Maroon. The Great War

I can't stand him.

Hayden Schlider is everything I despise-cold, calculated, and dangerously loyal to an ideology I've spent my life resisting. He follows orders without question, keeps people at arm's length, and looks at me like I'm an irritation he has to tolerate.
The feeling is mutual.
And I've never been one to stay quiet when someone underestimates me.
We clash at every opportunity. He calls me reckless. I call him heartless. He tells me I don't understand the world we live in. I tell him he's too much of a coward to change it.
We were never meant to understand each other.
But then I saw him break. Just for a moment. A flicker of something behind those cold, sharp eyes. And I hated it.
Because I wasn't supposed to see him like that. I wasn't supposed to wonder what else was hiding beneath that perfect mask.
I wasn't supposed to care.
But now I can't stop looking at him. Can't stop hearing the way his voice softens when he forgets to be cruel.
I should walk away. Let him rot in the mess he chose for himself.
But I don't.
And no matter how much I want to hate him, I can't ignore the truth.
Neither of us wanted this.
But somehow, we found something in each other.
And I don't know if that makes us enemies or something much, much worse.