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A villain is someone who's done something wrong. Whether wrong or right reasons, they are perceived as evil. Sometimes a villain can be an anti-hero which means they don't have the traditional heroic qualities like courage and heroism.

As I recover my breathing and curve myself under Joshua's arm with my ear pressed against his chest, I feel like the villain. Not even an anti-hero because cheating on my fiancé is not a good trait. I'm a villain through and through. I haven't gone to Owen despite his angry rant down the phone, I haven't asked him why he's acting like this, I haven't confronted him yet about anything Joshua's given me in terms of information.

I just went ahead and didn't fight my Tether to Joshua, and I kissed him non-stop, and then slept with him.

And I fucking enjoyed every second of it.

His heartbeat feels right under my ear. Like my favourite song: I know all the lyrics, all the riffs and instruments. I've heard this song so many times, but until this moment it's been sung by a different band, and Joshua's finally returned to the microphone.

He leans his head down as I glance up and we kiss the seal of approval into each other's mouths.

"I'm... not a good person," I whisper. "I knew that was going to happen if I wasn't careful. I didn't listen to myself."

"People do stupid shit in the name of love. Some people cheat, some people fake their Knot Art."

I lightly slap his arm. "That's not even funny. I didn't... I should go to him and confront it—"

"You think he's gonna take that well? Oh, hi, fiancé. Yeah, I know you've faked your Knot and I need some answers, but I slept with my Fated One too. Happy days. That'll go down so well, Amelia," he jokes.

I snort. "So now we've had sex, your real personality of a sarcastic motherfucker comes out, is that right?"

He chuckles and pulls me closer. He kisses me as if this is completely normal and free as if I'm not engaged. It feels right and I don't want it to end.

"What did you feel when we were doing it?" he asks.

I laugh. "Well, you know when you have sex, and you get pleasure and it—"

"Oh, ha-ha, I meant in terms of the connection, being Fated and all," he retorts.

Before I answer, I sit up properly. "It was kinda... weird, I didn't take much notice of it, but when you finished, I felt the tether, as if we were touching Knots at the same time, but more intense. I think that's why I came at the same time. That... and you were pretty, you know, good."

"Good? Is that all I get? I'm your Fated One and the best I get is good?" he jokes. He rolls over so he's above me. I narrow my eyes and scoff before wrapping an arm around his neck. He lowers back down over me until our bodies flush together.

"Are you... going for another round?" I arch an eyebrow.

"Well, if it was only good—"

My watch buzzes on my wrist.

"Did you not take that off?" Joshua asks.

"I was too busy being seduced," I retort and cancel the call from Owen. A text comes through on it, so I read it.'Stop ignoring me, Amelia and answer the phone. We need to discuss this. I'm on my way home.'

"Oh, shit, he's on his way home, and I'm not there, and—"

"Stop panicking," Josh immediately says. He places his hand over my Knot, melting away my worry within seconds. "It'll be fine. He won't know where you've been, and even if he does, so what? He owes you an explanation anyway—"

"I'd say he owes us both an explanation. The thing is, if for whatever reason, the government find out, we will both be Segregated along with him. As you said, they won't give a shit. I've rebelled for a year, he's fucked me over, and by proxy, that fucks you over."

"Not necessarily. I only found you six months ago, sort of. You're the victim in all of this," he says. He keeps his hand over my Knot Art as he says it.

"I've been a walking, talking time bomb. It's only a matter of time until someone works this out, only a matter of time until someone finds my card is faked. I've been kept from you because of him, so the government will send me to prison or—"

He puts my free hand on my Knot and puts his on his own until my panic is drowned out. I lose my train of thought; the worries melt like snow in the sun, and I feel like the villain in my mind has been defeated.

But I remain the villain here. While Owen might have faked things, or God knows what he's done, he will have done it for us, so that we wouldn't have to be parted. I'm the one that's just spent the past afternoon having sex with someone that's not him instead of fixing this.

"Listen to me, here's what's gonna happen," Joshua says calmly. "You're gonna calm down, take a minute. If you want, there's a shower in the bathroom. Then you're gonna get dressed and go home. You'll keep calm and try and get some answers from him, all right? Then you'll know what you want to do based on his answers. You'll honestly be fine."

"You think?" I ask.

"I know so. I promise you; everything will work out."

I pull him to me. "I'm not this kind of person."

He chuckles. "We've just had sex, and you're giving me this pep talk now? While naked in my bed, I might add."

I snort and kiss him before answering, "I mean, like, this isn't me. I've never looked at anyone else, never thought about cheating, and here I am."

"You'll be fine," Joshua whispers. "I think... things got heated, both with him and with us. Volcanoes erupt. It happens. The thing is, we are clearly Fated and have a connection where you and he don't. I mean... I'm not justifying our actions, but equally, shit happens."

"That's the problem, I don't want to justify them. I want to do this openly, like without cheating—"

"What are you saying?" Josh asks.

"I don't know, because I love Owen. But he's lying about something. I... I love you. I want you, but I also love him," I admit.

The words float in the air like honeybees hovering around nectar, until he opens his mouth and goes for my lips.

"I love you too," he whispers.

"No, no, I should've said that I hated you," I joke.

He laughs and gets up from the bed, pulling his clothes back on. "I hate you too. But trust me, everything will be fine. One step at a time, and the first one is to go and confront him."

I nod in response. I can't hide in his bed for much longer. I'll have to face the music sooner or later; I might as well make it sooner.

"Is this what you meant when you said you'd have to tell the university about being in a sexual relationship with your student?" I question.

He groans and stares at the ceiling for a minute. "Technically, yes. But I need to look for a new job anyway, if the Declaration worked, then I'm not qualified anyway. For fuck's sake."

"I mean... I won't tell if you won't?" I tease.

"It's messy as hell. Technically you haven't slept with your tutor, because He is... but I'm... yeah just don't say anything."

"I won't book for a tutorial during office hours then," I joke.

"You can, but it'll strictly be work—"

I do my bra up, slip my dress on and kiss him before winking. "If you work hard, you play hard."

"You'll be the death of me. I thought you hated me," he says.

"Oh, trust me, I do. You think I'm a brat, anyway," I retort before going down the stairs.

"You are."

"Shouldn't have been Fated to me then!"

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In fiction, the villain usually has an arc. They start badly, they usually have an arc where they either turn good or get worse. A good villain will always have a backstory, a reason in their history as to why they're doing what they're doing.

As Owen puts a pot of tea in front of me with a smile on his face like nothing is wrong, I wonder exactly who the villain is here.

All I know about him is that he's lying about something: he has a Knot that doesn't exactly match mine, we both have fake cards, and he doesn't believe me about Joshua.

Then there's me. I've done nothing in the past, technically I've been hoodwinked by Owen, who keeps insisting there's nothing wrong. Now, though, I've fallen in love with my real Fated One and cheated on my fiancé.

On the assumption of Joshua's theory, if Owen has faked his Knot, he would be a villain by proxy, right? He'd be the one keeping me from my real Fated One, doomed us both to be Segregated if the government ever found out – and that's the best-case scenario – and yet, he would be a good villain because he'd have done it for a good reason; for us. But still a villain.

Me? I became a villain earlier by sleeping with someone else. I'd be the worst kind of villain because I have no realreason. I mean I could hide behind the Knot and how I couldn't stop myself, which is true, but it's not a good enough reason. I could've said no, I could've pulled away; it would've hurt emotionally, and it would've taken a lot of willpower. At best my reason is that I've fallen for Joshua. But it's just details.

We're both villains, and yet if my assumption of Owen is right, he's done it for good, while I'm the opposite. But either way, we're still wrong.

"Where were you? I got home and you weren't here," Owen says lightly. I concentrate on him as he makes himself a glass of lemonade from the fridge. His Knot is on show where he's wearing a deep brown t-shirt. I try and look at it properly, but I can't get a good focus on it.

"I went out, just took a walk. Needed to think," I say.

He sits opposite me, sipping his drink carefully. "What happened in there? One minute you tell me about this shit and how you wanna cut him out, the next minute you're denying that you want that to happen. Then you run the fuck off, Camellia. What was that all about?"

"You threatened him over nothing, Owen! I mean... you don't believe me, that much is clear. I'm telling you that I am Fated to him, and you don't believe me. You've known me since I was born, why would I lie to you about this?"

"I don't know what you expect of me," he retorts.

"To believe me, for fuck's sake! This is torturing me—"

"How do you think it feels to find out your fiancé is Fated to someone else as well, Amelia? To watch you tell me you're feeling the emotions of another man, who by the way is your tutor? I mean you're telling me you feel his emotions... like we don't have that, yet we're Fated..." He stops speaking and sips his drink. He's realised what he's just admitted.

"Are we?" I question.

He scoffs.

"Show me your Knot, Owen," I demand.

"No, why—"

I nod and keep calm. "When I was trying to work out what was going on with Joshua, I did some reading. I found out that there is no such thing as being Fated without feeling emotions. For example, if I touch my Knot Art right now, Joshua will feel it wherever he is. If he then touches his Knot at the same time, we have this weird thing going on, like all our stress is erased."

He touches his Knot to try and prove the point.

I feel nothing.

"Go on, Amelia, show me," Owen demands.

I sigh and touch my Knot. I hope Joshua gets what's going on, I try and outline it in my mind just in case he can feel that. I stare at the white and black tiles of the kitchen wall, so I don't have to look at Owen's fake show of stress relief.

My plan works as I don't get anything back when I remove my hand.

Owen grins, but it's a villainous grin. "I feel no stress now."

"Don't bullshit me, Owen. I've touched my Knot in front of you and had nothing. I know you don't feel me. I can sense his every emotion, I can tell you that right now, Joshua is feeling pretty annoyed and has been since he left the meeting," I snap. I lie about the last bit just in case.

"I can tell you when you lie, Amelia. I can tell when you're happy, sad—"

"Yeah, because we've grown up together. Because we've spent every moment of our lives together. You don't feel me in your head, though, do you? You don't know my every waking emotion, when I sleep, when I'm having a nightmare or a good dream. You're not like an extra part of me, Owen. We are not Fated, it's time to face it and tell me the truth."

He laughs. "Tell you the truth about what? How we're Fated, Amelia? You've seen our Knots, our cards—"

"Show me your Knot, right now! Do it!" I snap. This is the classic sign of a fucking villain; when faced with a confrontation, they do everything in their power to avoid it.

He groans and lays his left arm out for me to see. I remember what Joshua showed me, and glance there first. The part where the 'rope' would go under will be severed.

I glance over the lines, the contours, the loops and the intricacies of his tattoo. The part Josh showed me, though...

It's severed, it's broken. Just like he said it would be.

"Holy shit."

Owen laughs. "What? You're so shocked that it's the same?"

"Get me your card out, Owen," I say, but the swirling in my stomach is obvious. I don't think I'll last that long.

I dart to the cupboard and grab the bucket we use to mop the floor.

"This is ridiculous—"

The acrid, foul and disgusting truth comes up from my stomach and into the bucket.

"Oh, for, really, Amelia? Have you been drinking?" he demands. I hear him throw his wallet onto the table as I puke one more time.

The truth stinks just as strong as my sick does; bitter, sour, pungent.

I go to the sink and wash my mouth out before throwing the sick down the toilet and flushing. I throw the bucket into the outdoor bin and enter the kitchen. He hasn't moved, and he's watching every single move I make.

"What's going on?" he asks.

I get myself a glass of water and sip it. "Show me your card."

He dutifully gets it out of his wallet and places it on the table in front of me. Baby blue, calligraphy type writing Amelia, England. I take it and hold it up to the light.

Just like mine, no watermark. The total opposite to Joshua's.

The funny thing is, I believe Joshua over my fiancé. Does that also make me a villain? Shouldn't the point of being engaged and in love that you believe what your partner says?

But then the past few weeks of knowing Joshua, I've managed to fall for him completely. I know that I want him, I want to be Fated properly, and settle down just like the government expect us to. Which is ridiculous because I hated him not long ago, but I can't deny it any longer.

A week or so ago, Owen joked with me at work by asking if I'd cheat on my Fated One for him, and I hadn't answered, simply because at that time, I thought it was a stupid question. That day, I thought Owen was my Fated One. At that point, I would've cheated for him. Blindly.

But now? I wouldn't. Interesting, because I've just cheated on my fiancé for my Fated One, but without a shadow of a doubt, I would not cheat on Joshua for anyone.

Does that also make me a villain? What does that say about my morals around commitment? They're screwed and toppled out of proportion.

What doesn't help my fog right now is that I know he's lying. I can see it. He's not pacing the room, he's not moving much except to sip his drink, he's calling me Amelia and not my nickname. He's tapping his fingers against the table, and I can see two beads of sweat on his forehead.

He's lying.

"This is fake," I announce and toss the card onto the floor.

He laughs. "What?"

"The cards we have, they are fake, Owen. I know they are. Your Knot is fake. Why are you lying to me?" I demand.

He shakes his head. "This is ridiculous, I'm not sitting here having the third degree from you."

"Why, because you don't want to tell me the truth? What have you done? You pay someone off? Did you do the Knot and the cards yourself? Why? How? You know if this gets found out, we could both be in the shit? Whatever you've done, you've fucked me over as well as you. To the naked eye, I have two Fated Ones, which could send me to prison, get me Segregated... so, tell me what the fuck you have done!"

He stands from the chair, picks his card up. "You've fallen for him, haven't you?"

"Don't turn this on me! What have you done?"

"Everything I've done, I've done for us, Amelia! So, we don't get separated, so we can be together like we should be! This is for us!"

I've never seen a volcano erupt before, except in films. But if I ever wondered what they looked like, I would have no hesitation in knowing that it's Owen right now.

"What did you do?"

"I faked it."

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