Possessive Rich Bully

Chapter 2

Playlist - Run by BTS

Axel

almost thirteen

It was two days since my dad had threatened to send me off to boarding school and had actually been manic at my behaviour. He repeatedly asked me what was the matter with me. Why had I been acting so unlike me?

I couldn't answer him. Or anyone. One of the reasons was because I didn't understand why I had to take out my frustration on that girl. Maybe it was because my step cousin, Charlotte, tried to kiss me when her brother, Ares, my cousin, wasn't looking.

I was feeling irritated and confused. I couldn't fathom what overtook her to press her lips against mine. It was strange, because she was somehow related to me too.

Charlotte and I shared no blood relation as she was nothing more than my cousin's bastard sister. Ares' mom and my mom were sisters and hence, that's how he and I were related. Charlotte was in no way related to me, but that didn't mean she could kiss me.

I had never kissed anyone before and she stole my first kiss. It was rude.

My emotions were all over the place. The only way I could act was through violence. I, in no way, had intended to go beyond pulling, I-had-forgotten-what-her-name-was, I'll just call her help for now.

So I had intended to mess with the help and to scare her off a little, but her words had ticked me off the wrong way. I had to shut her up.

I swear, she was so bloody irritating and now I wanted to teach that b***h a lesson.

I think I recalled my mom talking about taking pity on the help's granddaughter by enrolling her in the same school as me.

My brain churned with all the things I could do to mess with her when she started school with me. It's safe to say that she made an enemy out of the wrong person.

***

There she was.

I lips curled into a smirk as I watched her from afar. She was sitting, barefoot, on the grass of my garden, writing something in a notebook. Her braided hair reached the end of her spine and she looked like a country bumpkin in her farmer' overalls.

I checked whether anyone was around to witness what I was about to do to her. The coast was clear and luckily I had some friends over to do my dirty work. That way dad won't suspect me for this little stunt.

"That's her?" Raul asked. He was three years older than me and a little rough.

"What do you want to do with her?" Joe, also older than me, twirled his soccer ball around his finger. "She got you in trouble with your folks?"

I never understood why these much older boys liked hanging out with me. I wasn't even a teenager yet. Well, who cares?

"She did," I replied, folding my arms. "I need to teach her a lesson without dad getting a whiff of it."

Joe flashed me a grin. "Let us handle her."

I thought I would enjoy myself watching her get exactly what she deserved. I thought they would just playfully mess with my help, but damn, I was wrong.

When Joe's ball met the top of her head, I knew I made the wrong decision by sending them out for her. They were rougher than necessary.

A sinking weight pressed into my stomach, when Raul pulled out a pocket knife aiming for her braided hair. I finally snapped out my trance and ran to put an end to their s**t.

"Stop!" I yelled on top of my lungs, but they had already succeeded in chopping her braid off. I winced as she wailed in horror of what had happened.

"That's too much. Why did you do that?" I pushed Raul, but being older, he was much stronger than me.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys? That's not what I wanted you to do. This is batshit crazy stuff." I stomped my feet on the ground.

Joe just shrugged it off and Raul acted as if nothing had happened.

"You should thank us, Axel. We did what you were too much of a p***y to do." Raul crouched down to help's sitting level. "This little s**t called me an asshole so it was only fair that I showed her what an asshole behaved like."

"Get out," I snapped at my friends, more like former friends. "I don't need you with me anymore."

"Is that so?" Joe took slow, predatory steps in my direction. "You grew a pair quickly."

Before they could do anything I kicked Raul' knee which was still going through recovery, he had fractured it in a game.

He yelped, falling down to the grass. "You little shit."

"Get out of here before I call security," I warned. "I bloody mean it."

Joe looked as if he wanted to punch me, but made a better decision of leaving, taking his friend with him.

"Hey!" I went to her side. "Are you alright?"" She jerked her head up, and my breath caught when I saw her face.

One of the lens of her frames had a little dent on it, her eyes filled with tears and she looked so broken in that moment which in return made me regret my actions towards her.

She was a victim of my wrongful anger that I had rained upon her. It was horrible of me to take out my frustration on this poor girl.

I saw her chopped off braid laying somewhere on grass, and winced. She had beautiful hair and I had ruined it.

"You... I-I-I did n-nothing to you-u," she sniffed, her lips quivering. "Is it a crime to-to be born poor? To be treated like dirt? She let out a hiccup. "Y-You would defend your par-parents if someone insults them," she cried more, making me feel like a s**t with every word. "I-I defended mine, so what did I do wrong."

She put her face in her hands and cried more. I couldn't see her cry because of me.

I touched her curled shoulders, but she shrugged it off. "Don't touch me," she screamed.

She stood up on shaky legs. I held out my hand so she could steady herself. She ignored it and left the garden, clutching the notebook close to her chest.

I was filled with unbridled agony and remorse. My actions had consequences of its own, dad was right. I needed to get my s**t straight.

Hurting someone's emotions was never on my radar.

***

I kicked my feet up on the coffee table and switched the TV on to focus my attention playing games on the playstation.

I was feeling restless since past two days. This nagging feeling at the back of my head won't let me have peace of mind.

For the first time in my life, I hated making someone cry, and that girl looked so fragile in front of me. I would go crazy if I didn't make amends with her.

I was a terrible person. She could've even ratted me out on what I did to her, but she didn't. That made me want to kick myself.

I needed to see her.

"Where is our new help living, Martin?" I approached our home butler. "You know those with a granddaughter." I propped my elbows up on the crystal table, where Martin was tending his drink and tried my best to appear nonchalant.

"Mrs. Trent has them placed in the guesthouse at the end of the estate." His eyebrows rose suspiciously. "What work do you have with them, young sir?"

"Nothing that should worry you."

I took the golf cart all the way to the guest house to cut the long distance.

I took determined strides up to their front door and rang the bell once, twice yet no one answered. I figured her grandparents were busy doing their work, and she wouldn't have gone out on a stroll in mid afternoon.

Why wasn't she answering her door?

I turned the doorknob, luckily it was unlocked. It was indeed my guesthouse so this won't count as a trespass.

The wooden floor creaked as I took each step, trying to figure out where she was hidden. It didn't take much time to figure out the sound of someone crying.

Shit. She was still crying.

I don't understand why I suddenly felt so angry at her. I supposed it was because I didn't peg her to be someone who easily accepted their defeat. She should've marched straight up to me and delivered one of those punches she was talking about.

I trudged upstairs and opened her door, ready to berate her for acting like a weak little baby.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw water overflowing from those huge brown eyes and trickling down her rosy cheeks. She paused when she saw me standing in her small bedroom.

I closed the door behind me, swallowing every scathing word I'd been about to hurl at her and choked on them as they swelled in my throat.

"Listen..."

"You dog," she spit out the words. "How dare you show me your stupid face." More fat, angry tears fell down her cheeks.

I eyed the tissues stuffed inside her clenched fist and took a step near her bed.

"Stop!" She screamed. "I don't want you here."

Before I knew, she had gotten up from the bed to swing a punch across my jaw. I stumbled back on my footing taken aback from the sudden blow.

She had hit me hard and I didn't think she had that much strength in her. Instead of fury that I should've felt, I was impressed by her.

And relieved that she fought back. I was not a fan of weak girls.

"Are you psychotic? I just punched you and all you're doing is smile like a fool." It would appear so.

I stood straight to face her. It was the first time I looked closely at her face. She had delicate features with soft caramel eyes that were hidden behind her glasses, a small taut nose, long lashes, high cheekbones which were dipped in rose essence and bow shaped lips.

She was pretty enough. I remembered calling her ugly the first time I met her. God, I was so wrong.

"What's your name?" I asked her. "I might have forgotten your name."

Her piercing gaze inspected me from head to toe. "You're something else, huh?" She scoffed. "It's Astoria, you toad."

"Astoria." I tested the name on my tongue. The name was just like her, different. "I am very sorry for my actions, Astoria. I don't have any excuse to justify them, but it was uncalled for and unfair. I am sorry about your hair too. If it makes you feel any better, I am not friends with those monsters."

"You are a monster." Her finger stabbed my chest. "Sorry doesn't make up for what you did to me. Do you know how hard it was to convince my grandparents that I had wanted to experiment with my hair, thus resulting in this mess." She touched her hair that was unevenly chopped.

"Astoria..." She raised her hand to silence me as her eyes shut. More tears spilled out. "Please don't cry." I touched her arm, but it was jerked off as if my touch could burn her.

"Please go," she pleaded. "I have heard enough." Her bottom lip shook, and she looked up at me.

"I am truly sorry, Astoria. I didn't realize that my behaviour was out of line. Please you need to understand me. I wrongly took my frustration out on you, it was very low of me. I will prefer if you'd punch me again and say vile s**t to my face. I deserve it.

She turned around, walking to stand near her windowsill.

It bothered me that my apology didn't sound genuine enough to her. My immediate impulse had been to let her take some of her pent up anger out on me, but she seemed completely reserved to even bother with what I had to say.

I ran a hand over my face, frustrated. I knew what I was about to say could potentially cost me trouble, but I had to take the risk.

"I was supposed to spend this summer with my cousin brother, but I couldn't even stay five days on my own." That's it. She will know how sick you were. "It wasn't because of my inability to take care of myself, no, it was... I didn't stay because," I gulped, preparing to tell her the truth. "My cousin's bastard sister kissed me and I kissed her back."

Shame overwhelmed me when I admitted the truth to myself. I could've pushed Charlotte away, but I didn't and the guilt was eating me up. I had betrayed Ares's trust.

My fists clenched at my sides as the wrongdoing of my actions tore at me.

"I returned early feeling annoyed at myself and there you were... I am sorry. It won't happen again. You won't even see me again. As for school, I'll completely ignore you and spare you the trouble of having to tolerate my presence."

Still not a movement from her. You gave her enough reasons to hate you. Leave her be. She told me to leave her alone, maybe for once, I should do the right thing by walking out of here.

Tucking my hands inside my pockets, I was beginning to walk out of her room when my eyes caught something. It looked like printed pages of a manga.

I took a closer look at it and it definitely was my favourite manga, Fullmetal Alchemist. Astoria was a manga fan...?

"This is yours?" My voice was full of astonishment because I had not seen someone share my obsession of manga and anime.

I was flipping through the pages when it was suddenly snatched out of my hands.

"This is mine. You don't get to ruin these as well."

"No. It's just that..."

"-- just get out, Axel."

I blinked at her. "I am a very huge manga fan," I blurted out. "That's actually my most favourite manga. I have it in a hardcover."

"Showing off your riches," she scoffed. "Typical."

"I can let you borrow it if you want. You know I have a lot of anime shows with me. You can check them out someday if you want."

I knew I sounded desperate in my attempt to get her to talk to me, to like me. I just felt like I should tell her anything that would make me more similar to her. I want to give her a hug too, but that would be overstepping a boundary.

"Why are you doing this, Axel?" She rolled her eyes and wiped her face. "I don't need your sympathy or your charity."

"This isn't charity. I guess, I want to have a fresh start with you. I am not as bad as you think I am."

"Oh, you're wonderful, Axel," she muttered, sarcastically. "I honestly find that," she pointed to my face. "Creepy."

I didn't realize that my lips had twisted upwards. "This may sound strange, but I want to hang out with you. We can read manga, watch anime and make those assholes regret what they did to your hair."

I listed all the things we could do together and my head was already started to warm up to the idea.

"Give me one good reason why I should hang out with a bully like you?" Her chin rose slightly in a challenge and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find that adorable.

"Because I could use the company of a good person like you, and..." I chucked her under her chin. "I find you cute." Her eyes bugged out. "And I can get used to your sass."

"I thought you said I looked ugly," she reminded me. "Do you want to hang out with an ugly person like me, not to mention, she's the help."

I chuckled, not answering her. "I have the anime too," I said. "Fullmetal Alchemist. We can watch it now if you want."

She appeared to contemplate on my offer. I hope she will take it.

"Fine." She huffed out a long exhale. "But it's just a one time thing," she warned. "You get that?

I nodded and told myself at least I made some progress with her. Soon I will get her to forgive me as well.

Days faded away and what was meant to be a one time thing for Astoria, turned out to be a daily occurrence. Neither of us knew when we had become friends.

I would always remember Astoria's smile which was brighter than the summer sun and the time we went on to spend from that day onwards.

Weeks later, we both were laying down on the well manicured grass of my lawn. Tired of trying to spot any squirrel in the wilderness of my estate.

Soft and warm, a hand enclosed around mine. I didn't ponder on the aspect of who was the first to reach out, but one thing was clear: Astoria had become someone very precious to me and I will never let go of her hand.

***