Saving the Villain

"This is weird."

Maxen raised his brows and gazed at Cosette, who was standing beside him under the bus waiting shade. She had her eyes narrowed while rubbing her chin, sizing up the silent Maxen.

"Max, did you grow taller?" she asked, bobbing her face to examine him. "Or did you lose weight?"

He blinked, shoving his hands inside his pockets. "Maybe you got smaller?"

"What?"

"I think you're shrinking, Cozie." He looked at her from head to toe and then nodded. "I think that's the case."

Her face crumpled slightly and looked at him in disbelief. "Max, how can you twist a topic in such a twisted way?" she frowned. "It's just weird since I feel like yesterday, you were just this tall and now you seem to have grown an inch or two overnight! Also, if it's just losing weight, that's even weirder. Are you starving yourself secretly?"

Maxen let out a quiet sigh, watching her demonstrate how tall he was yesterday and today. It was not like he knew how a person grows unnaturally. But he had answers for losing a bit of weight.

"How come it's weird?" he stopped her mumbling, tilting his head to the side. "Thanks to you and Sir Conrad, I don't need to eat just anything to fill my stomach. I eat healthy foods, so even if I eat more, I'm not just inflating like before."

"Oh... you were dieting?" Her eyes dilated slightly. Maxen never told her about it, though. Also, as far as she remembered, she kept feeding Maxen as her way of spoiling him.

He shook his head mildly, peeling his eyes from her to the highway. If he answered her, she would continue to talk to him. Although Cosette was like a mother who wouldn't stop putting food on his plate, Maxen had to sweat it off to not break his mission to slim down a bit. Not just for aesthetic purposes, but Maxen needed to be fit if he wanted to protect her from anything.

After all, that was his job, and he needed to do it properly. In that case, Conrad would be at ease since the man had been busier than ever since the incident in Sharie. Although Maxen would sometimes accompany Conrad late at night and just chat with him about Cosette — more like reporting.

"That's how you avoid conversations..." Cosette clicked her tongue as she glanced at his side profile. "Luke said he will fetch us. He is taking his time, huh?"

"Please tell me he is not driving."

"How can he drive?! We're both minors."

Maxen glanced at her for a moment. "He's a brag."

"Maxen." Cosette smacked her lips and held her hand behind her, taking a step closer to him. "I'm just curious. Are you and Luke --"

"No."

"But I haven't finished my sentence."

"Just no." He cast her a side-eye, not interested in anything regarding him and Luke. "His name and my name shouldn't be in the same sentence."

She frowned as she shuddered, sensing the deep dislike coming out of his voice. Surely, Maxen disliked Luke but was tolerating him. It was the same with Luke. The second young master of the Quinn family was never ashamed of his declaration of hate to Maxen.

"If this is a BL novel..." she trailed off as her breath hitched, eyes widening as Maxen suddenly bent over until his face was a palm length away from her. He raised a finger in front of his lips, shushing the rest of her abominable sentence.

"Not a sound, Cozie," he warned and in that second, a sense of dread crept up her spine. She held her breath and stared at those sharp eyes and, for some reason, his quiet voice sounded truly menacing.

She gulped. The villain's aura was exuding from his back and flickering in his eyes. It was something she never felt from him until now.

"Understand?" he continued, and all she could do was nod in fear. The side of his lips curled up slightly, taking advantage of the situation to study her face up close.

"Good." He nodded before he straightened his back, raising his chin, eyes on the highway to see if that insufferable second young master was already around. His expression grew sour upon seeing an approaching limousine. Even though he hadn't seen that in his life, deep in his heart, he already guessed the passenger inside was Luke. The car just bore the same arrogance even from afar.

Meanwhile, Cosette lowered her eyes as she massaged her nape. Her face felt slightly hot, sneaking a glance at the indifferent Maxen.

'Since when did he look mature?' she wondered, clearing her throat as the look in his eyes flashed across her head. From the beginning, Maxen didn't look that intimidating. Sure. There were times she was scared of him, but that was because Cosette was aware of what he was capable of.

But just now, she felt a different kind of danger. A feeling she never felt before, but definitely read about. Her heart skipped in that five-second moment. He was dangerous... but at the same time, a little sexy. It tugged her villain fetish a bit.

'Even in the novel, that was the reader's usual sentiments to the author. If they were villains, why make them hot?' she recalled, shaking her head to keep her thoughts together. But unknowingly, Cosette looked at him once more with her own discretion.

'I haven't been noticing it since he started living with us and I'm almost with him seven times a week, but Maxen... is a little different,' she thought, narrowing her eyes as she sized him up from head to toe. 'I don't know what is exactly different from him, but it's very distinct. Was it his sex appeal?'

HONK!

Cosette jumped when a limousine suddenly stopped right in front of the shade Maxen and Cosette were standing under. She slowly set her eyes to the car in front of them and saw the window roll down, revealing Luke, who tipped his sunglasses down.

Luke grinned until his pearly white teeth were showing. "Hop in, Cozie." He winked.

"Luke, this is not a prom night." She shook her head and dragged her feet towards the car door the second Luke opened the door from the inside. But just as she bent over to get in, Maxen placed his hand on top of her head to keep her from bumping her head.

She glanced at him and cleared her throat. "Tha — thanks."

Maxen just jerked his chin to signal her to hitch in while Luke instantly smoldered in anger. Yet, like usual, Maxen ignored Luke's tantrums as he got in after Cosette.