New Life : A Second Chance

Byron shouted in pain and let her go as he fell down to his knees, clutching his family jewels with one hand. Despite the intense pain that didn"t allow him to stand nor think properly, he was still able to grip Lianne"s sleeve.

Lianne looked at that hand of his that was holding onto her sleeve in a vice grip and frowned. Her sleeve was getting wrinkled badly. On the plus side, he hadn"t grabbed her wrist - she shuddered to think what her wrist would look like if he did.

She tried to free her sleeve from his death grip, but to no avail. Her sleeve was caught in his tightly clenched fist and she couldn"t get free.

Then, she saw a hand covering that fist, and another hand held Byron"s wrist. In one smooth motion like opening a jar, Zero pressed the wrist hard, causing Byron to instinctively let go due to the pain. 

Zero flung that offending hand away and gently pushed Lianne to stand behind him as crouched down and poked Byron on the forehead.

"Never," he said in a low, menacing voice, "Touch her again."

Zero placed his hand on Byron"s shoulder, his thumb just above the collarbone. To those watching, it looked like Zero was merely placing his hand there but in reality, Zero was pressing down on that sensitive spot with his thumb.

The pain left Byron gasping and he looked at Zero"s cold eyes.

Zero smiled, but there was no warmth in it as he continued, "Ever. Or I will make you feel far more pain than what you"re going through right now." 

Zero patted his shoulder, got up and turned towards Lianne, "Are you alright?"

Lianne nodded, while looking at her wrinkled sleeve in displeasure. 

Zero, seeing this, smoothened it with his hand. He gently held her by the wrist and ran his other hand up and down the sleeve. 

It didn"t really do anything (he wasn"t an iron after all) and seeing this, he said sheepishly, trying to appease her, said, "It doesn"t look too bad."

Lianne took Zero"s hand that was trying vainly to smoothen the badly wrinkled sleeve and pulled him away, "I know. It"s okay. Come on. I don"t have much time for lunch."

Zero let himself be led away by Lianne, but not before he turned to glare at Byron one last time for a final warning. Byron, who managed to get up by now, faltered a bit upon receiving that glare and watched helplessly as the girl left with that scary guy.

Byron ignored the sn.i.g.g.e.rs from people around him as he hobbled back into the school. He, himself, did not know why he was fixated at finding his Cinderella. It had been two years now but it was as if she was unfinished business.

He had managed to settle his thoughts by accepting the fact that she wasn"t in this school but just now, for the first time, that thought was blown out. He had caught glimpses of the sketches the girl had dropped.

Most were of some guy but there were a few landscape ones. He didn"t manage to catch much before she grabbed them all up but it was enough to start that suspicion in his mind.

Plus, she had curly hair!

He had basically ignored that fact since he gave up some time ago but now, here she was. What made it even more aggravating to him was that this girl did not give him any glance at all.

He"s used to girls being fl.u.s.tered all over him, or giving him the googly-eyes but this was the first time that the girl wouldn"t give him any time of day at all. That piqued his interest immediately.

So, with all three factors pulled in: indifference, curly hair, artist.

It was his Cinderella.

He was sure of it.

He clenched his legs.

d.a.m.n, but his Cinderella was vicious. 

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Once they were away from the building, Lianne let go of Zero"s hand and wiped her forehead, "d.a.m.n, that Byron is annoying."

"Want me to get rid of him?" Zero asked.

"What? NO!" Lianne gasped, hitting him on the chest, "Stop taking things so seriously. He"s just a kid."

"He dared to grab you," Zero hissed, "Just where is Anne?!"

"Stop it. Don"t blame her for this," Lianne said, putting her hands on her waist and glaring at him, "I told her to stay behind to avoid any unnecessary talks going about with both of us missing in the canteen today. Anyway, I was meeting up with you, right?"

Zero grumbled incoherently.

"No," Lianne told him, pointing at his nose. Fact that he was much taller didn"t deter her as she pushed his nose.

"Leave Anne alone. Promise me," Lianne said firmly, looking at him in the eye. He looked away from her, not wanting to make that promise when she pinched his cheeks.

"Zero!"

"Fine, fine. Okay! I promise!" Zero said, taking her hands in his and putting it down.

He rubbed his slightly sore cheeks, and complained, "You"re so unreasonable."

Lianne rolled her eyes, "You"re unreasonable! Your brothers are unreasonable! Your whole Diamond Group is unreasonable!"

Lianne modified the usual curse, replacing "mother" with brothers (meaning, Lucka, Edward, Yume, and Akira), and "family" with Diamond Group. After all, Zero was an orphan and his family consisted of his Team of brothers and the group as a family.

Zero rubbed her head with a soft smile, making Lianne even more agitated.

"Not my head!" Lianne growled, smacking his hand away.

Zero"s heart warmed.

He had always wanted a sister, especially seeing how close Sir was to Ms. Kay. He had his brothers, but it wasn"t the same as a sister. 

With Lianne, she filled that gap in his heart and he would pamper her and protect her as if she was his blood sister. He had never harboured any romantic feelings for her and only those in the Diamond Group knew this clearly.

He had heard rumours about them in MIB but he ignored them. As long as Sir and his brothers knew the truth, it was enough. Everyone else can say and think whatever they wanted, he didn"t care. 

It didn"t matter to him at all.

Most importantly, he also knew that Lianne didn"t see him in that light as well. She was the first to make it clear to him that she only saw him as eye-candy and her muse. She lay the ground rules pretty clear and early, so as to ease his worry or discomfort.

His brothers also treated her as their sister due to Zero"s a.s.sociation with her, but that was about it. Only Zero truly viewed her as his sister in his heart. He smiled, seeing how she tried to smooth her hair down.

"You better make it up to me," Lianne said, pointing at her head.

"Oh? How?" Zero asked.

She grinned widely, "Pose for me."

"Okay," he replied simply.

If Anne was to see this side of Zero, she"d probably have her mouth wide open before fainting. Zero, the one that talked the least, the one that always blended in the background and not wanting to mix around, preferring to hole himself up in his room …

Was not only talking normally to someone, he even agreed to posing for pictures.

In fact, even if his brothers were to see this, they would be hitting each other to make sure they were awake.

This was a side of Zero that only Lianne saw. That only Lianne was able to bring out. 

Birds of a feather, flock together - that sort of thing.

The reason why they formed such a close bond so easily was because their thoughts and personalities were so similar. The awkwardness in crowds, the uncomfortableness with socialising and yet, being forced to be and act "normal" in a crowd.

When you find someone similar to yourself, you naturally get close.

"Before that, here," Zero said, handing Lianne a credit card.

Her eyebrow rose up, seeing the black card, "Really, Zero? What is Kyle thinking, giving me this sort of card?"

Zero shrugged, "Sir said he trusts you. It is "just in case" there was something that you really needed."

Lianne rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew her mother trusted her, but in what way would she ever even touch the max limit of a normal card, let alone this black card?? Spoiling her much?

After keeping the card, she gave Zero a huge grin while rubbing her hands together.

"Okay, now ... let"s take a few pictures!"

Zero soon learned that Lianne"s concept of "a few" pictures was drastically different from what he thought was a few.

A LOT different.