One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-

-Everybody's P.O.V-

Skylar thickly swallowed as she harshly pushed back against Zach, knocking his sword away before slashing down at him with her own. Quickly, he wasted no time in blocking her attack as he swung his sword back around 'til it clashed against hers.

"Now, now, there's no need for us to fight" he grinned as he pushed back against her once more. "I really don't want to hurt that pretty little face of yours, darling" he cooed and despite how sickly sweet his words sounded, she knew better than to believe them. It was clear as day to see that he was filled to the brim with years worth of pent-up rage that had been slowing building itself up ever since her sudden disappearance when they were children.

It was clear to see that all he wanted to do at this moment was hurt her—to make her understand just how badly her childish actions had hurt him all those years ago.

"Bullshit! The minute I left was the minute our engagement ended—you're not my fiancé anymore and you never will be!" Skylar snapped. "That life is far behind me! It's dead and no longer exists!" she glared, hating the loving yet condescending tone he took with her. It's been literal years since she left and last saw him. He should have forgotten her—his parents should have moved him along to the next young noblewoman who caught their eye instead of forcing him to stay engaged to someone whose whereabouts hadn't been known in the last eight years.

"Oh?" Zach amusingly questioned, causing the brunette to raise a brow before groaning at the sudden yet swift kick that was painfully delivered to her side. "Is that why you left? Because you were so disgusted by our arranged marriage?" he asked. "That's it? Isn't it?" he glared, temper quickly rising as he thought back to the day they had first met—thought back to the hateful look she had worn on her face.

"And here I thought we were getting along so well after that little mishap of a first meeting!" he sneered, recalling just how nice things had been between the two of them after they were forced to start training together. He fondly recalled the days when he had been able to make her smile or laugh. He even remembered the day when he first found himself hoping that their future together was going to be bright...

He also remembers the day when that hope was shattered upon receiving the news that she and her brothers were missing—that they were nowhere to be found on the island.

"No! That's not it!" Skylar shouted, violently shaking her head as she gritted her teeth. Not liking it one bit how the blond attempted to make her reason for leaving sound so petty and immature. Sure, she never liked their arranged marriage to one another. But, for the most part, she had bitterly accepted it as something that she would have to tolerate for the rest of her life.

She played along every step of the way like she was supposed to.

She acted the way her father expected her to whenever the blond was around. She'd laugh at his jokes and smile and she'd act like everything was fine and dandy and perfect and that life wasn't a literal pile of agonizing pain and suffering. She'd hide her tears and misery all so he could continue to be blissfully ignorant just like everyone else about what really went out behind the closed doors of her family home.

"Don't lie to me!" Zach snapped as he angrily raised his sword and slashed downward. He grinned when he saw that he had successfully nicked the brunette's shoulder before she could fully dodge the attack, causing her to wince. "Tell me, were you just faking all those smiles during our time spent together? Was it really all just pretend for you?" he asked as she uncomfortably averted her gaze...

Some of them were indeed fake, she couldn't lie about that, but not for the reasons he so desperately wanted to believe at this very moment.

There were days when they were real. Days when she did find herself liking the blond in front of her as a friend—days where she truly thought the two of them could cultivate something genuine enough that maybe she could believe for a moment that things between them would possibly be fine. That her worries and fears were for naught and that maybe she could one day trust him.