I love her. God knows how much I love her. And because I love her, I don't want her to get through this marriage. I don't want to chain her in a marriage created by our parents. She deserves to have her own choice. She deserves to have someone who will love her unconditionally. Fuck! She deserves to have someone better than me. She deserves freedom.

And she will have that freedom once the deed has been done.

She will hate me, I know that. But what else do I have to lose? She already hates me. She gave up on me just like I had planned. After my mom died in that terrible accident I have caused, I can't stop but blame myself. I avoided people and pushed them away, including her, especially her.

She's the only person who can understand me. The only one who will make the pain inside my heart go away. The only one I want to protect. And the only one I want to be with for the rest of my life.

But after hearing her screams, after hearing her pain, I couldn't live with myself. I heard her asking for me and I just can't. I don't want to look at her. Not because her face was damaged, but because I was the cause of it. I was unable to protect her from harm. I promised to protect and keep her away from danger yet I was the cause of it.

I remember everything like it happened only yesterday. I was young, innocent and too stubborn to listen to my parents.

I have always been fascinated with the abandoned barn near our place. It was deserted even before I was born, or so my mother used to say. She told me to never go there because it's dangerous. She used to tell ghost stories surrounding that abandoned barn. But all those stories made me even more fascinated to explore it.

One day, the Karlssons decided to stay at our place. Back then, I was too ignorant to know the actual purpose of them coming over. I was just a kid. Why would I bother listening to some adult stuff? With them was none other than her, Alexandra Vera Karlsson, my Angel Face.

As always, our parents told us to bond and play around the house. And we would always do as they say. We were always getting lost in our own world, playing, teasing, and just enjoying each other's company. She made me forget about my fascination on the barn. Her beautiful smile would light up my whole world and would make me focus on one thing, her.

I was seven that time but we've known each other since the day we were born. We were born on the same day, same hospital. It's like we have been destined to be together since we were born. That's how the whole marriage thing started.

My parents are very influential. Descending from a royal bloodline, my father took it upon himself to head a committee of Norwegian nobles who wants to reinstate the privileges of the nobles. And the restoration was a great success that other Scandinavian countries decided to use this as a foundation to do the same. Each country chose to have their own representative to be the head. But my father, being the one who started it all, was the leader of the Scandinavian nobility.

But that wasn't enough for him. My father, being my father, wants me to rule the Scandinavian Peninsula. And to do that, a king must assume the throne. I, for one, was the perfect candidate. But a king needs his queen. My father was half Finnish while my mother was half Icelandic. Alexandra's mom was Danish who is now married to her father who is a Swedish. Together, Angel Face and I will rule all Scandinavian countries. Pure Scandinavian will rule Scandinavia.

But even the marriage being forced upon us, I was happy. No one can ever compare to her. I've met a lot of pretty girls when I was a kid but none compared to her. Her smiles, and laughs are like virus, whoever spends time with her, that person will never lose the smile on their face. That's why I called her Angel Face.

Years passed. Seasons changed. But not my Angel Face.

As we grow older, I realized that she's not just bringing me happiness, but also eternal light. With her, there's no sadness. No emptiness. No pain. No darkness. She's the sun that lights up my whole world. The Northern Star that guides me on my voyage in life. The water in me. The air that I breathe. The ground beneath my feet. And lately, the fire that warms my whole body.

I was surrounded by her. And nothing mattered but her. I promised to cherish and protect her at all times. I promised that no harm will come to her. As long as I live, I vowed to keep her safe.

But on that fateful day, everything changed.

It was summer that time. As usual, we spent the afternoon, reminiscing about our past, unaware of what the future holds. We jumped from subject to subject, be it serious or silly. Just the company of having her with me is enough to make me happy.

"Are you scared?" I heard her asked as we were lounging below our tree.

"Of what? Of fulfilling what my father wants for me?" I shook my head and kissed her temple. "Nah. As long as you're my queen, I can do anything."

"But do you really want this?"

"What do you mean? Of course."

She sat up straight, facing me. "I heard you and your dad were arguing again. Is it about the marriage?"

"Angel..."

"Are you having second thoughts? Are you going to back out on me?"

"No. No, of course not." I said placing a lingering kiss on her forehead. "I'm just reasoning out to him that we are still far too young to think about that. The marriage, I mean."

"We're sixteen."

"Exactly. We shouldn't be stressing ourselves about what will happen 8 years from now." I sighed and leaned back on the tree. "And I feel like we never had a choice."

"Never had a choice," she repeated. "You don't want to be with me?" She asked, and hearing that insecure tone made me want to punch my face. I don't want her to feel insecure because she's perfect. I'm the lucky bastard who will be her husband but here I am, implying that I don't have a choice but to marry her.

"No, that's not what I mean." I put an arm around her shoulder. "You. You were not given a choice."

She looked up at me, and smiled. "If I were to choose among hundreds or thousands of men, I will still choose you, Xavier."

Hearing her call me on that name always brings me pleasure. People either call me Alex, Xander, or Alexander. But ever since I saved her from the well one summer, she always called me "My Savior" until that turned to "Xavier". From then on, she called me that and people will always try to correct her. Then, she will end up telling the whole story on how she called me Xavier.

"Remember when..."

"NO! I don't want to hear it." She yelled, covering her ears.

I chuckled. "You don't want to hear but everyone already knows about it."

"Because they're always correcting me so I have to tell it." She pouted and leaned on me, placing her head at the crook of my neck. "You're my savior, and my Xavier." She looked up at me. I was always mesmerized by those blue eyes of hers. "You're mine and I'm yours, always will be."

She closed her eyes and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I was just about to respond when she pulled away and chuckled. "I want to take a nap."

She sighed and closed her eyes. I pulled her close to me as I was met by the quiet afternoon. It was peaceful. Taking in the quietness of our environment, my eyes started to droop until sleep consumed me.

I woke up no more than thirty minutes later when I heard a crashing wood from a distance. I looked around us to make sure that we are still alone in our sanctuary. My Angel is still sleeping peacefully. I would've admired her sleeping form even more but a crash jolted me up on my feet. Alexandra was instantaneously awake and was now holding my arm.

"What's that?" She asked her voice laced with both worry and fear.

"I don't know, I'll go check it out."

I was looking around trying to decipher the direction of the sound when I heard it again. I whipped my head to the direction of the old abandoned barn.

"Is it the barn?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said. "Wait here. I'll go check it out."

"No, I want to come," she said pulling my arm.

"It could be dangerous."

"What if it's a thief or a killer?"

I almost laughed at what she said. The whole place is owned by our family. There is no one who would dare trespass this place.

"Angel Face, you're watching too many horror movies."

"I just want to come, okay?"

I let out a breath. "Fine. But don't leave my side."

We trudged into the woods on the way to the barn. The sun is about to set, and I'm guessing it's around 5:30. On the way, the crashing sound seemed to be getting louder and louder, confirming my assumption that it was coming from the barn. As we neared it, I saw my mother's car parked 20 feet away.

That's weird. Mother wouldn't want me to go to the barn. What is she doing here?

Alexandra and I approached the car and saw that no one was there. I saw my mom's phone on the driver's seat which means she drove here, alone. I heard another loud crash coming from the inside of the barn. Knowing that my mother could be inside, my heart started to beat fast.

I faced Alexandra. "Stay here at mum's car."

"Wait what are you doing?"

"I have to check if mum's there. And if she's okay."

"Can't we just go?" she asked, her eyes pleading.

"I can't leave my mum there. She might be in trouble. If something happened, break this window and drive. I taught you how to hotwire a car. If something happens, do it."

She was about to protest but I was already running towards the barn. As I got myself in, I smelled the stench of the place mixed with some sort of gas. Getting inside was no problem. Getting out was probably going to be. The barn seemed to be really old. The woods are fragile.

The inside of the barn was huge, though. And the place looked like someone had lived here a very long time ago, but there are a few things that seemed to be out of place. I heard another crash coming from upstairs.

"Mum?"

Silence

I went up to the stairs and noticed that the ceiling seemed like it was about to collapse. When I reached the top, I saw that the floors are already starting to collapse. That must probably be the sound I was hearing. But where's my mom?

I heard a crash from downstairs and went down to check what was happening. I was about to cross an archway when it suddenly collapsed, missing me by an inch.

"Mum!" I yelled through what looked like a hallway.

I coughed as the smell of the gas seemed to everywhere now. I heard a crash coming from the opposite of the hallway and followed it.

"Mum! Where are you?"

I heard another crash and this time it was from where I came from.

I made it to the end of the hallway and found no one. I searched the whole barn but I didn't found my mom. I was about go back to where I was when another smell hit my nose. Something's burning. I followed the smell and was met by fire.

Shit!

I ran towards back on the halls but the fire seemed to spread faster. Another wood from the ceiling collapsed. I had to find another way. I went to a room that seemed to be a servant's corner and finally saw the outside. I made it out.

I ran around the corner and saw my mom's car was open.

Angel Face

I was about to approach the car when I hear her voice calling my name.

"Xavier!"

Then I saw my mom entering the barn again through the window. I ran towards her but it was too late. She already made it inside.

I heard both of them yelling.

Angel's, "Xavier!"

Mum's, "Alexandra, where are you?"

The fire was already consuming the barn and I had no time to forge a plan to save them so I just went charging in.

"Knock, knock?"

I was pulled out of my trance when I heard the familiar voice of her.

"If you don't mind, I already let myself in."

Angel Face