I've tried to make this chapter a little easier to read by breaking some parts into new paragraphs. It's during dialogue so i hope it doesn't become too confusing.

Chapter Nine - Yes, Oui, Si...

Sebastian and Rina were lying out on some decking that she had built earlier in the Summer. It had a firepit and its own independent red-light lanterns, they didn't cast a red light that humans could see. They didn't create any light that humans could see. Rina and Sebastian had dragged more quilts, blankets, and multiple pillows into the large nest swing she had half bought, half built. The fire was lit and they were gently rocking back and forth. There were multiple bottles of wine on the tables either side of the seat. Sebastian's threat of only allowing Rina one more cigarette had flown out the window. They were warm, and comfortable with a happy buzz going.

'It's like you never run out of fags,' Rina giggled as she rested her head against his shoulder as they laid next to each other. 'How many packets do you have?' She asked as she began to playfully burrow in his hoodie.

He snorted on the wine he had sipped and batted her away, 'I have spare in my bike just in case!' Sebastian laughed. 'It's not like I always carry that amount. Besides, you're gonna feel like shit in the morning and after tonight, I am definitely never ever giving you any more,' he said simply. 'In fact, I'll quit just to cut off your supply.'

She gasped in indignation and propped herself up as she looked down at him. 'You'd do that out of spite?!'

'Oh yeah,' he grinned and started to laugh at the look on her face. 'Alright, come on. I've been patient, I've waited long enough-'

'Alright buddy, where are you going with this?' Rina asked with suspicion. 'Waited for what?'

Sebastian chuckles and rolled his eyes, 'calm down, harlot,' he teased making her relax. 'I'm talking about the whole, "Not my real name" thing. Come on, give it up already, we're three bottles of wine in,' he teased. 'I've been so good. I haven't even mentioned it,' he added.

'Until now.'

'Well, yeah until now,' he agreed.

'You lasted a week,' she points out.

'Hey, you're lucky I lasted a day. A week is phenomenal,' he points out. She laughs and shakes her head. He really was endearing and she was enjoying the way his hair had fallen away from his face as he laid on the swing. It wasn't often that he let himself go when in situations like this; Rina hoped it was because he felt safe enough to just be himself when with her. No pretences. No appearances. No worries.

Rina flumped back into the pillows and stared at the stars before holding her hand out, 'alright. Cigarette me first,' she said simply. Sebastian lit one with a brief inhale and passed it over while moving a little closer lying next to her. 'You sure you want to hear about this?' She asks as she looks over at him.

Sebastian gave her a look and blinked slowly. 'After the mess that you were in after hearing that recording? Yeah, I want to hear what type of shit you had to go through,' he said honestly. Rina nods, she felt guilty about what had happened but he made it clear that he wanted to do nothing but support her.

'Alright… well, get a ready for a lot of word vomit,' she mutters. 'First off, y'know that picture in my room?'

'The one with you as a kid and your mum?' He said softly as she continues the habit and passed over the smoke. 'You look exactly like her,' he added.

'Yeah, well it wasn't the only thing that I inherited. My first name is the same as hers, Ophelia,' Rina said bitterly. 'My father always uses it with this… tone. I can't describe it but it feels like resentment. Like every time he says my name it just opens the wound that I'm not her.'

There's a pause while they both smoke and take indulgent sips from the bottles of wine that were littered about. 'Do we have anymore of that peach one?' Sebastian asks as he sniffs a bottle. Rina giggles and swaps his current one with one that was beside her. Once they settle again, she picks up where she left off.

'Well, the thing is, my mother died when I was seven. I have memories of her but not a lot. Now, my parents had an arranged marriage but somehow, it worked. My father adored her and is head over heels in love with her. Still is even after all these years. From what I know and remember, she loved him too,' Rina said quietly. 'When she died, he lost a part of himself, that whole cliché.'

Sebastian nodded and reached down taking her fingers between his. 'I know how hard it is to lose a parent,' he said quietly. Rina smiled weakly and squeezed his hand as she looked at him.

'It was about a year after she had passed and suddenly, I was put into classes, etiquette and things. I was told that I had to become the perfect wife candidate. My father said it was what my mother wanted, for me to become someone's wife and have what she had. I spent years and years in training. Social and educational classes, I can speak at least five languages fluently, ride horses and play several instruments, also how to perform a full dining service in around eight different cultures.'

'Well now you're just showing off,' Sebastian teased making her giggle.

'Ha, ha,' she replied giving him a playful shove. 'What good it has brought me,' she says sarcastically.

'Hey, I'd be cussing everyone out in all those fancy languages. Also makes sense as to why you didn't need subtitles on some of the movies I showed you,' he points out, making Rina's face go red in embarrassment.

'You know how to speak another language!' Rina points out. 'You didn't tell me. You just started having a conversation on the phone and I wasn't going to make you feel uncomfortable bringing it up!'

Sebastian's eyes narrow as he remembers the conversation. A fellow coder was asking for help in a project that they were working on. Rina had been in his room where they were hanging out. 'Tyrell,' he said firmly, making her bite her lip and his inner hormones holler at the sight.

'Hmmm?' She mumbles not catching his eye.

'Do you know the language I know? Did you understand what I was talking about?' He asks bluntly. Her pink cheeks said it all and he felt his stomach drop out his arse. 'Oh Yoba! Tyrell!' He moans, covering his face with his hand and refusing to look at her as he rolls onto his back. Rina chips out the cigarette and leans over him once more.

'It's not that bad!' She assures.

He shakes his head and makes a combined laugh and moaning noise of embarrassment. 'I said things!' He points out, feeling his face inflame. Rina snorts. It was very early in their relationship and the things that he said were flattering. 'Okay, you have to understand-' Sebastian said before he finally moved his hands from his face. He looks at her as she looks down. He was trying to ignore her smile and amused look, the way her freckles playfully dusted her cheeks and her dark hair falling around them. 'We were only just friends and I didn't know where this whole thing was going. I didn't know you were going to be one of my best friends, okay? I thought you were just a girl I knew.'

She giggles and gives him a look, 'I know. Though it's also nice to know that you think I have a cute butt,' she adds, making him groan and cover his face again.

'Tyrell!' He complains. It was his own fault. His friend had asked if he had time to talk and Sebastian had simply said that he was hanging out with a friend. Then Rina had asked if Sebastian wanted to be alone and he shook his head in reply. Her voice had let his friend know that she was a girl and he had… inquired on their relationship. Sebastian was glad that he had kept his 'gossip' to a flattering minimum. He sighs and looks at her, 'I'm sorry. It wasn't nice of me to talk about you,' he apologizes.

Rina waved his apology aside, 'Sebastian. All you really said was that you thought I was pretty and have a cute butt and honestly? You're damn right, I am adorable and my arse is out of this world,' she teases, making him laugh and shake his head.

Mentally he made a note, next time he calls I'm going to rip him a new one, he thought without malice. It's my own damn fault. When someone asks you if the girl, you're hanging out with is 'fit'? Plead ignorance. Don't reply something stupid like, "yeah, she's really pretty and funny. Also, her butt is cute. Can't complain". Not the most flattering thing you could have said about her, Sebastian, you idiot, he mentally swore. 'I'm never going to live this down, am I?'

'It might come up again,' she teases, making him roll his eyes. 'Should I get back to my story?'

'For the love of Yoba, yes, please, before I die of embarrassment,' Sebastian said thankfully.

'Alright okay, well, imagine posh teachings and that was me,' Rina shrugs. She takes a moment to lie back down and they make themselves comfortable once more, the tension light hearted. 'I was… nineteen? I was at this really important party that my father had arranged and I knew he was looking for a husband for me. I was perfect. I was demure and a picture-perfect host. I catered to everyone's needs and conversed in intelligent and political topics.' Sebastian listened intently, he could sense that this was going somewhere and so he didn't interrupt. She had taken minor pauses to indulge in the lit cigarette before passing it over. 'So, I was sure that it was down to three men. William, Charles and Donovan. All big players from old money and all only a few years older than me.' She took a sip of wine and sighed, 'I was excited. I truly thought I was going to have what my mother wanted me to have and live out a perfect marriage with children.'

Sebastian flicked the cigarette into the snow and exhaled. 'What changed?'

'They had all disappeared from the main hall and so I took it upon myself to go look for them, in case something was wrong. Yoba forbid there be something wrong!' Rina said dramatically in annoyance. As if the thought of her past self and her actions was infuriating. Sebastian passed over a wine bottle and she took a healthy swig before she continued. 'I found them all in a side room, smoking cigars and such. Something made me pause and I stood outside the room as I had heard my name,' she breathed in deeply, steeling herself for what was to come.

'I heard them:

William stood there, laughing. "She's certainly got her mother's beauty but hell's bells, isn't she boring?"

And then Donovan replied, "you would want to marry her for the future children, the bloodline is amazing and her money isn't to be sniffed at either. You just need a little more spice."

Finally, Charles chipped in with, "that's easy enough to do. Just get an apartment with a mistress. She'd be so devoted to you she wouldn't even realize. Her body is perfect. Her breasts are large enough and she has enough of a curve to her ass. The sex would be bland at first but she gives off that subservient energy. She would happily suck your dick for breakfast every day to keep you happy."

So, there I was. A nineteen-year-old. A young woman. Listening to all these… boys… talk about my body and how apparently naïve I am. About how I was just going to be their plaything,' Rina said before knocking back another large gulp of wine.

The rage he felt as she described the men that were talking about her, it was unimaginable. 'Fuck… I literally did the same thing,' he said sadly as he thought about it.

Rina shook her head violently, 'no! No, you didn't. I mean, yes you spoke about my butt, the difference is, it wasn't malicious. You weren't like talking to him about how boring I was but you'd still fuck me given the chance,' Rina babbled.

'Tyrell-'

'It's different, Sebastian. That's the end of it,' she says firmly, holding his gaze. Reluctantly he agrees with a nod and they settle once more. Rina continues to tell the rest of the scene. 'It was at that moment that I realised that all my father had done was turn me into some… breeding bitch, that had been conditioned to just obey. That I wasn't ever going to have what my mother had, not with these men that were already planning to cheat on their future wife. I decided then and there that I was done with it all.'

'Please tell me you at least set the place on fire,' Sebastian said trying to calm himself down and act rationally.

Rina smirked as she moves and rests her head on his chest. He takes a moment to move his arm around her. The temperature was dipping and it wasn't going to be long until they had to go back inside. 'In a way. I had returned to the hall and was making conversation with a couple of their mothers. I, of course, was being the picture-perfect future daughter in law. I had them eating out of my hands. Though it wasn't long before they all returned and they swanned over, with their heads up their asses. They gave me fake compliments and platitudes.

William even went so far as to say, "I would be honoured to become your husband", and I looked him dead in the eye and said, "really? Well, I'm sorry, you don't have an appropriately high enough IQ for me even to consider you as a man."

I then looked at Donovan and said, "if you are an example of your bloodline, it must be disgustingly weak and putrid. From what I've heard about you sexually, you couldn't even satisfy your own damn hand."

Finally, I turned to Charles and said, "that's not even the most depressing thing; I honestly find you all deathly boring. I'm afraid any future husband of mine will need a lot more… spice". I smiled sweetly at him and took his drink from his hand, knocking it back in one gulp. I said goodbye to their mothers, gave the men each the middle finger before I held my head high and walked out the hall, leaving nothing but stunned silence behind me.'

'I've never been more attracted to you,' Sebastian said honestly and bluntly.

Rina giggled and gave him a look, 'that's just the wine talking,' she laughed.

'That's what you say,' he chuckled but left it at that. He wouldn't want anything to happen while they were drunk anyway. 'So how did you end up here?' Sebastian asked curiously as they looked at the stars.

'My grandfather, on my mother's side. My father actually took her name. He had this place as an escape… he found me the night I was trying to run away. He gave me some money which I tried to refuse. He insisted, saying that he was proud of me for attempting my own path. Then he gave me a letter, he told me that when the time was right, I would know to open the letter. I had gotten myself some shit call centre job, being able to speak many languages helped, Yoba, it was shit pay but I had enough to rent some crappy room and it was enough for the bare minimum. I don't have any actual legal qualifications, despite my education. Turns out that my grandfather had stopped my father from dragging me home that first night I vanished. It was six weeks after I left that I had to see my father again. The inevitable had happened and my grandfather died,' she mumbles.

'I'm sorry,' Sebastian said giving her a comforting squeeze.

She smiles weakly and nods, thanking him. 'At the funeral… my father… he tried one more time to set me up some upper-class wanker. At my grandfather's funeral! Can you believe the audacity of the man?! I told him that I would never come back to him and I would rather starve to death. The first thing he said to me after six weeks was, "at least you've kept your weight down. Your dress could be better quality." Like I fucking cared about the label I was wearing!' Rina hissed.

Sebastian stroked the back of her hand with his thumb as he listened. Rina took a deep breath and continued. 'My grandfather had died and he was going on about how he had found a man who would look past my recent indiscretions. I made sure not to create a scene but I told him, that out of respect for my grandfather and the love my father had for my mother, I would be civil during the ceremony. I knew I was once again in the public eye and I made sure that my departure was caught on camera, just to cause havoc for him,' Rina smirked. 'Though a few months later and I was still at that call job but I had somehow saved up some money. I wanted to quit, the job was sucking the life out of me and that's when I decided to open the letter and here, I am,' Rina rounded off her tale with a shrug.

There's a lull between them, the rocking of the seat creating a nice atmosphere. Sebastian turned onto his side and pulled Rina into a hug. 'I'm sorry all that shit happened to you,' he murmured as she reciprocated. 'Honestly, though, I'm glad it did,' he mused.

'You are?'

'Yeah, otherwise I wouldn't have my best friend here, now,' he said quietly. Rina rubbed her face against his chest and made a happily content noise. He was right, even after all the stress she had been through, it seemed worth it now. He decided to ask a random question and perhaps lighten the mood. 'Why do you only ever call me, Sebastian?'

Rina snorted in amusement and looked up at him, 'because that's your name?' She said simply as she tilted her head.

'Yeah, but you're really the only person who does. Everyone else calls me "Seb", and well… you know what my mum calls me,' he said feeling a little embarrassed at his nickname from his mother.

She thought for a moment, 'I know what it's like to be called a name you don't like. It didn't seem like something you had been chosen to be called by, more like everyone called you "Seb" because it was easier. Do you like it?' She asked.

He was honest and shook his head, 'no, not really. I've always appreciated that you make the effort. Though, we've been friends long enough, I suppose you could think of a nickname for me,' he chuckled. 'Nothing embarrassing though,' he added.

It took a minute for Rina to think but an idea hit her. 'I've got it!' She said excitedly and she sat up and looked at him. 'Bastian,' she revealed happily.

Sebastian raised a brow and tilted his head, 'alright, you're gonna have to explain that particular train of thought to me. Unless you literally just took the end of my name? Lazy bones.'

She grinned and returned to lying on his chest. 'Okay, so your name, Sebastian, it means "reverence", which in turn can mean respect or fear if you're going by the holy definition. There are many saints that share your name in particular religious texts so I decided to travel down that holy route. Then I thought of things that represent and are well known to be translated as reverence and that's when I thought of the purple orchid! Often used to gift to your mother on appreciation day, you'd present it because it means, admiration and respect. So, by following that trail of crumbs my mind wandered to the Bastian orchid. It's a beautiful purple, not for the new gardener either. They require a lot of care and requirements, even the most experienced can struggle to raise them because of their complexity. You've just gotta take the time and have a knack,' she teased. 'Plus… it's like a mini version of your actual name!'

'I don't know whether to feel insulted or admiration for the journey that you just took me on,' he laughed lightly. 'Well, I've now got to think of something for you,' he said smiling.

'So, you like it?'

'It's not something I've heard before but it clearly has deep significance and… you thought of it, so I like it,' he said quietly. 'I've had worst nicknames,' he added. Sebastian pulled out his phone and began to search. 'I'm going to do the same thing you did but I'm afraid I don't have the ability or knowledge to pull it out my head like you just did,' he admitted. Rina laughed and assured him that whatever he chose would be fine, she didn't mind how he came to a name, anything had to be better than his use of her surname, though it had become endearing over time. He took his time and went down a few avenues before he found something he thought appropriate. 'So, uh… there's Pheebs? Also, works out as it's like a shorted name of Ophelia.'

'Hmm,' Rina thought to herself. 'Did you go down the translations and then floral to nip down the religious deity route?'

He shook his head in amusement, 'do you like it?' Sebastian asked.

'Yeah, I do,' she smiled up at him. 'Bastian.'

'Good thing, Pheebs,' he replied making her smile broaden.