𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 [𝐑. 𝐋𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐧]

𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋?

Song:
Pretty When you Cry (Lana Del Rey)
"Don't say you need me when; you're leaving, you leave again."

The ghost of her kiss remained on his lips, no matter how much he wanted to forget it. It was like she had cursed him, the cruel smile on her lips as she uttered those words to him with absolutely no guilt in the eyes he'd secretly admired bewitching him in the worst possible way.

All those times he'd seen Callisto's charm, he'd never thought he'd end up being one of its victims. He'd laughed as she casually chatted with the server in the Three Broomsticks, all of their drinks ending up on the house. He'd smirked as he saw all those random guys she'd never talked to before go up to her in the library, trying to catch a conversation with her, because he knew that no matter how much she stood by and enjoyed them nervously fumbling over their words, it was only his touch she craved. She hadn't said 'yes' when they proposed a walk in grounds after she finished with her studying, because she always ended up in his arms and that was all that mattered. He was the only person her blue eyes held something deeper for and he couldn't have imagined how much it would end up hurting him when that was shattered.

Now, he was one of those guys he'd make fun of and he didn't know whether he felt that way because of the bet, or because of the way he had treated her. He was leading her on, there was no other way to put it, but wasn't she doing the same thing?

Everything was fake. Her smiles, her kisses, her soft touch, her laugh; all of it was nothing more but a game to her. Just a more elaborate flirt that she entertained until he was too involved to notice that she had never meant any of it. He would have marveled at her acting skills, hadn't he been so heartbroken over them. And that thought was the one that made him see red.

It was the sort of anger only someone truly heartbroken could conjure, the objects cluttering in the floor as he threw them at the wall, his hands stained with his blood as accidentally cut himself on the broken photo frames and banged the wall with his fists as if he was trapped inside the four walls. Everything was fake, nothing she had said to him held an ounce of truth.

You were just a bet.

Just a bet for her to occupy herself with. Surely, life can be pretty boring after you dwell with manipulation, because everything becomes a game and when all the pawns you so skillfully messed with end up broken and useless, there's nothing left for you to play with. He was the most broken piece of the chess board and yet, he wished he could mend himself again just to see her smile, fake or not.

Remus sank to the floor, his throat dry from the sobbing and his eyes stinging. His hand reached for the drawer next to his bed, taking the small jewelry box out and setting it on the floor. He opened it carefully, seeing the necklace she had forgotten by his bed all those months ago. He still hadn't given it back to her, although she had never asked for it. He kept it close to him, his finger tracing over the ruby stone whenever he'd feel that gaping hole in his heart only she could fill.