Saving the Villain

"I know this might sound strange, but when I first saw him, the first thought that came to my head was… he looked like someone who will take everything from me. And that… scares the hell out of me."

Cosette held her breath, not expecting such a straightforward answer from Asher. All she could do for a moment was to stare at him, her mouth slightly agape.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Asher looked back at her with a light smile.

'No… it's not,' was what she wanted to tell him because Asher's gut feeling was just accurate.

Maxen hadn't done anything to harm anyone right now. However, that didn't mean Maxen never harmed anyone — even those things that happened in their previous life. Maxen, indeed, tried to get everything from Asher and nearly succeeded, if not for other conflicting factors in Maxen's heart.

"Yes, you are strange," she said, lifting the glass to her lips as she looked away.

Asher's eyes fastened with conflict, but his subtle smile remained.

"My turn," he said, watching her put down her glass. "Why are you so cruel?"

"I'm not."

"You are… to me. Just to me."

"No, Ash. I'm not cruel to you." Cosette shook her head, holding his gaze. "You… just knew a side of me that others hadn't, but that doesn't mean the Cosette Ezekiel Stone knew, the Cosette my father cherishes, the girl Luke banters with, and the one before you isn't me."

"Then what did I do to deserve this Cosette?"

"Your turn is over. I already answered your question," she reminded him. "Why do you care about what I treat you?"

"I don't know."

"We promised to answer with the best of our abilities and as stay honest as much as possible."

"And I am being honest, Cosette Blac." Asher fluttered his eyelashes ever so slowly. "I honestly don't know why your view matters to me. If I have a choice, I would ignore it since it's not good for me as well."

"Did that satisfy you?" he asked after several seconds.

"No." Cosette shook her head and smiled mildly. "But what can I do? It's not like we can force ourselves to get an answer."

Asher chuckled weakly, getting more relaxed the more they talk. Even though she was still very harsh with her words, he felt less defensive or probably just got used to it by now. The two of them asked each other questions, varying from real things that they had been meaning to ask each other to the less important ones until the questions were just random.

The two of them shared minutes of good laughs, stories they found interesting, and just anything they could broach. They consumed the wine in between and didn't notice they almost emptied it until Cosette felt its effect kicking in.

"I'm going back to my room…" her body swayed sideways, assisting herself up. She might be tipsy, but she was still capable of going back to her room. Cosette was rather responsible, knowing she couldn't get drunk with Asher.

When Cosette stood up, she gazed down at Asher. Unlike her, Asher was still sitting on the floor. He was hanging his head low, making it hard to guess if he fell asleep sitting up, or if he was just mustering every bit of his energy to crawl back to his bed. She honestly couldn't tell.

"Hey." Cosette kicked his knee mildly. "I'm leaving. Go back to your bed."

"Huh…" Asher slowly raised his head at her and waved like a child. "Bye bye."

She tilted her head to the side, taking a step, only to squat down in front of him. "Bye bye?"

"Hmm. Bye bye. What? Should I say hello?" Asher blinked, obviously not sober. "Then, hello, Cosette Blac. How are you?"

"I'm fine. How about you?"

"I'm… good." Both of them grinned, giggling at his response.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked.

"Because you're laughing." Cosette folded her arms and rested them over her knees. "Bye bye, Asher Quinn."

"Bye bye… why?" he frowned, furrowing his brows. "You're leaving?"

"No, I mean, yes." She nodded solemnly. "I'm leaving."

"Where are you going?" he asked curiously.

"Home." Cosette blinked her weary eyes, getting even more confused and drunk talking to this guy. He kept saying nonsense, and Cosette's brain was getting confused. The increasing effect of the wine wasn't helping, as her defenses were completely down.

"What about me?" he pointed at himself. "Where am I going?"

Cosette cocked her head to the side, looking at him with confusion. "You should go home," she answered innocently as that sounded rational.

"Where's my home?" he asked again, and Cosette shrugged.

"I don't know your address…" She rubbed her chin and then her eyes popped open. "Ah! Just sleep here for tonight."

"Here?" he tilted his head to the side and then smiled warmly. "Is this home?"

"Huh?"

Asher moved his face closer, smiling ear to ear until his eyes were squinting. "Is this my new home now?"

"What? I'm hella confused about this conversation." Her eyes shook as the more she tried to use her head to understand the situation, the more the effect of the wine grew stronger. "But sure. Live here from now on."

"I can do that?"

"Of course! You might not know this, but I'm actually very rich."

"Wow…" Asher clapped in amusement, acting like a child, which he would certainly feel embarrassed about if he remember it the next day. "... I think I'm rich too."

"How can you say that when you don't even know your home?" she gasped and then froze as realization dawned on her. "Right… I think you're rich — very rich."

Asher grinned. "See? Let's burn some money!"

"No!" Cosette intoned. "How can you do that?"

"But I think I have a lot of them."

"Then, let's throw them in the air until it looks like it's raining money." Cosette grinned, giggling at the sheer thought of it. "I've always dreamed of standing in the middle of the rain."

"Huh?"

"But instead of water, it's money." Her eyes squinted as her lips stretched even wider. "Please, master. Make that wish come true."