2/26/2017

I'm currently rewriting this story from chapter 1-6. Just correcting the typographical errors, awkward sentence structures and plot holes. I hope you enjoy this story!

The morning sunlight seeped into the room, piercing her sea-blue eyes. Raising a slender arm, she shielded herself from the sun's rays. Quistis knew she wasn't in her room. she always covered the windows with heavy dark-blue drapery.

A heavy weight suddenly pressed her down the cool softness of the mattress. Quistis moved her arm, staring at the familiar cold-blue eyes.

"You." She breathed.

Seifer's handsome face smirked. "Me."

He was sprawled over her, with one hand tucked under his chin. Not bothering to cover his nudity, his fingertips traced her skin, leisurely exploring the planes and curves of her delicate flesh. "What's wrong, Ice Princess? Do you have trouble recalling last night's events? I can help you remember, darling."

Despite seeing him unclothed for numerous times, Quistis couldn't suppress the blush that crept into her face. He really knew how to get on her nerves.

His finger trailed upwards, until he touched the soft outline of her pink lips.

"Gunblade cut your tongue, Quistis?"

"That's not a funny joke, Seifer!"

She wanted to slap the smug grin on his face, she thought. Quistis pushed him away and removed herself from the bed. His boisterous laughter filled the room, annoying her further. He swiftly reached for her before she could escape, pulling her beside him once more.

"Hey, hey! I just wanted to lighten the mood, Princess. It's a beautiful morning and you're ruining it with that sour face."

"I'm not your princess." She retorted, taking the blanket between them to cover her naked form.

His lips lightly brushed against hers. "Oh yeah?" he teased, nibbling her neck. "But you're letting me touch and kiss you, now tell me what does that mean?"

"Seifer, this is a mistake. It's time to end this."

"You're singing like a broken record, Quisty."

It unsettled her to hear him call her childhood name. It was too…intimate.

But she was already intimate with him, she frowned to herself.

"Let me go!"

Seifer let her go from his embrace then. He drew a deep breath and exhaled. "What's with that look, Quistis?" he taunted. "The door's been open the entire time, Princess. You were actually free to leave. No one's stopping you."

But Quistis never moved.

Not contented, Seifer combed his fingers through his short-cropped hair. "So who will you pick, Quisty? Me, or that spineless 'boyfriend' of yours?"

His remark hit home. "Leave Squall out of this!" she hissed.

Seifer rolled his eyes, mimicking her statement. "Leave Squall out of this!"

"Why you—"

"Break up with that two-timing jerk. He's not making you happy."

Incredulous, she scowled at him. "And do you think you can make me happy?"

"Don't put words in my mouth, Princess. Remember you were the one who started this."

He referred to their affair that began with Quistis' broken heart.

"I did not plead you to make me happy." she answered him.

"So what do you call the lady who whispers Do me? Ain't that asking for happiness, darling?"

She was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it.

"I should stop seeing you, Seifer."

"I can't count the number of times you've told me that."

"I-I love Squall." She stammered, unsure how to respond to him.

"Says the unfaithful girlfriend." He snorted.

"Stop torturing me!" She wailed.

Why was Seifer so intrusive in her relationship with Squall? Things were easier when he was ignorant.

"Truth hurts, Quisty?" he drawled.

Quistis retreated to the soft bed, and Seifer took the opportunity to lean over her, softly pushing the tendrils of hair from her face. Gently, he cupped her face into his bare hands and looked into her eyes.

"Here's a piece of unsolicited advice, Princess. Dump that cheating son of a bitch."

She bucked and tried to push him away. "You've never been in love, Seifer! You don't know how difficult it is to let someone go!"

"Love?" he gaped, before his lips formed a grim line and his cold blue eyes flared with anger.

"You don't love him." He snarled. "Do you know what you feel for him, heck, do you even know what you're doing to him? You're an insecure ninny who's clinging to a jerk to feed your pathetic self-worth. Do you know what you've become? A leech, Quisty, a leech! How low has Instructor No. 14 sunk? No, don't give me that Jumbo Cactaur look. You know what I'm saying!"

His comments fazed her. She felt offended. She was offended! With her entire strength, she kicked his groin. Seifer rolled away from the bed, grimacing in pain. Quistis scrambled from the bed and grabbed her whip, Save The Queen.

Seifer drew an exasperated breath and continued his angry litany. " You already know he's cheating on you with Rinoa, but you still go back to him!"

Quistis kept her mouth shut, not wanting to add fuel to the fire.

"Are you sure you're satisfied with the scraps of the main course? You can do much better."

"Your advice is not appreciated." She snarled.

"The only time you don't give me that bitch face is when I'm between your legs!"

Something inside her mind snapped. Maybe it was the culmination of work-related stress, personal drama, guilt or… whatever.

"Enough! Of all the people to give me advice, you're the last person I've ever listen to!"

Quistis picked her clothes heaped on the floor and dressed herself. She didn't bother to pin up her long golden hair, but she cared enough to wear her silver-rimmed glasses.

Unbeknownst to her, Seifer covertly observed her, savoring the experience of watching her dress. The silence between them was one of the rare moments they shared when they weren't bickering with one another.

The effect of her unbounded hair coupled with her glasses was devastating. Seifer knew male members of her fans club would kill to be in his position right now.

Quistis Trepe was a beautiful woman, he had to admit. Her beauty was completely different from Rinoa Heartilly's. Where Rinoa's beauty had been cute and child-like, hers was of an elegant older woman.

It was only unfortunate that the beautiful woman regarded him with obvious contempt.

An idea cooked in his head and he called her attention once more.

He playfully blew her a flying kiss. "Good luck with lover-boy, Princess." he winked. "You'll need it."

Her only response was a look that could kill him. After she had dressed, Quistis hurriedly left his room without looking back.

Seifer rolled on the bed, smelling the lingering scent of Quistis. He touched the pillow she used to smother her cries when he brought her to the brink of ecstasy last night.

You're a fool to let her go, Seifer Almasy.

He chuckled. Who would have thought that he, nineteen year old Seifer Almasy, head of the Disciplinary Committee, was sexually-involved with a teacher?

Worse, that same teacher was also having an affair with a taken man!

How low can you sink, he groaned to himself.

Seifer entered the shower room and massaged his temples. He wasn't thinking well. Why did he even pay attention to her in the first place?

She was just a dumb blonde, he rationalized. There was nothing special about her, yet deep in his heart, he knew she was.

Quistis was a remarkable woman. She became a SeeD at fifteen and earned her teaching license at the age of seventeen.

She was only dumb in matters of the heart.

There was a popular saying. Let the one with no sin cast the first stone. But who was he to judge her?

He too, had committed a wrong. Knowing her rank and position, he should have left her alone. But he didn't, and he had paid with his heart.

He lightly slapped his face. Ah, Seifer, you idiot. You've changed too. You always thought she was a stuck up miss goody good shoes with eyes for that emo jerk. Yet….

Seifer sank on the shower floor, closing his eyes, allowing the water to wash him.

"You've changed Quisty. You'd never even spared me a glance last year..."

He recalled how their affair started. He was on patrol in the Training Center when he saw her huddled by the corner in the Secret Area. Seifer thought she could have chosen a more private corner to stifle her cries. He could vaguely remember how their conversation went, but he knew he had mercilessly taunted and goaded her.

"This area is off-limits after midnight Instructor Trepe."

No response.

"Instructor Trepe, are you deaf?"

No, not even a glance. Just her whiny sniveling.

"Instructor, I'm afraid I have to report you—"

She caught him off guard then. Quistis kissed him, a kiss he knew that was desperate.

"What… what the hell are you doing?"

"Do me." She whispered.

He blinked several of times, trying to comprehend her request. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me."

"There's a CCTV camera here."

"Just do me in your room or anywhere!" she pleaded. "I just want to make the pain go away."

Love problems, Seifer concluded.

He brought her to his room, unwittingly starting a series of hook-ups that changed his life.

To his surprise, she wasn't a virgin when he slept with her. Well, neither was he.

He marveled how different she was in bed from how she usually behaved in school. Quistis projected the prim and proper aura of Instructor No. 14 who mesmerized people with her intelligence and abilities.

But in his arms, she had shed those layers, revealing to him a vulnerable woman who wore her heart on her sleeve.

Quistis' nightly visits recurred with a frightening pattern. He quickly discerned the source of her trouble, his longtime rival, Squall Leonhart.

One evening, Seifer managed to extract a confession from Quistis. Apparently, she had gotten romantically involvedwith Squall. Bad news was, he in a well-publicized relationship with Rinoa.

With a kindness he never knew he had, he chose not to sleep with her but to listen to her instead.

"Some bad luck you have." He laughed. "I thought you only felt sisterly affection for him."

Quistis snuggled beside Seifer's warm body. For some reason, he felt his body offered her a sense of safety she craved wholeheartedly.

"I do care for him… it's just that… I screwed up."

He grinned. "I didn't know you were into incest."

She jabbed his groin in response.

He yowled in pain, leaving them laughing for quite some time. When the ache finally subsided, he dared to ask a question she would probably hate to answer.

"Why don't you leave him?"

Dilemma written all over her face. "I can't leave him…I don't know how" She admitted.

"You deserve someone better, Quistis".

Quistis searched for sarcasm in his eyes, but she couldn't find it. Instead, she saw genuine concern and exclaimed in disbelief.

"Oh Seifer, I never expected this from you… You've changed."

That was the first and last time he spoke to her with such tenderness. Quistis resumed her relationship with Squall and persisted her 'friends with benefits' relationship with him.

His hopes for her sank, and his heart hardened with bitterness.

Quistis' nightly visits would end with a word war between them. Tonight's incident was the latest example.

Seifer knew he was a jerk. He was the rebel who allied with the brainwashed Sorceress Edea and Ultimecia. He was rebel who made their lives a living hell. He treated him comrades horribly, Fujin, Raijin, and most especially, Squall.

Squall, the dark and brooding SeeD Commander who immediately attracted the attention of most people. Even his ex-girlfriend, Rinoa, wasn't spared.

And you even have Quisty wrapped around your fingers, you prick.

He balled his fists and angrily punched the shower floor. Seifer grunted, laughing at the irony of his situation.

"No matter what you say Quisty, you'll always come back to me, crying over that egghead, and poor ol' me stupid me will welcome and embrace the remaining scraps of affection you have for me."