Sylvie remembered the earlier memory of their meeting with Rei defying her order which managed to break her due to the amount of pressure put on her as someone who had to be at the top due to her peers except for her mother and elder sister that are still trying to find ways to help her.
She remembers beating Rei up with all her might due to his stubbornness when she tried to command him. What's even more weird was the fact that the teacher had paired the two of them for a project even after the incident of Rei staying at the infirmary who had missed at least three classes for a day.
The magenta haired girl didn't care, as long as she can get Rei to obey her then she'll have no problems with maintaining her perfect grades except it didn't end well. It ended with Rei making some random stuff up in the middle of their presentation which ended up with them getting a B grade.
For Rei, it was alright since he never bothered to care about getting everything perfect as long as he could understand the topic. On the other hand, Sylvie was fuming with rage as she clenched the report paper on her hand before storming off to the library as usual to study and work hard which made Rei curious about her.
Sylvie could remember the stares of her fellow schoolmates upon hearing the news of her being unable to bring her grades up due to Rei always disobeying her orders then doing his own thing. The words that were always sticking deep into her heart especially with the tone they had.
'She messed up twice. Sylvie can't even get someone to obey her.'
'If she failed to make the 'blank' to obey her then she'll never be able to make it.'
'It is much better if she's gone right? After all, she can't make someone kneel before her presence.'
All of those gossips were engraved into her head until she saw him. All bloody and beaten up, breathing heavily on the floor in the hallway of the school campus.
"Y'all are fxcking disgusting." Sylvie wanted to leave around the corner, not wanting to deal with him then hearing the two assailants talk. "Disgusting? Tell that to the queen." Their words made her stop from leaving, "She's so disgusting cause she can't maintain her grades because of you. If she was able to maintain it, it's because no one has a death wish like you to keep dragging her with you."
"At this point, she may as well just kill herself if she keeps on failing." Sylvie was hurt and was about to leave, her heart beating hard as she could feel her emotions about to unleash before Rei broke everything that she stood for with his response against their statement.
"Really? Then you people are just parasites who think they're hot shxt. The fxck can you do? Enhance your own strength? Make yourself a bit indestructible with a hardening prowess?" Rei uttered before standing up weakly, "At least she has the means to be at the very best by working diligently to back it all up. How about you? Fxckers that talk shxt when they are barely doing anything at all."
He said before spitting blood on them, "At least she's better than the rest of you cause she can prove herself to be someone worthy of her spot with the amount of effort and work she puts in there."
Before everything escalated as the two assailants were about to worsen his condition, Sylvie intervened by grabbing their hand as she kicked one of them so hard that they flew across the long hallway.
"Touch him again. I'll make sure you'll stay in the hospital for a year." She said in a cold tone before glaring at the latter as her mint green eyes glowed brighter, "I will not have my partner be injured for the project. Scatter."
The latter immediately retreated before picking their friend up, leaving as Sylvie sighed before helping Rei which surprised him as she helped him go to the infirmary. After that day, the male even made her shocked when she found him in the library, especially with a couple of books that were related to their history project.
She remembered him complaining about his performance and wanting to help her without relying on her notes. He insisted on understanding the topic better rather than reading things that he didn't understand which made the magenta haired girl sigh before having the entire day to work on it.
Sylvie could remember how much Rei had celebrated when they got an A+ on the final grading despite their rough work and presentation, especially with how the latter managed to sneak in a couple of fun facts within it. "Ease up! We can rest, ever heard of bubble tea?" Rei said as the magenta haired girl shook her head since she never explored that much other than visiting any library or anything related to studying which would be buying books or stationary supplies whenever it ran out.
Because of him, she also found the passion to start playing games when he introduced her to league of legends and a couple of gacha games which always ended with them arguing with who was the best one to prioritise in the endgame content.
In addition, she started exploring more with what she wanted to wear other than the formal wear that she had in her closet prior to her professional and strict attitude. Then spending a lot of money to either buy clothes or things in the game with her own bank account prior to her abusive father's investment which she promised to drain so that he can't demand to borrow some after being able to leave jail and from the UK.
Because of Rei, she managed to open up more to her mother and sister where she started to enjoy small breaks or long breaks with them during the holidays or whenever school had cancelled classes due to the extreme weather.
After a year passed by with their unusual starting of their friendship had blossomed even more complicated and more comfortable with them exploring their preferences and other things that they loved to do.
Which was the fact that they also became friends with benefits where they explored their fantasies to each other whenever it was possible for them to do so. There are times where they went risky with no protection or making a sneaky session in a secluded spot of the school nor at any places at all as long as they were hidden.
Moreover, gossip of them being a couple was immediately spread around the school especially with their odd status with Sylvie being a god-tier and Rei being a 'blank'. They never bothered to correct them since it was their own decisions whether they start dating each other or just stay the same as best friends with benefits.
Their unusual situationship had always brought their schoolmates confused with how they acted with each other during private times or in public. Either flirting, boldly caressing each other or laughing like how close friends would do with their usual antics and hobbies.
It was amusing, entertaining and romantic whenever one of the staff catch them in the act on the school rooftop where the two are blatantly just flirting with each other or them playfully fighting with light hits for their unusual jokes and statements.
Sylvie started to break out of her shell, although she was still cold to others that she didn't like nor have annoying to deal with. She was no longer the perfect Ice Queen that always stood strong at the top. She was someone who was exploring her freedom and interests in things that amused her asides from still studying diligently for the career that she wanted to achieve.
Everything was going well especially with Rei bringing more of her side that she didn't even know existed especially with finding out she loves being carried and pampered by him or the fact that Sylvie enjoyed being spoiled with affection or generally just clingy whenever he's around.
Needless to say, they were like a couple who couldn't find anything else other than to enjoy each other's company without bothering anything in life other than to find things to entertain themselves regarding of the logical and illogical aspects to the activities.
That was until the day Rei was called to the principal's office during their early fourth year of high school. She remembered how the two of them were panicking since it had just happened when they had just finished with their session in a secluded classroom.
Sylvie thought that they were gonna call her next to discuss it with her mother but it never happened as she wondered if the principal was favoring her due to her status and her mother's reputation.
When she went to the principal's office to find out what happened with Rei by being professional and not letting her emotions take the best of her especially with the odd treatment the school gives to every student especially with lower tiers. Sylvie never expected for them to answer with a calm expression.
"Rei's father has passed away. He'll be back once he's done mourning for their death, I'm sure he'll need your support a lot."
Sylvie understood what Rei was feeling at the moment despite not losing anyone in her life but she knew nothing about his father when he had only told her how much he appreciated the man who raised him with blood, tears and sweat then the efforts to put him in this position.
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