her captor and so she didn't want to part on bad terms. 

She didn't know why but she had never felt this dying urge to cry so hard that she would be left with no tears to produce after she was done crying. She wasn't the girl who would pull tricks to get the attention of a man or worse float on clouds just because he talked to her sweetly once.

She was not going to think just because he made her day he had a crush on her or something like that or he was hiding his undying love for her in his heart. Nope, nothing like that. She had enough of fairytales. 

She didn't want to be the woman who would cause this man to atone all his sins and become a hero to love their happily ever after. Yeah, nothing like that. She was one of those pragmatic women who knew it better than anyone that sometimes two strangers met at the most bizarre conditions and places and suddenly clicks. But it didn't mean that they would always end up becoming couples. 

They could be there on the way to teach them the most important lesson of life. And she firmly believed that she met Villain to learn one certain lesson -- not to always see the world in black and white only. And truthfully, she learned it perfectly. 

For a moment, if she really believed that there was really something between them other than lust and some kind of hidden conspiracy of heavens, he wouldn't have ignored her on all the way back to his home. She didn't know how and why his attitude changed when they entered the capital city. But she believed, it was for the better. 

The laid back boy was gone and in his place a cold and emotionless bastard was driving. And she has enough of these egotistical bastards. Or one could say that she was out of fucks to give. 

"Red?"

She heard him calling for her name. Sorry, some other woman who he must have called Red in the past. And she was that woman's replacement. 

"Red?"

She heard him calling that woman again. And was not that woman. 

"Red?"

Once more, she called that bitch. A bitch she was completely and utterly jealous of. 

For heaven's sake, she was Persephone Marino! Since when did she started getting jealous of chicks?!

"Persephone!!"

This time she heard him all fine too. Turning her head to his side, she crossed her arms and looked at him with a lifted brow. Yeah, asshole she could be a bitch if she wanted to deal with the kinds of you. 

"What do you want?" She simply asked him. She realized one thing that could summarize their whole relationship in a single sentence. Opps, did she said relationship? 

The word relationship could never be used with these two. Never in next one thousand years of more. 

Simply, she didn't know him at all. She even didn't know the name of the man she had been sleeping with for weeks. How tragic! 

"Red?" He softly called out that woman's name while stepping ahead. His gaze as soft as his voice. 

This soft voice had made her hotter for more than any physical touch had made her before. She hated how he could affect her whole mood with just a simple word. What would happen if one day he asked for her heart? Sure, she would give him her heart on a platter. 

And suddenly, she realized the extent of her feelings for him. 

Either she had developed Stockholm syndrome or she had gone crazy for real. Because right now, she couldn't even think of any other reason to describe this whole fucked up situation. 

Ah, she has never been frustrated more than this particular moment. 

"Are you mad, Red?" Villain --no-- the man who's name she didn't even know until now asked her again in his seducing language. He must have attended school for a special course in seduction for they way he behaved. He was infiltrating her territory now. The territory where she was immune to his seduction but she wasn't sure now. 

Persephone raised her brow at the choice of his words. "Why would I be mad at you? To be honest, we are not in any kind of relationship where we are allowed to be mad at each other. We are not even friends, Villain." 

Santiago's gaze hardened. "Indeed, we are not friends." And can't be either. 

"So, are we going inside or not?" Persephone asked him while giving a weird look to the mansion that looked like it emerged straight out of a horror story. Oh, did she said before she have no interest or whatsoever in going inside this bizarre building? 

"Wait?" Santiago snapped when he realized she was going inside without him. Surely, he brought her here for a reason. A bigger reason to be exact. But he wasn't sure if she should go inside or not. He knew what rested inside and what would happen when she would come out. 

Even after knowing all the reasons why she should go through the things, he didn't wish for those consequences. Yet, some things were not in his control. Hell, things were never in his control at all. 

Santiago pulled out a shiny object from his pocket and held it in his hand to show her. An ocean blue sapphire was dangling from a gold chain. Also the blue that matches the hues of his eyes. 

"This is for you," he whispered. Without asking for her permission. He leaned closer to her to tie the necklace on her neck. Her hands rested on his taut stomach. His furnace hot body's heated shifted to hers as he didn't move away from her even after tying the necklace on her neck. Next moment, she knew his arms were wrapped around her waist and her head was laid against his chest. None of them ready to part. It was as if they were parting for forever and there wouldn't be any more sunsets; they would be chasing together anymore or getting wet under the same rain. 

They would be on different continents, oceans and a whole world apart from each other. 

The Sapphire felt cold like fresh ocean water against her warm skin. 

She finally had a souvenir. A surety that she had been to the land of freedom. 

"Thank you," she murmured. She didn't know what else to say. Tears clouded her vision but she was too stubborn to let them fall. 'Don't trickle. Don't trickle. Disobedient tears!'

"Your wishes, Red," Santiago reminded her. "Ask me for anything." 

According to the deal they signed, she was given five wishes and among those wishes, two were still left. Not wanting her to leave without fulfilling those wishes of hers, he reminded her once again to ask anything. He knew that he had the power to make those come true. 

"Name," Persephone asked him. Her cheek still laid against his hard chest. "Your name, Villain. My next wish : I want to know your name." 

"Santiago." Villain murmured after a long time. "Santiago Vitello." 

….