"How much of this was the truth?"

"What do you think?" She raised her eyebrow playfully.

Was she acting now? "Half?"

Her expression instantly dimmed. "All of it!"

"Ah, yes, all of it, sorry."

"Hmph, good that you understood your wrongs. I hope that you will abide by your words and prove it with your actions rather than empty promises." She had a dreamy look as she stared somewhere in the distance.

"Can I interpret this as you forgiving me?"

She gave me a side-eye. "No."

I couldn't wrap my head around how she turned this all around. Was she manipulating me? Just her words were enough? Am I too stupid?

No.

I was stupid. I didn't dare to look at anything around me, so I closed inside of a shell. No more of this shit! If I want my dream to come true, I will need to work harder.

"You still owe me."

"Mara." I stopped her from reveling in a fantasy of her own. Thinking about my goals, the anger and fury I initially felt were slowly creeping back to me, taking their rightful place. "When will we discuss my revenge?"

"Not letting a girl take her time isn't gentlemanly, you know?"

"You said it yourself. I'm an egoist, an asshole. And I can't hold myself any longer."

"Oh yeah, I can see this." She grinned. There was something animalistic in her grin, something malicious. "And what do you want to do?"

"Destroy his life!" I clenched my fists tightly.

"That I heard already. How about getting more concrete?"

"I want to destroy anything he holds dear!"

"By your own hands?" She tilted her head as she walked behind me.

"By my own hands!"

Placing her hands on top of my wet jacket she moved her face closer and exhaled right into my ear. I felt shivers going straight down my spine, and my nether region moved restlessly along with her breath.

"And what is it that he holds dear?"

What is it? It's obvious.

"His family and friends!"

She tapped my shoulders and moved her face to my other side.

"You're right, And at the same time, you are wrong." With each word she whispered, her breath tickled my ear. "There is something more, don't you think?"

"What's more to him than this?"

"What about his character, his personality? Don't you think that you should find his weak spots?" She purred. "And what about his family?" She moved her face back to my left side.

"What about it?"

"You don't even know what they do, don't you?"

"They are some kind of bigshots."

"But what exactly made them bigshots?" She walked to the front keeping her hands on my shoulder region as she slid them across.

"I don't know."

"Then shouldn't you get to know them better?" She leaned forward, still holding onto me.

"That's your advice?" I was slowly drawn in by her.

She pursed her lips. "What would you do if I didn't stop you?"

"What will I do in the heat of the moment?" I was gradually getting soaked by her momentum.

"Probably something stupid." she moved even closer. "And how could I" her lips almost touched mine.

"Mara…" I didn't even notice as I started reaching after her.

"Let you get hurt." She pushed me backward. And her face regained the rare look of seriousness. "You want to do everything by your hands? Well, you can start with getting to know him and his circle better. Don't rush and take your time."

"It's easier said than done." I shivered at my own actions. Why did I want to...

"Oooh, don't pout my cute little fledgling."

I cringed hard hearing her saying this. "I wasn't pouting."

"Honestly, you are so rich in expressions."

"Not as rich as you." That was what I wanted to say, but I swallowed my words.

"So let me paraphrase this for you. You won't be able to hurt even a single strand of hair on his body, nor will you be able to hurt someone even remotely close to him. Forces behind him are… Well, I will let you look this up."

"Haaa…So what's even your help in this case?"

"I will supplement you with the info you were not able to gather yourself, of course. Also, I will pull some strings behind the scene and protect a few people… I think you understand what I mean."

"You will help my parents? What about friends?"

"So you do think they are your friends?" Picking only the second half of my sentence, she clapped her hands in delight.

"Bringing this up, huh? Yeah, if only I stopped being so self-absorbed, I would call them my friends earlier, well, probably."

"Such frankness. Then allow me to be frank as well. Yes, I will send someone to guard your friends, your parents, and I will even look after you. After all, I can't let you get hurt in the useless fights."

"Sometimes, I think that talking with you is like talking with a pendulum."

"Why's that?" she asked me curiously.

"No matter how strong you are pushed, you will always return back with the same force."

"Hah, haha, hahahahaha. That's cute. Should I think of this as your first compliment to me?"

"Do whatever you want. It's not like I can win an argument against you." at least not for now.

"Hmm, okay." she leaned forward and looked at me with upturned eyes. "So did I manage to help you unwind?"

"As well as thwarting my mind into a disarray."

"That's good. It means you are ready to pay for your tuition." She smiled softly.

Honestly, she probably had the most beautiful and diverse amount of different smiles.

"So you knew? It was to be expected." I went after my bag that I dropped nearby.

"Don't cause any ruckus there, okay? You should keep yourself low-key."

"Why?"

"I will explain this to you a bit later, and don't you dare pout. It wouldn't ring a bell in your head even if I told you everything right now."

"Gah, go away." I waved at her and dust off my bag. I turned back and started walking to school.

"Good luck and control yourself!"

Hearing her going away, I suddenly remembered something.

Looking back at her, I shouted at her. "Hey, are you sure you don't want to control me? Sign a paper or do something?"

"Why would I?" she shouted back.

"It might bite you back."

She broke out into a peal of laughter and went to her car without bothering to give me an answer. So, she didn't think of me as someone dangerous, huh? Didn't put me into her eyes, huh?

Not rushing was much better advice than I thought at the first time. I won't rush my dream of freedom.

I don't know what plans you've got for me, Mara, but I will take all of your help to grow stronger.

Right now, I needed to control my emotions. I didn't have the privilege of getting angry. Now, I simply needed to control my emotions! Yeah, very simple.

"FUCK!" It was easier to say this than actually do.

I sighed as I walked into the college building and went straight to Violetta. Knocking on her door once, I went inside seeing her working behind her table. I heard her fingers moving across her keyboard as she typed constantly.

"I've got the money." I took the card from the inner pocket of my jacket.

Then I waited for her answer as she continued to type. My resolve to control my emotions was flying away faster than I initially thought.

"How can I transfer it?"

"Hey, stop ignoring me."

"Can't you do it later?"

"You have to help students."

"I will file a complaint."

I kept annoying her as I walked closer. She glanced at me but quickly hid her eyes. In the end, a minute or so later, I managed to invoke a loud sigh from her.

"You know that I'm not the one who should do this job?" She leaned back in her chair and looked at me as if I was the most stupid person she has ever seen. But she couldn't hide her nervousness from me. The way she fidgeted around, the way her face paled slightly, and the way she couldn't hold her gaze on me. Her eyes started darting around soon.

Feeling my teeth creaking, I thought about Mara's advice.

"You said I should visit you."

"And you simply followed this order? Hah, brilliant." She tried to squeeze a laugh, but her nervousness took a hold of her.

"You…Huuu…Haaa…" I breathed in and out, "Violetta, you talked with those 'higher-ups'. And you are the one who knows what kind of shit they can pull off. That's why I should go to you."

"Ha-ha." she tried to laugh again but stopped after barely starting. Like that, we stood in awkward silence for some time.

I was trying to suppress my emotions while she was scared for some reason. Wasn't she quite bold the last time?

"Wait here, I will get all the documents ready." She stood up and walked towards one of the bookshelves that held countless paper folders, books, and other office supplies.

Walking past me, she left a peculiar scent. It was like a bolt of lightning as I couldn't concentrate on anything else. Catching only a slight whiff of it, I felt that it was familiar. As she was looking through the different papers, I was trying to remember. Where did I feet it?

The trail of the scent she left consisted of some kind of perfume. Still, I felt there was something more to it.

Ultimately deciding to smell the source, I walked towards her. I was already behind her. As I moved my face closer, she turned around abruptly.

"What are you doing?" She panicked stronger than I thought.

"Don't move for a second." I tried to close the distance, but she slipped away and tried to make some distance.

"Don't come near me, you creep!"

"Wait!" Clutching her hand, I yanked her back.

"Let go of me!" She struggled around, but after catching both of her arms, she ultimately was immobilized. I lifted her up slightly.

"Wait for a second, why are you struggling so much? We did a lot more than this, didn't we?"

She spat at me, but I dodged it by simply leaning my head sideways.

"I told you not to touch me! Let go of me this instant!"

"Why so snarky? I won't do anything painful to you. And if I ever wanted to, you can't do anything against me." Holding both of her hands in my left arm, my right hand squeezed her cheeks.

She tried to struggle for some more, but in the end, seeing that it won't lead to anything, she closed her eyes.

However, her fear was for naught. I didn't want to molest her.

"Sniff." Moving my face closer, almost burying it into the side of her neck and the tips of her hair, I took a deep sniff.

Moving back, I saw her opening her eyes in fear while I closed my own in reminiscence.

I felt a strong smell of perfume. It was a high-quality one, making me want to smell it again, but I felt like something was missing. I felt that I was missing the smell associated with sex. Violetta's own natural fragrance. The flowery one.

I let her go as something clicked inside of me by itself.

Taking another look at her, she stood there shaken.

"Hup."

"WAIT!"

I grabbed her by her waist and lifted her up. Squeezing her tightly, I burrowed my face into her plentiful bosom as I started breathing with her smell.

"LET! GO!" she tried to slap and hit me in the head and shoulders, she even scratched me, but I was unmoving.

Holding her tightly, I let my lungs be filled with her. Taking another deep breath, I finally understood everything. I've remembered this scent.

"You helped me…" My voice was muffled by her breasts. After saying this, she finally stopped struggling. "You saved my life! You nursed me… But why?" I asked her, lifting my face while she was still in my embrace.

Biting her lip, she turned her face away. "I don't know what you are talking about."

Putting her down, I looked for my phone, but there was no charge in it. Tsk, how untimely.

"Of course, your smell. How could I forget it? You tried to conceal it with perfume, right?"

"Pfft, I always wear perfume." She snorted, but I was sure now.

"And it explains why I woke up in some strange house, was it yours? No, but then who was the lady I saw?" I rubbed the scar on my nose as I thought about it.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" she said through her gritted teeth.

"You can say whatever you want, though if I look up whom I messaged, everything will come to the surface. Why deny the apparent?"

She hurried to take her seat behind her desk and started loudly ruffling through her paperwork.

"I thought you were brain-dead, but I take my words back. You are beyond being delirious!" With a large thud, she placed a stack of paper and started looking through it angrily.

"Why did you save me? I'm sure I would freeze to death. I couldn't move a single muscle for so long. It would be profitable to you. You would finally be freed from this nagging splinter in your finger. Ain't it nice?"

I walked forward and clasped the edge of her desk, leaning forward. "Don't say that you fell in love with me?" I couldn't stop my lips from forming a grin.

"Love, hah! Loving a young idiot of a brat whose only way of living might be destroyed." She lifted her face and looked me right into the eyes. "Didn't you know that professional fighters are banned from fighting outside the ring or sparring sessions." her lips moved for quite some time until they finally formed a savage grin. "What a pity, you've only had your official first fight not so long ago, and you will be forced to retire already."

"Bullshit."

"We'll see." she finally took a piece of paper from somewhere and slapped it on the table. "Now take it and scram!"

"You want to say that we are in a stalemate right now." I took the paper, and after folding it, I hid it in the inner pocket. "But you should know something. Perhaps I'm the same idiot you told me. But someone forced me to start changing. One of them was you. And If you think that this stalemate will last, then you are wrong."

"Talk big while you can, and now get out!" She stood up and tried to push me out.

Seeing her face getting redder, the more strength she exerted made me want to do something.

"UUUMMM!"

Grabbing her waist, moving my arms upwards, I kissed her, invoking a surprised moan. Holding her in my embrace, I pressed my lips against her. After stealing her lips for quite some time, I let her go before she would start thrashing around.

"I will see you sooner than you think!" Waving goodbye to her, I went away.