Twisted Paradise

Chapter 7

It had been a few minutes since she walked him out. It was a spontaneous decision - him arriving at her doorstep, he'd told her.

He had left after ever so politely requesting her to call him, so he can leave with her number on his phone. He had seemed a tad bit upset that she hadn't called even after basically extorting his number that night.

For someone who wasn't physically attracted to her, he seemed pretty attached, already. What was happening?

But then she shrugged off that thought.

Maybe her bountiful and endless charms couldn't help but make an impression on him.

That's just how she was.

Yep. That was the reason.

With confident strides, she breezed into the living room and sprawled down on the velvet sofa beside Selene who was almost at the end of her novel.

"So, what's this one about?" Lily asked.

"A queen in disguise ventures out of her palace and slowly falls for a carefree boy - not knowing that he's the number one outlaw in her city; the one who wants her dead." She then raised her head to lock her frosty blue eyes with Lily's forest green ones; face void of emotions. "Imagine what happened when they both found out the other's true identity."

Playing dumb, she said laughingly, "There's an explosion of emotions - messy and complicated - which they both overcome like they always do and then get married and live happily ever after with five kids?"

As Selene went back to reading without giving away any of her emotions, as usual, Lily thought that was the end of it.

Unfortunately not.

"This is a novel, Lilithe... this is a romance novel." Lily peered up in surprise as Selene spoke once again, her eyes trained on the book this time. "You don't know how real life will turn out, you can never predict that."

Her voice sounded as flat as was normal but on a closer look, Lily thought that maybe she could distinguish a smidgen of... melancholy.

But that wasn't possible.

What did Selene have to be melancholy about?

There wasn't a single living person she cared about. Because of her childhood, Selene grew up prioritizing material things and fictional people over real ones.

Lily had always been aware of that.

So she shrugged it off, once again.

Instead, she said, "Blaise told me that his mother likes reading romance just as you."

"He has a good relationship with his mother, it seems."

Lily paused for a second, searching Selene's face which, as always, betrayed nothing. "That's the feeling I got as well. He had this... affectionate look on his face when he was talking about her. But he admitted that he killed his father. But after spending time with him today, I'm more sure than ever, the rumours of why he killed the previous Boss are wrong."

"Maybe something related to his mother?"

Lily raised an arched brow. "Why would you say that?"

Selene's shoulder lifted a millimetre, imitating a shrug. "Just a feeling I got."

Lily rolled her eyes, smiling. "You and your feelings."

"That sounds wrong."

"Whatever."