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Chapter 2: Against All Odds

"Lyria, get out in that room right now!" a voice exclaimed for a thousand times on my door and I was not dumb to act deaf around. If it was a stranger, I wouldn't even mind and bulge. Unfortunately, I knew who it was.  

I heard her low sigh from the other side indicating retreat and thought it was unusual. "Lyria, please don't do this, baby," she started muttering the same line, "...you know we still love you no matter what happens in this world." 

A motherly lie.

I grabbed the nearest pillow on my side and immediately wrapped it on my head, not allowing a single voice to enter my ear. From my window, I saw how the sky was at its usual calm while my life was in chaos. I could have appreciated the blue hue and the scattered-like clouds right now if only they needed the appreciation more than I do.

"Just... just go out when you're ready to hear us out, okay? We'll wait for you," the noise of footsteps going away was the only thing that had my concern. She was gone already after hours of knocking on my door to talk on things not worth having a conversation.

It's been over 80 days since I started the challenge to bewitch the Finnegan brothers to avenge my mother and myself.

To sum it all, it made everything worse.

I slowly got up from my bed with my movements careful and delicate to not feel the ache from the never-ending bruises and wounds on my body. This time, I couldn't hide it any more even if I bathed myself with multiple layers of make-up and foundation.

I grabbed the mirror on the side and saw the reflection of a once proclaimed goddess by millions of people. Countless numbers of eyes stared at this face in admiration. Now that I see it, I couldn't blame them on getting emotional staring right at it.

"W-what happened to you?" I asked myself with a cracked voice. A pointless question with answers already slapped on my face. 

My eyes had gone swollen from crying and the punch my father gave me the other night. I could have endured it for a few days, if only my mother hadn't slapped me, too. No wonder I lost my balance and fell meters away from the balcony after trying to breathe fresh air.

Could I blame them? Of course, not.

Not even now that I have learned the truth behind my existence. 

Who am I to hold a grudge on people who took care of me even if I'm not biologically theirs? I may be a bitch most of times, but I wasn't dumb on the act of gratitude.

Like how they unapologetically hurt me, I have been accustomed to hear their apology a thousand times now. Nonetheless, I forgive them. For everything they feel sorry and everything they don't.

I was in the middle of checking up on myself when I heard my phone ring out of the blue. The caller ID displayed the name of the person I most expected to call me.

"Atlas..." I immediately said without much enthusiasm.

"God, Lyria, you are making me worry!" his voice tainted with anger, I couldn't help but smile.

"You sound like you do that to all of the girls you slept with," I joked, of which he didn't find funny. Poor humor.

The other line was quiet for a second. He still must have the sensitive side of him in every R18+ joke he hears. "T-that was accidental, you know. Besides, nothing happened between us, I swear," he defended himself.

I laughed. "Of course, idiot. I would have killed you if something did." I felt the pain from smiling and slightly twitched at it.

"Am I hurting you?" he asked in a calm voice, hearing the protest my body made on that simple action.

"Unless you're my parents, of course, no." 

A joke and a silence.

"You really don't change even if you're hurt, do you?" a genuine question of which I obviously wouldn't take seriously. 

"Meh, if it could make a good laugh, then I'll shoot my shot." 

I could imagine him shaking his head in disbelief and amusement of my fucked up and annoying personality. This is the contract he signed up for, it would be too late to back-out now.

At the very least, I have made myself a friend from the enemy's territory. When things started to go down and in another direction, Atlas was someone I could lean and openly talk about things I didn't know I had a say on. It wouldn't be wrong to say I love him.

Nothing romantic, unlike the other.

He heaved a deep sigh before I sensed something serious coming out of his mouth. "I heard you're quitting on being the brand ambassador…" I figured he'd catch the talk of the town early. 

I stared at the emptiness of a glass in front of me and had a second-thought on breaking it for no reason at all. Life just puts us in a whole just to break it after, right? 

"Yeah. Shit happens and not even a superhero could save our drowning company." I have long given up on my evil plans and decided to live a harmonious and peaceful life a week ago but destiny just had to be messing up on me.

"How about the plan on making my brother fall in love?" 

It was my turn to be silent and be serious for once.

If I was asked that question months ago, I wouldn't be doubting myself like this and be bold in front of him immediately. Yet, the thought of him and the mere mention of his name drains the blood out of me. Any minute now, I feel like I'm going to be unconscious.

Atlas was my accomplice. With the journal I wrote on a hundred steps to his brother's heart, he was my spy. He and I both had a handful of laughs and anger in experimenting what fits and what does not. To think of it, I wouldn't have done everything without him.

"I-I'm not up for it, already. Your brother is such a waste of time, really." I lied for the first time. May God bless my soul.

Yet, I swear I could have heard a slight breath of relief from him. 

"I'm sorry… I think it's still our fault your life had to be like… that." 

He has to be thanking he wasn't in front of me right now or else he would be going home with a black eye. His words made me cringe to the core.

"Oh God, no way. It's not your fault my parents had to be some kind of monster and angel sometimes," I stared at our family picture beside me. "I'm just here to be a testimony of that," I added and strangely smiled.

"You don't deserve that, Lyria," he said with much conviction and sympathy. 

"I don't deserve anything, Atlas," I replied.

It was the truth I have long accepted. For once, I have thought about how this life I am living feels like an illusion. Sometimes, good things happen as they come with the worst. And vice-versa. At this point, I don't even want to know what is real and what is not. I'm starting to doubt my existence and  just disappear in thin air.

Just when he was about to say something, a voice abruptly emerged from his line. "Have you talked to her? Please give me her number already," the most familiar voice my ear has grown tired of hearing.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance and asked the obvious question. "Is that your stupid brother?" I tried to remain as calm as possible. I can't possibly be fragile with that voice.

"Shit, is that her? Give me the phone!" I have heard a few cuss and falling objects on the ground before a clear voice went on the line in a few minutes.

"Lyria, is that you? Please tell me you're doing fine," I realized I wasn't talking to the same person anymore because this voice was owned by the only man I have not been wanting to come in contact with.

Lips biting, I forced myself to be the usual spoiled brat. "Can't you see I'm talking to Atlas? Give it back to him, I don't need you." 

"God, I'm glad nothing has changed. Do you need anything? Are you hungry? In pain? Please tell me," he was pleading seriously and I couldn't help but be tongue-tied. 

What the hell is this?

I didn't know I had stared at the ceiling for long until he talked again. "Lyria? Are you there? Answer me, please, I'm going insane not hearing anything about you."

I coughed a meaningful cough and answered him. "The last time I checked, you didn't want my existence. I'm doing you a favor now, what is wrong with you?" I hated to admit that I was losing my mind, too.

It was partly the reason why I stopped going after him. There were days where I didn't glimpse a hope in achieving my goal to bewitch him and there were days that I realized the light at the end of the tunnel was getting near. This was the first of those days. I couldn't quite understand the sudden change.

"Right, I'm coming over to your house. I have to tell you something important." 

"Wait, what? Hey! Hey, what the hell!" It was just that and he immediately dropped the call without letting me say anything. 

I groaned in frustration and probably… nervousness.

I placed my hand on my chest to check if things inside me were still well. "Please, heart, don't be excited. I know you aren't, really. Stop it," I convinced myself.

I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling again for long minutes. What else could I do? Nothing. I can't let myself show to other people outside, even to my parents. I'm still afraid of whatever I will have to hear in trying to justify their actions. I know it will never be, right? 

I was in the middle of my thoughts when I heard a screeching sound on my window. It couldn't be birds, right?

"Shit, Lyria, help me!" a shout from nowhere but there. 

Still limping, I rushed to where the voice came from and it took me seconds to realize who was there.

"Atticus?! What the hell are you doing in my window?!" I shouted loud enough to get the attention of my mother below my room.

"Lyria? Is everything fine?" she shouted.

"Yeah, yeah don't mind me!" I replied and immediately grabbed his arms to pull him out of his position.

"Why the hell are you here?!" I was still in shock on how his stupid idea of coming inside of our house was through the most unexpected entrance. 

He was brushing off the dirt on his shirt before he looked straight into my eyes and hugged me.

"God, I missed you."

Fuck, I couldn't breathe. Literally and figuratively. I couldn't move and push myself in our position. I just stood and let his warmth embrace me.

When he let go, he stared into my face and caressed my arms where wounds and bruises were all around. I immediately hid my hands at the back as he tried to glare at me.

"I know I'm in no position to talk, but could you let me protect you?" 

Silence.

He closed his eyes and breathed heavily. "I know I'm such a jerk for treating you the worse these past few months, please let me make up for it."

Silence. Stare.

"Lyria, please say anything. I'm going insane," he begged as he came closer to me.

Silence.

"If you don't speak a word, I'm going to kiss you."

I came to my senses. "What the fuck are you talking about?! I don't understand any of these!"

He sighed. "Me too. I can't understand myself, either." I knew he was saying the truth because I haven't seen him this stressed-out even once. 

"I just realized that I wanted to protect you the moment I heard my mother plan something bad on you," he muttered with fear in his eyes as he stared at me.

"W-what?" 

"I didn't know what it was about but I had it investigated and found out you were in the middle of conflict between your families," he said as a matter of fact.

Of course, I was not dumb on how the issue on my existence was the reason why things had to go awry. I just… didn't know it would come to this point.

With knees wobbling, I sat on my bed. I couldn't take it anymore. 

Atticus went near and kneeled in front of me. "Hush, don't worry about it. I have already talked to her and swear to all of the saints I will protect you no matter what." 

For the first time, I let myself be vulnerable. To feel all the emotions and be a human. To cry. To be hurt. To be mad.

"Why are you doing this?" I sincerely asked him, despite the mixed emotions coming up.

He laughed and showed his bright smile that once annoyed me, yet made the whole world fall in love with him.

And now, me too.

"You stupid woman, because I love you.

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