Saving the Villain

Normally, Cosette and Maxen would talk about their day whenever they had different agendas for the day. During school days, they would chat about just about anything. Of course, since Maxen was the epitome of good influence, they would mostly study. Flirting comes in second.

That had been their habit. But alas, because of what happened with Amie, Maxen and Cosette didn't have to catch up. And when they talked, it mostly ended up in silence. So when Cosette realized that Maxen wasn't trying to 'attack' her because of what she had done, her conscience slowly ate her.

"Max had been preparing for months for this day," mumbled Cosette, highlighting a note in her book, and then paused.

To distract herself from thing anything tonight, Cosette forced herself to review. Sitting in front of her study desk, a deep sigh slipped past her lips. Cosette pushed herself away from the desk, leaning back with her hands propped on the edge of the table.

"First, you forgot about his birthday, and now this. Seriously. Why am I missing the important days in his life?" she asked herself, sighing for the umpteenth time. "To top it all off, instead of asking or offering to celebrate, I just kept on complaining."

Thinking of her attitude previously and how she was so defensive, Cosette buried her face in her palm. A muffled scream escaped her clenched teeth, wanting to scold herself. Perhaps it was the emotions tonight or just her hormones during the period. But she still felt bad.

"Should I say sorry?" she wondered, glancing at the digital clock on the side of the desk.

It was already almost midnight. Assuming Maxen and Conrad already finished talking, Maxen was probably in his room reading and catching up on the lesson he missed today.

"Right." Just as Cosette was about to push herself away, to sneak inside Maxen's room, her phone rang. Her brows rose, setting it to her phone right beside her laptop. Picking it up, her brow arched, seeing that Asher was calling her all of a sudden.

"Why is he suddenly calling after months of not hearing from him?" she wondered, checking the time on instinct once again. "Don't tell me he's drunk again?"

A frown instantly turned up on her face, answering the call since she already learned her lesson. Back then, she ignored Asher's phone call and Ezekiel surprised her with his presence. She could just hang up if it wasn't important, but at least she wanted to prevent another troublesome incident.

"Asher Quinn… I swear if you're drunk calling me again, I will hang up on you," Cosette warned as soon as the line connected. Deep lines appeared in between her brows when silence was what answered her.

"Hello?" she spoke once again, checking her screen to see that the line was still connected. Hence, she placed it back in front of her ear. "Are you really drunk?"

"Can you attend my graduation?" asked Asher after three seconds, catching her off guard with his invitation.

"Huh?" Cosette scrunched her face. "What did you say?"

"Will you?"

"Asher Quinn, what the hell?" Cosette slowly walked back to her bed, plopping her butt down on the edge. She had heard him drunk and even seen him, so she could tell Asher was under the influence of alcohol at the moment.

"Why are you suddenly inviting me to your graduation?" she asked after a moment, calming down slightly. "I mean, we didn't even talk for months. How can you just call me in the middle of the night to invite me to your graduation? Also, isn't that too early? We still have around two months before the school year ends…"

"I like you."

"What?"

"I like you, so I'm inviting you. I'm making it more subtle since I don't want to surprise you if I ask you out."

Cosette opened and closed her mouth for a moment, rendered speechless by his halfhearted confession. "Are you high?"

"No."

"Then what makes you think this won't surprise me just as much as when you ask me out?"

Silence answered her before she heard a short laugh from the other end of the line. Cosette had been very observant and sensitive to the people around her. Therefore, she immediately detected the bitter undertone in his laugh.

"Asher, are you alright?" she asked, naturally worried about him.

"Yes." His answer was quick, but he also took it back just as quickly. "No, I'm not."

"Do you need an extra ear?" she offered out of the goodness of her heart.

Asher kept quiet for the next minute before he repeated. "Seeing you attend my graduation would be nice."

"Ash, you know that me and Max—"

"And I don't care about that."

Her lips curved down, obviously not pleased by his response. "Asher Quinn."

"You're not married yet, Cosette Blac. I mean, even if you are, there's no guarantee that you'd stick together." Asher shrugged as if ridiculing the sacredness of marriage. "Isn't that the reason divorce exists?"

"What is wrong with you? Why are you suddenly saying all this?" her expression turned even gloomier. "Did something happen?"

Asher didn't answer immediately, focusing on the concern in her voice. It was true that he left her alone for months, preoccupying himself with work and school. There was no point in wasting his energy on Maxen or Cosette or even Luke. Although he would usually check Luke's well-being regularly.

"Nothing," he replied after a while, shifting his eyes to the document on his desk."Nothing happened recently… maybe in the past. Who knows?"

"Gosh…"

"Cosette, I'll expect you to come, hmm? That would be nice."

"Wait –"

Asher ended the call before she could even refuse or negotiate. He sighed, putting his phone down the side before picking up the document in front of him. When he raised it in front of him, his eyes read the bold letters above.

[ DNA test results… ]

"Asher Quinn and Maynard Quinn…" a short and dry laugh escaped his lips, reading that small percentage that proved they weren't father and son. "So, Mister Devilsin isn't lying, huh?"