Monika kept her eyes on her phone for a while now. It was crazy how with a small movement of her thumb, she could instantly talk to MC despite the fact that she was hundreds of feet in the air. And all she had to do was press that little green symbol, but she let the call go unanswered. "Missed call from MC❤️(50) ," was added to her lock screen, and it wouldn't be long before MC called yet again.
She shuffled in her seat and turned on the in-flight monitor in front of her, dimmed all the way down as to not disturb the other sleeping passengers on board. There was a symbol of a plane hovering over Germany, following the arc from Sydney to France. "Almost there," she whined, clutching at her stomach as if she had been stabbed two minutes ago. But if she were given the choice between painkillers for her wounds or sleeping pills to shut her mind up, she would take the latter any day of the week.
She leaned back in her reclined seat but kept her eyes open, unable to sleep like everyone else. "He kissed me," she muttered. "He actually kissed me. All I had to do was cry and be vulnerable, and he kissed me...! S-So...he likes me, right? Right?"
The phone buzzed to life and blue light flooded her face yet again. "Right...no, he loves me. He hates Yuri, and loves me. Maybe he doesn't hate Yuri, but he's getting there. I can see it. He's getting annoyed that she's more in love with her novels than with him. What is it MC, she missed a couple of dinners? Missed a couple of late-night escapades too many times in a row? It'll only get worse from there and soon you'll be begging to be with me."
She continued her internal rant with a streak of bitterness. "Purple haired bitch. What do you know about MC huh? What makes you so special? No, you're not special, d'ya know why? Because he betrayed you. By kissing me. He was calling for help and I'm gonna do something about it. I'm going to kill you Yuri. It's over for you now."
It was around eight pm when Yuri finished her Paris book tour.
She rummaged through her purse, fished out her hotel key card and after three attempts of sliding it into the reader, the door beeped open. She stumbled inside, the feeling of alcohol buzzing in her system making her forget to look for any malicious individuals waltzing inside behind her- something that MC had warned her about. But the door locked shut behind her with a positive 'click!' and she could finally let her hair down. She sighed in bliss after undoing her bra and wriggling her body out of that silky dark purple dress. With no offense to MC, and as beautiful as it was, the dress was a nightmare to walk around in.
With a packet of chips chosen randomly from the mini-bar, a big 1.25L bottle of coke and her laptop, she collapsed into bed a free woman.
"MC!," Yuri laughed. He had Yuri's headphones on and was sat at her desk it seemed like. "Oh baby...come here I mishwed you sooooo much..."
She hugged the laptop, inadvertently covering her webcam with her breasts. "How'd it go honey? ," MC's voice buzzed from the speakers. "Did you have fun?"
"Ohhhh...it was...," Yuri fell backwards onto her pillow and sighed happily. "...naahhh...nothin' can compare to you...seeing you!"
"Mmm, couldn't resist that champagne could you?," he laughed.
"Yup! Oh man...I had...such a time over there!," she began. "So many good looking people, so many books and so many speeches. And lectures. And Q and A. But Q and A was fun!"
"You really went in-depth with some of those theories."
"I didn't even know people werethat into our books!," Yuri began tearing up. "It's...it's..."
MC tilted his head and smiled, thinking his wife to be more adorable than ever.
"...why weren't you thereeeeee?!," Yuri cried drunkenly. "I was so lonely without you...! You shoulda been up there with me! Co-author MC!"
"Nuh-uh. That was all you," MC said. "All your talent and hard work and late nights."
"And all your good food and hugs and kisses and massages and fun times in the shower!"
"Well...I do take credit for that. But seriously. I'm proud of you Yuri. You've come a long way from when we first met."
"My my...it's been a while since *hic! you've been sappy. Let's hear it...!~"
"Stupid. I love you. I love how happy you've become. I love that you stopped cutting yourself and become comfortable in your own skin. I want to be with you forever-"
"-stop stop stop!," Yuri squealed. She covered her face in embarrassment. "That's so embarrassing!"
"I know but you're completely drunk so you probably won't remember any of this."
"I'll...remember how you made me feel though..."
"Oh?"
"I want to be with your forever as well."
Yuri's heart was beating a million times a second. The fatal combination of liquor and love made the world seem not so horrible anymore. Everything was warm and colourful and it was all because of the person in front of her right now. She made a mental note to remember those words he just said and repeat it back to him tomorrow in person.
A devious smile formed on Yuri's lips and she leaned in closer so that her baggy shirt hung downwards, giving MC and eyeful of cleavage. "MC...," she purred. "You did promise me something...?"
MC's face turned bright red. "...y-you are recording this, aren't you?"
"Maybe...take off your shirt," Yuri demanded. Her smile grew wider as he meekly complied- now she understood why MC liked being the dom so much.
"Yuri...this is really weird. I-I heard they save this kind of stuff in data farms and such-"
"Who...cares. Now...take...offf...pants..." She began nodding off.
"Hahaha. I'll leave you alone now. Goodnight darling. I'll see you tomorrow, kay? You can do whatever you want to me in-person."
"No wait...don't...go...night...night..."
Yuri collapsed backwards and passed out. Drool leaked from the corner of her mouth and formed a wet stain on her pillow, and she began to snore comfortably, much to MC's quiet content. He had been recording too. Actually, he had been recording every single video chat they ever had as he found them more precious than anything money could buy, and tonight was no exception. He folded his arms on Yuri's desk and closed his eyes as well, falling asleep to the not-so-quiet snores of his wife until he too fell asleep.
Not ten minutes after, a long, slender finger gently tip-tapped at the laptop trackpad and ended the call. Yuri didn't even stir when the laptop closed shut and was lifted off her chest. For another hour, a shadowy figure sat on the nightstand watching the bookworm's blanketed torso rise up and down, up and down. She snorted here and there. She seemed to have dreams of frolicking in the meadows, hand-in-hand with MC, and it made Monika all the more furious.
"I couldn't wake you if I tried," she said, in the quietest of quietest voices. She fiddled with a length of purple hair, greasy and damp. Monika had her fury boil inside of her for so long that she even began to cry. "Such a shame too. You had everything going for you."
She leaned in closer. "You had everything going for you. Why? Why you and not me? Why can't I have a little bit of your beauty, your tenacity, your whatever-makes-MC-love-you? Does God hate me?"
Here were the seconds before a murder. Monika held the knife floating over Yuri's outstretched throat. Her head was rocked backwards and her mouth was wide open. Monika considered for a minute, with a giddy little smile, jumping on her and wrapping her fingers around Yuri's neck and slowly tightening her grip so that her breaths became weaker and weaker and-
-Monika wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. "No, this would do," she muttered. "Besides, you always had a thing for knives anyways. Are you listening? You smug bitch? Yeah, I see you. Prancing around Paris like you own the fucking world. It's so annoying. And maybe you act all nervous and timid and humble when people compliment you or ask you out, but when they leave you have this damn smile on your face."
Yuri shuffled a little.
"Yeah...no, God doesn't hate me. Maybe everything about you is just the luck of the draw. In that case, so is me killing you. You come to a foreign country, can't speak the language, have admirers all over the place and are well known. Your murder will be so easy to cover up. And MC doesn't even know I'm here. I'm gonna kill you, and get away with it. MC will grieve a little- with me by his side, naturally, and then he'll fall in love with me. Give it a year, two years or a decade. It doesn't matter. I would kill the world to be loved for just a minute."
Monika's legs began shaking in nervousness. The only time it had ever done that was with her first kill.
"And then...I'll stop killing. I'll stop this...this nihilism and death and despair and I'll be a good girl. Whatever that means. I'll be married with the only thing that really matters in this world, and then the entire world will matter. That seems like an even trade, doesn't it Yuri? You've had your fun."
She had to use her free hand to stop herself from shaking. The knife was so close to Yuri's delicate neck now, yet Monika found it harder than ever to do what she had done countless times.
"Monika," she growled internally. "You've thought this through. You've had all day. You've had all of your life to think this through. Do it."
...
"I can't."
"Why not?!"
"I'm really scared. I can't breathe. I hate her. So so much."
"Kill her Monika. Do it."
"Yuri...I'm so so lonely. It fucking sucks. I feel like I'm back in DDLC."
"What does that have to do with anything?! JUST KILL HER!"
Monika cried into Yuri's chest, but with the slightest movement from her, Monika backed up immediately and quietly scurried away. The only thing she managed to do that night was slit the pillowcase above the one which Yuri's head rested on. And other objects- the curtains, lamp shade and the dresser had long knife gashes cut in them intended for Monika's victim.
She rushed out of the hotel clutching her chest. She was weeping and coughing and breathed like she spent an hour in a gas chamber. The feeling rushed over her, harder than any drug she had taken. With shaky fingers she did two things. "We need to talk," she texted an unknown number, before hastily lighting up a cigarette to calm her nerves.
