Chapter 24: The Matter of the Sword

Ever since Midnight started meeting his cute Ry, he had found something to look forward to every day. He would count the hours and minutes, waiting impatiently just so he could grasp that bit of happiness that Ryder's presence gave him.

Then something miraculous happened, and the two of them eventually got closer and closer, more and more familiar with each other, creating an atmosphere around themselves in which Midnight wished to drown. It was a new kind of feeling that was more than happiness and he was addicted to it.

It was probably because he got too accustomed to it, that after being deprived from it for two weeks, he felt like a parched man dying for a drop of water and once he found it, he couldn't have enough of it. His heart had taken control of all this body and reason had flown out of the window since he jumped into the room.

Midnight had shamelessly pushed Ryder down on her bed, stolen kisses now and then and even KISSSED THE CORNER OF HER LIPS! His brain that had just stared the process of restarting was already on fire and chaos from all his doings, unable to process anything before shutting down again.

The problem with this however… was that this caused Midnight to freeze on top of Ryder.

Things suddenly entered a delicate situation. On one hand Ryder was having an internal battle, trying fiercely to fight against Remy's words echoing in her head and on the other hand Midnight had no idea what to do with himself anymore, starting to question his existence. In any case, the tensed silence that had befallen them, went unnoticed due to both of them being too immersed in their thoughts.

Midnight was an idiot, but he wasn't stupid. Seeing that Ryder didn't have any negative reactions towards his actions, and that it was quite the contrary actually, his heart shook violently and turned into a puddle. The silence suddenly tasted sweet as it wrapped around them, but it shattered into pieces from Ryder's hot breathing that struck him right in the chest.

It was in those moments that a thought sparked in his head. An idea that once terrified him to death, but he couldn't shake it off.

Tell her. Tell her everything. Tell her who you are. Tell her to be yours. Tell her you love her…

Such thoughts aroused such strong and clear emotions in him, that his brain was successfully back online. Right then… with his heart beating out of control, Midnight was the most clear-headed he had been in his life. He never thought he would have such thoughts, such desires, but one thing was for sure. He didn't want to let go of Ryder. He wanted her to be his and the only way for this to happen was to get rid of this unusual mystery he had covered himself with.

Midnight sighed, a sigh mixed with nervousness, relief and fear. Such puff of breath fell on Ryder and the girl finally lost the battle. She had been struggling for so long and couldn't hold back anymore. However just as she was about to take action, the clear-headed Midnight leaned back and sat in a proper manner on the bed. The sudden attack Ryder had exhausted her mental state for, was extinguished into nothing, leaving her confused and disappointed. This didn't last too long, before Ryder realized just what she was going to do and her face heat up.

Holy fucking banana bread! What the hell! I was about to kiss him. I almost kissed him!

Then disappointment made a thought flash her mind: If only I acted a bit faster…

Midnight on the other hand for his own good acted as if what happened didn't have anything to do with him and shamelessly talked with a calm tone. "Did you make the mask? Can I see it?”

"I…” Ryder cleared her throat with an embarrassed expression on her face. "It's almost done. I haven't painted it."

She avoided looking at the dark silhouette that was Midnight as she stood up and walked to her desk where a white mask laid on top of a few old books. Ryder took it in her hands and turned around to give it to Midnight, but before she could even take a step towards the bed, the mask was snatched away from her hands.

Without saying anything, Midnight took the mask and walked to the little lamp that was casting that pitiful dim light into the room and brought the thing in his hand closer to it.

Such movements were so careless, Ryder almost fainted on spot. The moment she saw Midnight walking towards the light (not THAT light), she immediately covered he eyes, before slowly turning her back to him. That idiot still had his hood taken off and didn't even consider the fact that this was the golden chance the curious Ryder had been waiting for. However, facing such chance, Ryder rejected it without even thinking about it. It had turned into a reflex by now to avoid looking at Midnight's face and she silently cursed herself for it, but didn't dare look at Midnight.

Right then, as if this day hadn't been long and eventful enough… the door of the room was forcefully pushed open less than one inch before loudly slamming against the chair deliberately put there by Ryder. Midnight who was right behind the door froze while Ryder almost had a heart attack on spot.

She had begun putting that heavy metal chair against the door ever since Midnight started coming to her room. Simply locking the door would be too hard to explain to her parents who were strictly against it ever since she was five years old and peed on her pants after accidentally locking herself up and couldn't open the door again to go to the bathroom. So, to give herself and Midnight a chance, she used the chair to give them enough time to either shove Midnight out of the window or under the bed. That was the original plan. Who would have thought that when the day the chair would be finally useful, Midnight would be right behind the fucking door?

Ryder rushed to the door, while Midnight turned off the lamp and tried to shrink himself against the wall or maybe turn into air.

"Wo…” The surprised voice of Henry was heard and the strong urge to faint made Ryder almost unable to stand. With shaking hands, she moved the chair away from the door opened the latter wide enough for her head to stick out of it and looked at her father innocently. "What are you doing?”

Ryder blinked at her father as she tried to think of a believable lie. "I'm trying to sort my things and the room is a bit messy. Why aren't you asleep?”

The last sentence sounded like an accusation and Henry almost choked. I AM THE FATHER, OKAY! I should make you this question. Who is putting who to sleep?

Henry cleared his throat and straightened his posture before speaking with a righteous tone. "Your mother and I discussed a bit further about the previous conversation and decided that I should definitely duel your boyfriend."

Three things happened right after the last word came out of this man's mouth.

One: Ryder's brain almost exploded on spot, unable to deal with the fact that Midnight had just listened to such sentence, immediately after she had cleared up the whole "Aiden" situation.

Two: Midnight rose a brow at the girl in front of him, not knowing what to think.

And three: a slipper flew out of nowhere and it hit Henry right on the head while Michelle's voice echoed from their bedroom. "WE DISCUSSED SHIT! HE'S MAKING THINGS UP. If you don't stop speaking nonsense, forget the couch, you will sleep in the garage tonight!”

"I'm dueling that guy, period."

"You dare take that sword out and I will cut another sword off." Michelle threatened.

The urge to faint to save herself from embarrassment overwhelmed Ryder. What duel? What sword? AGH! Someone please sends me (T-T)

"THAT BRAT IS NOT WORTHY OF MY DAUGHTER!” Henry exclaimed, his voice going a few octaves higher.

"You haven't even met him!”

"I don't care. My baby is too young to start dating!”

"She's eighteen. Accept the reality."

"I DON'T WANT TO." Henry wailed.

Ryder couldn't bear anymore this fight going back and forth from one end of the hallway to the other. She glared at her father with a red face and yelled one powerful "WE'RE NOT DATING!” before slamming the door shut and locking it.

"But you might!” Henry was still unwilling to let go of this matter as he slammed against the door violently. After that, it seems that Michelle had had enough and personally took care of her husband because the slamming stopped too abruptly.

Ryder leaned against the door with a strong desire to end herself in those moments. She had already been teased for reading books with questionable contents, turned down for a kiss she was so ready to steal and now this happened… for the second time. And this time the person in question was present.

Forget talking to Midnight. Ryder didn't even want to acknowledge his presence at the moment. However, Midnight didn't give her this pleasure.

"Your father has a sword?”

Ryder was taken back by such question. Out of all he heard… that was what he wanted to ask about? Is he fucking serious?

What Ryder didn't know was that Midnight had other concerns in his heart. The father of the girl he loves has a sword. And he will duel him? What is this situation?

Midnight wholeheartedly believed Ryder when she said that there was nothing between her and Aiden and even more so when she said that she wasn't dating anyone. What bothered him was that after just taking the decision to reveal his identity and properly pursue Ryder, he was faced with such cruel reality. Should he learn how to duel? Where is he going to learn sword fighting? He knew about it only in theory. Oh God! Where is he going to fight a fucking sword?

"I made it for him." Ryder responded somewhat guilty. "It's made of resin…” She started to explain, but before she could finish her blabbering, Midnight suddenly came to realize something as he frowned.

"Who was he talking about?”

Such question with that gloomy tone… Ryder choked on the words she was about to say.

You? I can't say that, right? I haven't even confessed my feelings; I can't tell him that!

“… um…” Ryder scratched her head from an answer but it was in vain. "Pass."

WHAT PASS! Midnight's lips twitched. It is my right to know who my love rivals are, okay?

There was no way, Ryder would say anything else about this matter. "Did you like the mask? Where are we going to meet tomorrow? When?”

Midnight's lips twitched again.

.

.

.

The next day Ryder woke up particularly early for a Sunday and dragged Jasmine to Remy's work. This was definitely a first. Jasmine had been annoyed till she was nearly losing self-control last night by her newly announced boyfriend and her family and the last thing she wanted to do right now was to see Remy. And this was an excuse. The truth was she just had absolutely no idea how to act and what to say now they the two of them were in a relationship.

But Ryder was in desperate need to analyze what happened last night so she wanted Remy's opinion. Even though the guy had dug a pit for her with that "Kiss him" advice and those cursed books, it was still better than asking Jasmine whose EQ was on the negative digits side. And she also wanted to scold the guy for the contents of the books.

In one night, Ryder felt like she had gone from being the "adapted daughter" to stealing the position of Mama Bear from Jasmine who had turned into a little harmless puppy ever since Remy made it clear that he liked her. She must protect Jasmine from any funny ideas Remy could have gotten from those books.

"I don't want to go!” Jasmine yelled as Ryder tried to drag her out of her house. Every word was said powerfully while shaking her head furiously like a dog, the hair flying from one side to the other.

Mr. and Mrs. Hassen looked at their daughter with half closed eyes and each with a cup of coffee in their hands. They hadn't fully woken up yet, but still chose to join the fun and spectate their only daughter's madness.

"You always wanted to stalk Remy, what are you being difficult for now?” Ryder pulled Jasmine's waist, but the latter had grabbed the frame of the front door in a death grip and wouldn't let go no matter what. Ryder tried to pull at her waist, but was useless. Tried pulling at her legs, turning Jasmine into a flag fluttering in the wind, yet it still didn't bring any success.

"Why are you being a stubborn mule?” Mr. Hassen yawned as he asked. "Go meet my son-in-law. He's so hardworking, already having a job while you're here wailing like a cow with disease."

Jasmine started to sob. She was alone. Betrayed by everyone. They were all against her.

"He's not your son-in-law!” Jasmine snapped at her father. "I haven't agreed to any engagement. Who said we're getting married?”

Mr. Hassen raised an eyebrow. The calm and somewhat sleepy expression remained on his face, but such sight sent shivers down Jasmine's spine and she almost let go of the door frame.

"You're telling me that you plan to date for fun and break up and date again with another guy and repeat this process until you finally decide on some random guy that I might or might not approve of?”

The hands on the door frame stiffened and the knees went soft at those calmly spoken words. Jasmine could feel that her father was unhappy. And Mr. Hassen shouldn't be unhappy. Bad things happened when he was fucking unhappy. Everyone was unhappy when he was unhappy. AHH!

"No, I didn't mean…” Jasmine started to say but she couldn't finish for her father cut her off with just one look.

"I don't remember educating you like this. What do you take relationships for? Do you think getting in a relationship is a game you can play whenever you're in mood? Those things have a purpose. Who told you to get a boyfriend? Now take responsibility for your actions and choices and bring lunch to my son-in-law. Poor him, must be tired."

Before Jasmine could say anything else, Mrs. Hassen had stuffed a lunch box in Jasmine's hand and pushed her out of the house.

The door was slammed on her face and Jasmine didn't know if she should be angry or start crying. It's not like she wasn't taking her relationship with Remy seriously. It is that everybody was on his side.

Feeling wronged, Jasmine angrily vowed to make Remy sleep countless days in the couch when they married.

Right then, in a small convenience shop, Remy felt a shiver run down his spine."

"You don't want to marry Remy?” Ryder blinked her eyes in surprise at Jasmine.

The latter almost threw the lunch box to her head. "We just got together YESTERDAY. What marriage are you all talking about!”

"It's not like they're marrying you tomorrow." Ryder frowned.

Upon hearing this, Jasmine froze and felt like she was enlightened. Oh… so they were talking about the distant future? Why didn't they say so!

Ryder saw the expression on Jasmine's face change with her thoughts and knew what she was thinking about. The corner of her lips twitched. "You thought they were marrying you off?”

Realizing her own stupidity, Jasmine's face heats up but she refused to be embarrassed. Her cheeks puffed; Jasmine walked away as if nothing happened. "It's an understandable misunderstanding."

"It's not actually."

“I said it is!” Jasmine raised her voice. After that she refused to talk the whole way to the convenience shop, walking as if she was going to beat someone up, her chest puffed up, furrowed eyebrows and a scowl on her face. No one dared get on her way, making way for her immediately.

When the two of them entered the shop, Remy was sorting chips bags on the shelves. His eyes lit up immediately when he saw Jasmine and rushed to her side like a small puppy enthusiastically running to its owner. Jasmine had been angry the whole way to here. When she was suddenly pulled in a hug and a face buried in her neck, her cheeks turned red and all the anger and annoyance from before were thrown out of the window.

"Did you come because you missed me?” Remy asked.

Jasmine unconsciously nodded.

Now Ryder understood how these two got together. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if Remy suddenly proposed and Jasmine accepted right on spot. Her idiot friend was completely powerless against Remy.

Unwilling to be a third wheel, forcefully being fed with the fluff and sweetness of the couple until her teeth rot, Ryder grabbed the lunch box from Jasmine and shoved it in Remy's hands. "I need your advice. Be lovey-dovey later."

Remy wasn't particularly happy for being interrupted, yet still listened to Ryder explaining everything that happened yesterday, from the moment Midnight got in her room, to the whole small kiss’s thing.

After listening for a while with a concentrating frown on his lips, the furrow between his brows smoothed. Remy's expression changed into a confused and surprised one when he asked. "Midnight has read my books?”