“Ms. Hecate, what are you doing here? It's late,” she says calmly. That's surprising. After the initial shock, she regained her composure almost immediately.

“.............” I say nothing. I didn't come here to talk. I'm here to kill her.

“!!” She takes a step back, asking, “Is there something you want to talk about, Ms. Hecat—”

*Slap!*

“Shut up! I'm here to kill you, bitch!”

What am I doing? I'm supposed to kill her! Why am I talking so much?!

“Why?” she asks, still calm. And that is so irritating to look at?

Do you not see me as a threat? Am I that insignificant in your eyes?!

“You lied to me... You lied to me!”

“I didn't—”

*Slap!*

I slap her again.

“Seriously? I saw you.. I saw it with my own eyes. I heard everything. I was there from the start! Are you still seriously going to make excuses?” I say in a repressed scream. I want to shout but I don't want to be caught here.

“.............” she says nothing.

“I could have fixed our relationship. I was wrong, I admit it. I wanted to apologize to him but you just have to get in the way! After everything that you said, you lied and went back to your words.” I continue, “You seduce him, you bitch! Now he's gone... He's leaving me because of you... and IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT...!”

“.............” she remains silent. Then all of sudden, she chuckles.

I slap her.

*Slap!*

I slap her harder than I should, sending her to the side. She's so weak!

*Thud!*

With messy hair, even though she's the one lying on the floor— even though I'm the one with a dagger out— even though she's in danger, she looks at me without fear and says, “How dare you... You don't really deserve, Mark.”

*You—”

“Oh? Are you gonna hit me again? You can't win fair and square so you'll just kill me? You're quite pathetic— you insecure, childish bitch!” she looks angry. Shamelessly, she says, “You're right though. I lied. I said I won't steal him from you, but in the heat of the comment, I couldn't care any less about any of that. So yes, everything you heard and saw was all true.”

That angers me. I'm right after all. I should have killed her from the start.

“But so what? How dare you come here planning to kill me? Because of what? Because I tried to take him from you?”

“Ye—”

“Bitch! You were the one pushing him away. If you don't want him, I'll take care of him. I'll be there for him! At the very least, someone will catch him once you suddenly push him away. Heh. Even if it isn't me, someone will steal him from you. I'm sure of it. He deserves someone better! Not you who can't even appreciate him.”

“!.. that's not.. that's not true...”

“Don't tell me you forgot how you were treating him all this time? I saw him tried what he could to get you back..”

I know that...

“But what did you do? You treated him with such hostility that you threw the meal he made for you into the trash bin— right in front of his face!”

I KNOW THAT..! So...

“Grrrrt.... shut up...”

“Or what? You'll kill me? Go ahead! Do you still think he will accept you back? I already texted him that you're here! If something happens to me tonight, he will know it's your fault!”

“?!”

When did she do all that..???

“You— you cunning bitch—” I unconsciously swing my dagger.

*Swish*

“!”

But I manage to hold it back before it could cut her down through her neck.

This is bad.. what do I do? If she's telling the truth, then...

“Do.. do you think he'll still love you? For your information, Mark is still in love with me. Maybe not that much anymore, but he will certainly hate you if you harm me in any way...”

H-hate...?

No..

No, no...

Anything but that...

That's the worse that could happen...

ANYTHING BUT THAT!

What do I do? I have to kill her now.. maybe she's just lying to me—

“Here, read this,” she passes me the phone.

I take it and Mark replies:

「I'm going there...」

“?!” I can't help but drop the phone and dagger. Simultaneously, I scream, “Nooooo!”

No.. this isn't good. What do I do? Mark will hate me for sure. What am I supposed to do now? It's too late. He's really going to hate me.. It's certain now. I planned to do this secretly but if he's coming here... Oh no! This isn't good!

This is the WORSE!

I need to leave. I can't kill her anymore. I can't let him see me here. He'll hate me!

MARK WILL HATE ME!

“Grrrrrrt...”

This is her fault... This bitch.. this cunning bitch...

“YOU... This is your fault... Thi— sniff..” Unknowingly, tears begin falling from my eyes. My knees lost their strength and I fall to the ground.

*Thud!*

With my blurry eyesight, I look at Mae, I don't know how she looks right now. Maybe she's laughing at me. Maybe she's disgusted?

I mean, I came here to kill her. I'm armed. And I caught her by surprise. Even if I didn't, she's so fragile a punch from me can kill her.

She's so weak... but... I couldn't even do it. I couldn't win fair and square I had to kill my opponent... But I couldn't even do it now.

I lost... I completely lost. How did this even happen?

Am I just this terrible? Did all my achievements in the past were just because of luck?

I mean, how?

“How..? How?!” I weep. “I lost.. I can't win this anymore... I can't... I can't... It's too late now... huhuhu...”

I can't do anything anymore..

“How can I win if I suck this much..?”

My mother is right... I'm terrible.. I'm just this terrible. No wonder daddy left us.. It's all my fault...

“It's all my fault huhuhuhu... I can't win this anymore.. I already lost him... I lost huhu...”

“Have you done everything you could? Elizabeth, are you really finished?” Mae speaks all of sudden. I didn't even notice her get closer. She could have taken my dagger and stab me.

But.. she hugged me instead... Gently, she says, “Is your love for Mark so shallow you'll give up easily? Is this as far as you can go? You haven't even done everything yet. All you did to him was be cold and hostile. Maybe you had your own reservations but you came here to kill me because you thought I stole him from you. I don't think your love is shallow at all.”

She continues, “So why are you giving up now? Your determination to kill shows me how much you love him. I don't think I'll be able to win against that love. I don't think I will kill someone for the sake of love. I might just give up.”

She smiles, “Ms. Hecate, please don't give up on him. I admit. I still love him. But... Hehe... Although, mayhe he's not even aware of it... But he loves you too...”

“!”

Eh? L-l-lo—

“I admit. I tried to seduce him this afternoon. What you saw was real.... But if only you have seen how his eyes looked when I asked him if he loves you... He might not admit it... But he does.”

“But I suck... I'm the worst.. you're just lying to save yourself... Grrrt...” I grit my teeth. I can't accept that..

“You don't suck. Mark chose you for a reason. You are flawed but you're not the worse. Hey, we're all flawed you know? How do you see me, Ms. Hecate, that you're so afraid I can steal him from you?” she asks.

“You... you are his first love...”

“Yes. But you're his current love. And that guy didn't even bother to chase after me. He distanced himself from me and Al. He didn't bother anymore and moved on.” She continues, “Yet no matter how cold you are to him, he still hasn't given up on you.”

“But he hates me now...”

“No he won't. I'll punch him if he does. Why are you jumping to conclusions? He isn't even here yet. You keep saying you can't win anymore. Of course. How can you win if you already admitted defeat before the game is even over?”

“?!”

She smiles, “Mark rejected me, you know? I was serious. I told him to leave you for me—”

“You—”

“But, he rejected me.”

“Eh?”

She smiles, “Ms. Hecate, you already won. You're already the winner before I could even return to this city. Aren't you already his girlfriend?”

I gasp, “!”

That's what Mark told me...

He said the same thing:

‘You already won.. Aren't you already my girlfriend? You're just the one who's breaking apart with me. Haven't I been trying to get you back? But you keep avoiding me. You keep acting as if you hate me but I know that's not what you truly feel.’

I was just being stupid. There was no problem from the start...? How...? Why am I like this? I almost lost him because of my stupidity..

There's no reason to fight. I already won.

“Hehe...You look better. Now that you're a winner, all you have to do is maintain your position. If you keep pushing him away, I'm warning you... If you don't treat him well, someone will take him from you,” she says. With a serious face, she continues, “I know you love him very much. But if I see that you treat him badly, I'll do my best to steal him from you. Even if he doesn't want it..”

“.............” I don't know what to say.

“!”

Footsteps.

“You should leave. My mom is pretty strict. I don't know how to explain your presence here,” she smiles wryly.

Why is she...? I tried to kill her..

“Hurry...”

I stand up and put my dagger back into it's sheath. Mae open the window for me.

Before I can jump, she says, “Let's be friends from now on, okay?”

“.............” I'm speechless. I don't know what to say.

I simply jump off.

She says in whispers, but I can still hear it:

“...please take care of him...”