NINETEEN – Fuse Is Lit
"Master!" Obi entered the office with a strong hit upon both of his doors. Kiki and Mitsuhide barely reacted, seeing as this happened before. They simply moved over to Zen's desk, where the white-haired Prince resided. Obi expression a face of exhaustion and anger, something Zen didn't really want to deal with at such an early time.
"What's wrong, Obi?" Zen asked, his tone calm and civil. It boiled Obi's blood beyond belief.
"Stop hurting Little Miss's feelings already!" Obi got straight to the point, walking closer to be just a few feet from Zen's desk. "Choose already!"
"What're you talking about?" Zen asked, his voice attempting to be innocent. His eyebrows were raised, with his finger tips of both hands meeting. It really was aggravating Obi, the way he was evading what he's guilty of.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Obi snarled, clenching his fists tightly from the anger. Zen widened his eyes, seeing how fumed Obi can get. He knew he wouldn't dare attack Zen, as Obi has always been appreciative of his Master. Regardless of Shirayuki, Obi had a lot of respect for his Master for taking him in and surrounding him with people who care about him. But right now, Obi was beyond mad at Zen, and he understood why. He just didn't want to listen to it.
"I don't, actually," Zen began, taking a gulp as he placed his inked quill down. "Enlighten me."
Obi was feeling tested, practically seething at the audacity of his Master. To think that Zen was choosing to play oblivious made Obi desperate to punch sense into him. Because in those azure eyes resided the disgusting things he's done to the poor girl. In those filthy waters of his eyes were the unconsented touches and conjured cries upon the redhead who only wants to feel proper, requited love.
We're almost on the same boat, huh Miss?
"And I'm the scoundrel?" Obi muttered, looking into his gloved hand. He releases a cold smirk at it, looking at the dents worth of his wrinkles in the palm of his hand. He traced them with his eyes before closing it once more. "Mitsuhide, Miss Kiki. Master over here has been strolling into Little Miss's room and poisoning her with the attention he believes she wants."
Kiki and Mitsuhide stood frozen as Zen rose from his chair and slammed his hands down on the hard desk.
"That is what she wants!" Zen barked.
"That's what you think she wants!" Obi disagreed, his fists clenching as tightly as they could. His nails were digging into his palm, but he was too caught up to really bother with them. "But Miss's heart hurts even worse when you do that."
"I love her, Obi," Zen fought, looking him straight in his amber orbs with every word he uttered. "I love her, and I know as fact that Shirayuki loves me back."
"If you love her and know she loves you in return, why do you question her?" Obi uttered quietly, having Zen freeze for a moment. His heart began pounding, pupils enlarging as Obi let out a small chuckle. "Oh, you thought I didn't know about that, huh?"
"How?" Zen growled, tilting his head down to stare at one of his documents. "Why did she tell you?"
"It wasn't on purpose," Obi said simply. "You've traumatized her so bad that she whimpers about it in her dreams. Pardon—I meant nightmares."
Zen found himself desperate to punch Obi mute. Hearing his actions from another party was bothering him, knowing that it was the truth about everything. But what Obi doesn't seem to understand that it's all for his adoration of Shirayuki and the immense amount of love he holds for her.
"I love her, Obi," Zen growled, his bottom lip quivering from nerves. "I'm doing my best to make do with the situation we're in."
"If you're doing that, then can you have the decency of loving her like you did before your engagement?" Obi said sternly, his eyes still stinging from the sight of his Master. He then looked away, his nails officially cutting into his flesh. "Even then, it doesn't change anything…"
"What do you mean?" Zen asked, tilting his head up to look at the tall assistant. Obi felt his eyes and couldn't dare meet with them. Not when pure disgust was destroying his stomach and every single fiber of his entity. He began to shake from the fury, not knowing how long he could retrain himself before he would need to place his fist against his Master's mouth.
"You're still getting married and she still loses," Obi whispered, biting his bottom lip. He didn't dare want to express any sort of emotion in front of his three friends, his Master included. He was the comical rascal, it would be too unlike him to start crying. "She still loses no matter what affair you try to brew."
"She doesn't lose," Zen points out. "I still love her, she still has me—"
"No, she doesn't," Obi groaned, looking over at Zen with a stupid expression. "Don't pretend that she does still have you because she doesn't have you at all. Miss has lost you, not completely, but the seed has been planted and slowly you'll grow apart and nobody can do a thing."
"Obi, Shirayuki still has me fully—"
"No!" Obi shouts, straining his voice completely. The three entities in the room falter from his shout, seeing as his throat strained. Veins popped out of his neck, feeling his chest throb in letting out such a scream. "As long as you wear that band around your finger, Miss doesn't have anything of you!"
Silence stood still as Zen looked down at his left hand. The diamonds light flickers from the sun as he tilts it at different angles. He feels its silver compounds wrap around his finger and hold everything on a piece of thread. His life, the respect from his friends, the girl he truly loves. Everything feels like it's crumbling due to the binding band that forced him with a lovely girl that was too dull in comparison to the girl with red hair. He slowly began to close his hands into fists, gritting his teeth annoyingly as he kept his eyes diverted down.
"Is this an attempt to tell me to back off?" Zen growled. Obi looked at him for a moment, no words able to escape after hearing his. "To tell me to stop seeing Shirayuki so you could have her?"
Oh. This is what it's about.
"Pardon me, Master," Obi began, his fingers sinking deeper into his flesh. "But that is the nastiest thing you've ever said to me."
"That's enough, Obi," Zen began quietly, but Obi's heart was burning too much to dare shut down.
"No!" Obi shouted, marching towards his desk and slamming his own hands into the desk. He merely winced from his nails leaving his flesh and feeling his palms pressed down on the wooden table. But Obi has a pain inside much more worthy of his attention right now. "Love is not kissing her forcibly on her lips. Love is not leaving marks on her neck because you're scared you've lost her unconditional love. Love is not telling her that you own her—she's not property. Miss is a person, a human capable of feeling. Don't manipulate someone as good as her because she's honestly the best you'll ever have and you know it!"
Zen was forced to look at Obi, seeing as he was merely a few feet away from touching his nose. Zen saw in his amber eyes a fire that didn't dare flicker in doubt. Even the pools of his azure orbs couldn't put down his flames. Zen took in his points, gulping harshly at the fact that Obi wasn't wrong about these things. He was manipulating her—Zen admits it. But he couldn't dare say it aloud. He'd probably vomit.
Then, a string of sudden, slow claps cut through the silence as everyone turned around to stare at the doors. Coming from a sliver of the doors was King Izana, his cold smirk painted on his lips as his strong hands clashed against one another to produce the sound of sarcastic applause. They all bowed, feeling all their hearts race as the King closed the door behind him and began walking towards them.
"What a show you two put on," Izana commented, having everyone straighten up to see the blonde give them a fine stare. Obi felt his eye twitch, feeling his arms go loose to his sides as blood began to collect in his palms. "Truly, it was incredibly inspiring. Thank you very much for that, Obi."
"Lord Brother," Zen growled, feeling a vein pop from his temple. First Obi, now his brother? "This doesn't concern you."
"Oh, but it does," Izana hummed, strolling to the bookshelf left from Zen's desk. His bony, cold fingers brushed along the books, merely scanning their titles as he touched them. "Remember what I've told you before?"
"Lord Brother, you never wanted me to be with a girl like Shirayuki," Zen growled. "Why do you care what happens between her and I aside from my engagement?"
"Because I do know the feelings you own for the girl," Izana hummed simply as he took out a lavender-colored book. "I thought you loved her, little brother, don't you?"
"I do," Zen insisted. His eyes darken, looking at his brother with pure annoyance. "Why are you questioning me on it like you doubt it?"
"Because it's safe to assume that the girl feels exactly the same way when you do that to her," Izana points out, opening the book to flip through the pages. Zen faltered, gritting his teeth from his brothers' valid point. "Even your direct knight can advocate. You're only hurting her, and you have no idea because you're pretending to be far denser than you actually are."
"Please stop," Zen requested sternly, his heart throbbing as he listened to his brothers words. He didn't want to listen—he refused to. His points were like arrows, shooting at Zen's conscious like prey.
"If only Mother were here. Only she could manage to talk some sense—"
"That's enough." Zen's voice came out like a roar, having everyone in the room shift in some surprise. Kiki and Mitsuhide stared at their Master somberly, knowing that Zen's mind and heart were taking a seriously painful course. "Everyone leave."
Obi was first to turn to both of the royal entities and bow at them. That made Zen vexed, knowing how good of a person Obi remained to be even when they were evidently on bad terms. He knew the respect he held for Zen, and it frightened him over the fact that Obi has done a lot in his past. How was it that someone who is as dangerous as Obi own such a tooth-rotting heart? Zen envied him, and that made him bite his tongue.
"Your Highnesses," the three aides muttered softly before escaping through the exit. Obi was the last one out, glancing back to see the two brothers glare at one another in an intense gaze. It scared Obi to see how much those two brother's contrasts regardless of their blood and the similarity in their genes. It made Obi smirk painfully to see the damage he's made before closing the door.
"Obi!" Kiki hissed, grabbing the boy's bicep strongly. Obi admitted: though it wasn't so bad, Kiki's hand really was painful. He merely winced even. She dragged him away from Zen's office, with Mitsuhide trailing them until they were at a fairly far corridor. "What in the lord's name is going on?"
"The Master is being incredibly unfair to Shirayuki," Obi said simply, placing his hands behind his head as he shrugged. "You two can stand behind him, I won't hate you for it. But I'm staying behind Shirayuki no matter what."
gonna be gone the coming weekend+week. so sorry aha, ill try to write as much as i can before then x