Chapter One

The Male Lead

 

 

The sun was up but the light didn't shine bright like in summer days. Lilith looked through the window and saw the sky slowly darkened with a strong smell of perspiration from the soil. The weather perfectly vibes in with her mood, her head was resting on her wide table where her tablet and three large monitors were positioned in a U shape. She grabbed the white pen from the tablet and used it on tapping her head from producing ideas for her webcomic's next chapter and unfortunately she got an artist block. When her phone light up, she opened the screen and was surprised that she got a message from one of her old friends. She straightened her back and widened her eyes when she saw the text,

 

6:30 AM

Ms. Lilith Raven, I have some business that I would like to discuss with you. Will you hear out my offer? I will give you time and place when I'll receive your reply. 

 

Lilith furrowed her brows together, it's an unlikely character of her friend to be serious right off the bat. She typed a reply and sent it without second thoughts.

 

  6:32 AM

   Dude stop. You being formal all of a sudden that it's creeping me out. When and where will I be meeting you today?

 

6:33 AM

X's Latte, 10 o'clock. I'm sorry if I was asking too much from you knowing that you're busy doing your own comic, but you're the right person that I want to meet right now. I'll tell you the details when we'll meet. See you!

 

6:34 AM

Nah. My imagination seems not right on the track so I needed a break. See you soonest! 

 

After that, her friend, Rheia did not reply anymore. Lilith decided to get up from her chair to prepare breakfast, however, the moment she stood up from her seat, a ringing buzz hit inside her head like an alarm. Her legs struggled in supporting her body so she leaned on the edge of the table and clutched her throbbing head with difficulty. Her face distorted in pain as she tried to keep up with the unknown scenarios that continued to invade inside her brain. A man who had a decent height, slim but lean body painted with milky skin that made him look like a translucent angel descended from heaven. Despite the heavenly appearance, his loosely styled dark hair covered his domineering, thin, and slanted grey eyes with a mocking gaze planted on the woman sitting across him. His shapely, thin lips rose up into an angelic smile.

 

"It's nice to meet you, Lilith. Have we met somewhere?"

 

"You're pick-up line is old, just like you." 

 

"It's nice to see you again, Lily." 

 

"Don't fucking call me with that name."

 

"I see. You're still the same old, uncouth, Lily. That's why I can't come to like you, except for that night." 

 

The scene changed with another woman standing beside the same guy. Her soft features and small stature made her looked cute and refreshing specifically her bright smile. Together with the man's arrogant yet elegant looks, they make a good looking pair. Lilith blinked away the tears pooled in her eyes and breathe in and out slowly to steady herself. Finally, she regained back her strength and made way to the kitchen to get a glass of warm water.

 

"What the fuck was that?" Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

 

7:01 AM

You're meeting up with Rheia?

 

She frowned upon opening the message. It was an unknown number but she got a bad feeling from coming from it. The scenario that suddenly popped up in her mind earlier felt like there was something wrong going on. She tried to think once again what was it about and who was those two people that felt oddly familiar, but Lilith chose to ignore it for the time being and threw the phone away. Three hours had passed and Lilith was still thinking about it, when she glanced at the wall clock in the living room she decided to make her way to meet Rheia. There was no point in thinking a passing, non-existent memory, she thought. However, when she was about to go out, her surrounding started pulsating and the ringing sound that she heard earlier was vibrating in her ears. She stood in place, confusion, panic, and fear simultaneously eating up her insides. 

 

[Warning activated. The minor villainess is about to meet again the male lead, Ethan. 

Affiliation: The villainess' first love and senior in her teenage years until she confessed and got rejected twice, but later had a one-night stand after graduating in college. 

Location: X's Latte

Time left: 2 hours 

 

In a snap, the robotic voice that deeply echoed inside her was gone. Cold sweats dripped on her skin like an opened dam. Now that she thinks about it, she had no memories of her high school life nor college life. She did not even think too deeply when and how did she become a friend of Rheia. It comes out like a natural thing until that monotonous voice came out like a slap in her reality. It referred to her as the villainess, moreover, she did not recall anything about meeting or falling in love with the Ethan guy.

 

"The villainess? Meeting the male lead, Ethan? A one-night stand?" 

 

In the middle of Lilith's inner turmoil, her phone rang. She stared on the screen for a long time, not sure if she can talk with Rheia right now with her mixed-up thoughts and feelings of the sudden change that shook her morning. She contemplated for an appropriate response before swiping the green button,

 

"Hi, Lily! I'm on the way to X's Latte. How about you?"

 

"It's good hearing you so cheerful in this gloomy weather. I'm on my way, too." 

 

"Hey, are you okay? You sound so stiff." I should make a better excuse so she won't notice.

 

"Thank you for inviting me today. I'm on a slump so maybe I sounded so stiff to you." Lilith tried to make the pitch of her voice a little bit higher to make light of the matter. She heard Rheia sighed on the other side and made an apology for disturbing her in the middle of Lilith's work, but Lilith quickly cut off her words and said an assurance that all will be fine after they will talk about Rheia's work proposal. Soon, their conversation ended and Lilith made her way out from her apartment to their point of location. It took about a half an hour for Lilith to arrive at the X's Latte. She parked her car near the cafe and proceeded towards the entrance. She spotted Rheia wearing a long, printed, white dress, paired with a black leather jacket and white sneakers. Her long, shiny, black hair was tied into a messy bun. Lilith sighed helplessly when she noticed that Rheia nonchalantly ignored the men that crowded upon her like a bee drawn to honey. 

 

"Rheia! I'm sorry that you waited for me. Shall we take an order before we grabbed our seats?" Lilith did not wait for Rheia's response and hook her arms around Rheia and entered the cafe without looking back at the disappointed gaze of the men. 

 

"You're still a guy magnet. If that's even a word." 

 

"I can't help it. I'm too beautiful after all." Lilith rolled her eyes heavenward upon hearing her statement. She remembered the warning that she heard from a monotonous voice that came inside her mind previously and it made her irritated at the fact that she did not remember anything about that guy. It was ridiculous enough that something out of this world was happening in her life, the system that only activates when an important character might appear in front of her was baffling. It made her re-think if this life was truly hers or was it a lie all along. Rheia noticed that her friend's mind was not present at the moment, so she ordered Lilith's favorite coffee and dessert in her stead. At the same time, they found a perfect spot and sat down together. 

 

"Lily, are you really fine? It seems something is bothering you ever since I called you." Lilith laugh nervously, her friend was sharp enough to grasp her current situation. 

 

"Let's talk about your proposal first before anything else. You sound so serious and formal when you sent me a message. What is it?" 

 

"Alright. I'll be direct to the point. I wanted you to be my main artist for my novel, The Witch Hunter." Lilith's deep, almond-shaped eyes, went wide as saucers. She could not believe that the most famous of Rheia's novel will be serialized into a webcomic. On top of it, she wanted Lilith to be the artist of her novel. Lilith tried to calm down her racing heart and questioned Rheia's motives for picking her as the artist.

 

"What's the reason behind you, picking me as your artist of the most prized novel that you created? I'm pretty sure your company suggested some collaborations from different comic companies out there. It can't be that you refused all of them for me?" Rheia smiled knowingly. She was prepared for this kind of reaction from her friend and that's exactly what she wanted from the start.

 

"You're right. I refused all of them just because I do not like how will they handle my work. You do know that The Witch Hunter held a sentimental value to me, right? I love all my works but this one is very special to me, this novel got me to where I am today. When I heard that they want to change some major details in the story, I immediately turned down the offer and stubbornly stormed off from the office. I declared that I will be publishing my own comic version of the novel without the company's help. That is why I contacted you, hoping that you will help me." Rheia sounded resolute of her decision and looked like she had the guts of chasing around Lilith anytime if she's going to refuse but Lilith could not utter a single word because she was overwhelmed by her friend's proposal. Lilith can't think about anything else because she was overjoyed of being apart of the serialization of the novel into a comic.

 

"I...I don't know what to say. It's too overwhelming, Rheia. Imagine how many millions of people will react to your announcement that it will be made into a webcomic."

 

"I just need a yes or no coming out from your pretty mouth, Lily." 

 

Rheia's smile goes wider as she extended her right hand towards Lilith, expecting an affirmative response from her. Lilith also smiled warmly at her and grasped her outstretched hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'm really glad that I have an outstanding and reliable artist." When Lilith was about to say something, her line of vision caught an elegant man holding his cold coffee. His shiny, dark hair styled loosely and those white, button-up, long-sleeved shirt paired with denim pants made him looked youthful but had the aura of maturity. Lilith's eyes went cold when he saw the man approaching on their way, lightly smiling like an angel. Rheia looked back and gaped at the sight of the man,

 

"Brother..."

 

"That man is your brother?"

 

"Yeah, what is he doing here?" 

 

When he finally arrived at their table, his smile shone brighter. As he extends a hand on Lilith, his intense grey eyes lit up with a mocking curiosity while his lips quirked up into a smirk. 

 

It's nice to meet you, Lilith. Have we met somewhere?

"It's nice to meet you, Lilith. Have we met somewhere?" Lilith smiled bitterly when she recalled the exact words of this guy before. She also decided to use that statement to test how the truth will be played out.

 

"Your pick-up line is old, just like you." 

 

It's nice to see you again, Lily.

"It's nice to see you again, Lily." Rheia's attention switched back and forth between the two, aware of the tense atmosphere that crackled like fireworks. Ethan deliberately put on his haughty attitude just to get Lilith riled up a little bit since he knew she had a temper. On contrary to his expectations, Lilith did not budge an inch and stared at him blankly. Her golden eyes did not show any emotions other than ignorance of his existence. 

 

"I don't remember seeing you around here. If I have, how could I forget such a handsome guy like you." Lilith clasped his smooth hand lightly. 

 

"I'm Rheia's friend, Lilith and you are?" 

 

"Ethan, her older brother." 

 

Despite the fake friendliness and warm air that hovered around him, Lilith remained unshakeable and donned a business-like expression. She soon let go from his hand and focused her attention on Rheia, who was looking at them with a strange expression. Rheia opened and closed her mouth like a fish out in the water, while Lilith's current thoughts were on haywire she did not let them show it across her face, fearing of the enemy that's in front of her. She did not lie when she spout those words because she truly does not have any recollections on that night. Meanwhile, Ethan grabbed a chair and chatted with his sister yet, he thought that Lilith's acting just now was impeccable. He could not believe that she acted like he was just a passing breeze on the streets. His ego was bruised, after all, the women he met can't get their hands off of him. He was an insatiable specimen in the eyes of women, still, the woman in front of him did not bother to make a conversation, nor make eye contact. Ethan smirked slyly, thinking of some ways to provoke the immovable mask of the woman.

 

"Can I call you Lily?" Lilith raised an eyebrow at his overly-friendly act. Her stomach churned a hundred and eighty degrees when she saw his eyes glinted with mischief. There's something wrong with this man, she thought.

 

"No," was her only reply. But her refusal was egging him to bring out more emotions from her. 

 

"Lily, are you really sure we haven't met before?"

 

"My facial structure is common that must be the reason why you keep mistaking me for someone." 

 

"Brother, you're such a flirt. What are you doing here anyway?" 

 

Rheia slammed her frappe on the table, her annoyance was evident on her face. On the other hand, Lilith crossed her arms together to prevent herself from slapping the face of the foxy man that shared a table with them. Ethan did not mind the unwelcoming behavior of the two women, in fact, he takes the pleasure of poking their buttons just to annoy them. Rheia's phone rang, disrupting the heavy atmosphere between them. She excused herself and walked out to take the call. The two nodded in unison and sat there in awkward silence. 

 

"You act like nothing happened between us. Are you using this chance to get back at me?" Ethan propped his hands on the table, gone with the angelic facade, and was placed by an arrogant, domineering jerk. Lilith felt like slapping this man. The system labeled this man as the male lead and yet she can't fathom that a man like him was considered a shining character. Lilith sipped her now cold, brewed coffee, and spoke with a laced venom in her voice

 

"Oh my, the coffee tastes bland when talking to a person like you. I wonder why is that?" 

 

"Stop being petty, Lily. I know you're doing this so that you can get my attention. That night, wasn't it enough?" 

 

Blue veins pulsated against her skin as it projected angrily, the coldness of her eyes went below a hundred degrees and the severity of her voice echoed clearly on his ears, "Hey mister-have-it-all, I don't fucking know you and most of all, you're spouting bullshits here like I planned something hideous. I know you're doing this deliberately, so are you fucking satisfied now?" 

 

Ethan stared at her, dumbfounded from her words. He thought that Lilith was just acting out to bait him, but when he heard her biting words he thought that Lilith was acting weird. He did not expect that she would get angry at him or had an indifferent attitude when he sat down with them.

 

 Did she really forget about me?  

 

When Rheia came back inside the atmosphere between the two became worse, it's like they were living in Antarctica. Lilith grabbed her bag and calmly stood up, she approached Rheia and gave her a warm hug before turning her back on them. She did not spare a glance at Ethan, who was staring at her with bewilderment. He felt angry and betrayed that Lilith was aloof around him. Meanwhile, Rheia had her suspicion spiked when Lilith gave a cold treatment to her brother despite that this was their first meeting, she opened her mouth to ask something from him but knowing Lilith's temperament, she would not walk out like that if nothing bad happened. She chose to shut her mouth and glared at her older brother who was staring on thin air. 

 

"You're being an asshole again, Ethan." 

 

But Ethan just shrugged off and smirked as if he was completely innocent on this day's meeting. 

 

Well, I have plenty of time to play with her. It won't be long before she comes back, begging for me.