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He always loved the lace dress. It was his favored choice whenever she would inquire on what she should wear.
The lace dress was like her kisses. It enamored him and it kept him reeling in for more as the fabric hugged her curves petitely but didn't give out enough skin for his hands to run through.
If there was one thing he was going to blame, it would be that dress.
What was wrong with him?
She had assured him only yesterday that he shouldn't fret over the fact that she might be in love with Ikki.
She smiled at him with those gentle verdant orbs of hers that he was always encaptured by and assured him that he was the only person she would ever love.
But he felt jealousy course through his veins as he clenched his fists and watched her laugh lightly with Ikki. He was cushioning a smile that seemed cannily similar to his own when he spoke to her, and the fact only made him clench his teeth tighter.
She was only his.
What was she doing playing with another man like that? Especially in such a revealing dress like that?
The pastel pink dress had such a low neckline that he could espy her fragile collarbone, and the hem of the lacy dress only stopped a few inches from her hips. It almost looked like she was wearing shorts!
By the next class, he could feel his blood boiling as he pulled her aside.
"Why do you keep talking to Ikki?" He questioned, voice low and throats as he struggled to maintain the composure that he kept together.
He he could almost feel it. The maniacal ideas inundating his head on how he would keep her only to himself.
Maybe he could chain her up against the wall, keep his lips clamped shut as her pained cries would only increase as the cuffs would dig into and break her delicate skin.
He snapped out of his thoughts, eye twitching voluntarily. She hadn't noticed his apparent discomfort and only twirled a strand of his honey-colored hair on her finger.
Toma loved it when she did that, but he couldn't help but wonder if he loved to hear her screaming for release from her cage instead.
"Ikki was having trouble with a math question. It was a stupid mistake, really," she explained, giggling as she reminisced the recent moment.
No.
That couldn't be. Ikki was one of the top students in their mathematics class. He may not have been majoring in it, but he certainly wasn't bad enough in it to inquire for some help from her.
But Toma knew he would break if he found out the truth. He'd rather listen to the petty lie instead.
•••••*****•••••
Toma didn't really comprehend what has compelled him to sneak out of his morning home room.
Maybe it was the fact that when he had peered out of the window drearily he saw his girlfriend pacing on the campus grounds, the cherry blossom's softest of petals swirling in a windmill motion until they landed on the hem of her lace dress.
He was racing down the corridors, heartbeat becoming frenzied as he saw the familiar locks of colorless, white hair blowing spastically in the wind.
He opened the double doors with a hefty push, almost tripping over the cemented steps as he turned a corner.
He felt his disposition crumble. He knew that the maniacal part of him finally won over as his entire being was shattered, the augmented pieces only becoming more miniscule as the scene continued to play out.
He couldn't perceive the words that were escaping Ikki's mouth, but he could hear his heart in his ears as Ikki pulled out a blood-red rose from his broad pockets.
Toma's countenance withered, his blood running cold.
He watched as her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, verdant orbs flitting from the lone rose in his hands to Ikki's eyes.
She was going to accept it. She was going to accept Ikki's subtle declaration of love and happily ever after and she was going to leave Toma in the dust.
He knew almost simultaneously that he made a mistake. He knew that he should've kept her captive in the metallic cage and made sure that all she ever was able to hold was the cold steel bars.
Or he could've kept her chained to the wall and would watch the bruises form in her delicate skin and watch as the blood would trickle down her wrists as she dug them in the cuffs in a flimsy attempt to escape.
And he would be absolutely fine as he would watch the despair overwhelm her once-bright orbs.
Because she had already broken him. And if that was the only way to keep her with him and only him, then he was alright with that.
Like a china doll, he knew that in place of his shattered heart would come the insanity to only ever be loved by her. Like a drug, he was obsessed with her.
Toma braced himself for her reaction towards Ikki.
With a sharp intake of breath, he watched as she gave him a smile filled with sympathetic pity, and she shook her head from left to right.
Bewilderment flooded both Toma's and Ikki's countenances.
"Why won't you accept it?" He asked, voice cracking with the heartbreak that Toma thought he would receive.
She bit the bottom of her lip tentatively, bunching the hem of her lace dress in her tightened fists. "I'm already dating Toma," she excused, pushing the fragile rose back to Ikki.
Toma couldn't apprehend why she wouldn't choose Ikki. Ikki was smarter, kinder, and was more handsome than Toma could ever be. That was why the majority of the female population in the college they matriculated to was always begging for his limited attention.
And she was denying him?
"We don't have to tell Toma about this," Ikki began, but she cut him off with a determined visage.
"No. I'm in love with Toma. Not you."
Toma felt the images of her writhing in agony as she was held by the sharpened chains revert back to the dusty crevices of his mind that were almost never awakened.
Ikki began to become desperate, and Toma watched as the rose slowly were detached from his hands and fell to its eventual demise on the dew-kissed grass.
She held her ground, face still determined with proclamation but holding only a hint of pity as she watched Ikki crumble in a similar fashion that Toma's mind had.
Toma spun around, ready to return to his classes. He knew that he shouldn't ever have to be jealous anymore. He knew he would never feel the jealousy brimming in his soul anymore.
She was just as hopelessly in love as he was. But unlike him, she didn't harbor a dark side that was awakened through any envious feelings.
She encaptured perfection, with the way she was just too pure to ever consider on keeping Toma captive and taking away his free will.
She made him guilty for ever thinking those horrible thoughts, and she hadn't even done anything except deny Ikki.
He was snapped out of his reverie abruptly as he heard a whimpering cry. He spun around on his heel to see that Ikki was gripping her petite wrist rather tightly, and her face paled.
"S-Stop! That hurts!" She struggled to free herself from his grip but he only tightened it more as he grabbed ahold of her chin and captured her lips in his.
The thoughts invaded Toma's mind, the ones that seemed to give him nightmares and were a part of his dark side.
He could kill Ikki right now for what he had done. He could punch him until the breath left his body and he was never to open his eyes again. He would forever be mingling with death and she would never have to experience something like that.
He ran towards the duo, sneakers scraping the pavement. Ikki had seemed to have noticed the oncoming intrusion and finally pulled away from her, clasping her tightly as he pulled her closer to his chest.
"Leave my girlfriend alone!" Toma shouted at the top of his lungs, several ideas on how to murder Ikki flashing through his head, reminiscent of a flashback.
"No. She's in love with me. Right?" He turned to her, eyes almost giving off an aura as he stared deep into her orbs as if to elicit a response.
"I am not!" She replied strongly, finally ripping away from Ikki's grip. She tripped clumsily as she bounded towards Toma.
His arms were outstretched and enwrapped her small figure as she buried her head in the crook of her neck.
Toma didn't feel her warm presence, though. All he envisioned was the blood running down Ikki's body as his breaths became labored and gradually died out.
He stepped towards Ikki, face stony. She seemed to have realized his motives and tried to pull him back towards her, but Toma only shoved her away from him.
"Since you won't leave my girlfriend alone, I guess there must be one other option I can ensure she'll never have to cross paths with you again," Toma said as he grabbed Ikki's collar.
Ikki's smell was wiped off as Toma raised his fist and knocked the air out of him.
Ikki collapsed on the ground with a grunt, eyes inundating with fear as Toma only pummeled him over with his fists.
Ikki's attempts to fight back gradually reduced until his eyes almost became glassy. Blood had begun to dribble down Ikki's mouth as he choked on the liquid.
Toma raised his fist to deliver the final blow, only to feel a hand pull him away from Ikki's body.
"Stop it!" She cried, the rims of her eyes brewing with tears she was struggling of hold in. Toma felt a pang in his heart as he stumbled backwards and into her arms. "You're hurting him!"
She smelled like innocence, if that was even possible. The light fragrance of flowers wafted into his nose and besieged his senses until he finally felt it.
Guilt. "H-He was hurting you," Toma tried to defend himself, but she had cut him off with a cold laugh.
"It's okay, Toma. I can defend myself, you know. But you don't have to hurt him over it. You might have killed him," she said, placing a warm hand on his cheek.
Toma just couldn't keep his thoughts straight whenever she did that. He felt his cheeks redden, and she giggled softly at his shy reaction.
"You don't want to do that, right?" She asked, and he shook his head when his thoughts said otherwise.
Of course he had wanted to kill Ikki. That was his initial motive. But as he gazed into her earnest orbs that were cushioned with kindness, he just couldn't bring himself to say that.
God, he loved her so damn much.
And now he knew that he never would have to keep her captive to ensure that her heart would only be satiated by him.
Because they were laced together from a single thread; a bond that could never be unraveled.
*****•••••*****
He always loved the lace dress. It was his favored choice whenever she would inquire on what she should wear.
The lace dress was like her kisses. It enamored him and it kept him reeling in for more as the fabric hugged her curves petitely but didn't give out enough skin for his hands to run through.
If there was one thing he was going to blame, it would be that dress.
That dress was the reason that he almost gave in to the darkness inside him and became a murderer obscured by feelings of love to ever consider the consequences.
But his love for her was just like the lace dress. It was to never be broken, and kept him wanting more.