Saving the Villain

Days later…

"I said… no pink!" Luke gasped in horror after watching Cosette open a package that just exploded with the color pink! There were stuffed toys and some designs that were too girly for his taste.

Ever since the start of this week, Cosette, Maxen, and Luke had been cleaning and repairing Luke's place after school. The other night, Luke and Cosette planned to decorate it and treat it as their 'headquarters' over the call. And now, that was what they planned on doing after the pest control.

Luke expected materials, but he didn't expect that a truck would be present today to move the furniture and some appliances Cosette bought. He knew Cosette wasn't trying to show off her wealth, but this wasn't in their plans.

It wasn't her who was moving!

"But there should be a little cuteness in this place," Cosette mumbled, sitting in front of the opened package. She closed it again and huffed. "Compared to the other packages, this is rather a small portion of pink!"

Cosette pointed at the unopened packages and wrapped furniture on the side of the apartment.

"Come on, Luke. I just want a bit of my colors in here!"

"Your color…" Luke scrunched his nose up as he cast her a judgemental look. "Your color is definitely black or red because you're cold-blooded."

"What did you say?"

"I said you're cold-blooded!"

"Hah! Goodness! This guy!" Cosette sprung up to her feet, hands on her hips. "Luke, why do you always slander me, hmm? Do you know these types of people usually die first in horror films?"

While Cosette and Luke bantered again, which had been growing frequent — meaning daily — Maxen was silently pouring the base paint on the paint tray. They had already worked on the wall the other days, so today, they planned to paint it.

When the scent of paint wafted through Cosette and Luke's nostrils, they turned to Maxen. Maxen already stood up, scraping something off the wall with his thumb. Unlike the two, who were too busy arguing like cats and dogs, Maxen was about to get started.

"Tss. Look. Maxen will work on it all alone again. He's been doing 70% of the work and all you do is anger me." Cosette elbowed Luke, only for the latter to gasp in disbelief.

"Hey, my brother Maxen is doing the majority of the work, but the rest were mine! All you've been doing is messing around."

"Gosh… you're so annoying." Cosette stomped her feet and went to Maxen. "Max, Luke is so annoying!"

Maxen paused and looked at her, pinching her cheek mildly. "Stop arguing now. Get the gloves and help me."

Cosette pressed her lips into a thin line and glanced at Luke with a deep frown. She wanted to complain more, but Maxen had been oddly quiet these days, but still gentle.

"Fine…" she dragged her feet to put on the gloves while Maxen fixed his.

When Maxen glanced at her again, she and Luke were mumbling angrily while putting on their gloves. A subtle smile turned up on his face, chuckling quietly while shaking his head. Luke used to chase after Cosette so intensely, but now, he would argue with her at every turn.

"They're cute," he muttered, picking up the paint roller to start painting the wall.

Luke's apartment was small. Hence, based on Maxen's experience, they had enough time to finish all the walls. It was a good thing he was experienced in these things since he did construction work and had sidelines in painting jobs.

The three of them worked on each wall to get things done faster. The side of Maxen's wall was being painted professionally and efficiently, seeing a quick result. Meanwhile, on Cosette's side, the space she painted only covered a percent of the entire wall she had to make. Luke, on the other hand, was quick, but not as clean as Maxen and Cosette.

Cosette stopped midway to look at Maxen's side. Her eyes twinkled, seeing that Maxen looked so sexy in everything he does. And then she moved her eyes to Luke, only to burst out in laughter.

"Haha! Luke, what do you think this is? A race?" Cosette planted the back of her hand on her hip, pointing at the wall Luke was painting. The paint on that wall was too thin they could still see the original color of the wall.

"Hah! What about you? What do you think this is? A procession? This isn't an art contest, eh?!" Luke returned, looking at the palm-length color on that side of the wall. "Cosette, what have you been doing for the past hour? I mean, we're using the same size of rollers, but how can you be that slow?"

"I was being careful." She rolled her eyes, only for them to instinctively land on Maxen. "Max, how can you be so fast? You're almost done!"

Maxen shrugged. "Experience."

"Hey, Maxen. This is unfair!" Luke frowned and then marched towards Maxen. "You should teach me, brother."

"Hey! Since when did you two become brothers?" Cosette jumped in between them, narrowing her eyes at Luke before facing Maxen. She had a great trust issue with other people approaching her boyfriend. "Teach me."

Maxen darted his eyes between Cosette and Luke as they tried to shove each other to the side while smiling at him like angels. He didn't know when did Luke start acting chummy with him, but he assumed it developed ever since Maxen was helping with the repairs and also killed the insects before the pest control came.

"Get your rollers. It's actually very easy; I'll teach you," he breathed out faintly. "Just focus on getting things done, then argue later."

"Yes, sir…!"

Luke and Cosette followed Maxen as they moved to the wall Cosette was previously working on. Standing beside Maxen was Cosette and then next to her was Luke. Both of them kept their focus on Maxen while holding their rollers up on the wall.

"You roll it like this…" Maxen bit his tongue mildly, a little bit surprised he had to explain something so easy when he learned it by watching his co-workers. But then again, these two didn't live the life he lived, and this was something new to them.

Maxen explained things patiently, showing them how to do it and how many times he would do it to get the good base he wanted. Surprisingly, the two were determined and very serious. Seeing their solemn faces with a speck of paint on their arms, Maxen smiled.

"You're doing good. Keep it up."