TËSSÃ ãñd DARÆY: A Love Written with fire

My mind was buzzing.

Now that I knew about all the mischief brewing in the house, I figured—why not speak my mind? I was angry. What Irene did today was not fair at all.

She could have just told me to send her the money for the water, and I would have happily bought it for her. And guess what? I would've still had enough left to eat that day!

But look at me now.

Hungry.

And when I'm hungry, I stop caring about a lot of things. So why should I care about this now?

That's when I decided—I was going to tell Biancus about it.

The moment Irene left and it was just the two of us in the house, I knew my chance had come.

I turned to Biancus.

"What happened today was not funny at all, and I am not happy. I couldn't say anything in front of her because I wanted to keep the peace in this house, but honestly? I am not happy."

And what did Biancus do?

She burst into laughter.

"What peace are you talking about?" she snorted. "Peace that has already been destroyed? After what Irene did to Ruth, I decided I'm not taking any crap from her anymore."

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

So if Biancus wasn't being nice to her… why was I?!

Biancus smirked. "Ah, but I thought she was your best friend now. Since you came back, you two have been real close."

I scoffed. "Of course, we've been close. Do I have a choice? You guys stopped talking to her, so who's left? Me. If I don't talk to her, you will? She doesn't have anyone else to talk to except me now. If she was angry, she should have just talked to Ruth. But no! Now, both of you are mad at her, and guess who's left stuck in the middle? Me."

Biancus just kept laughing.

"Irene is no longer tolerable," she said, shaking her head. "I can't take it anymore, so I've decided to just let her leave."

I narrowed my eyes. "So that's the plan? And you guys left me out of it?"

She shrugged. "I didn't know you felt that way."

I stared at her. "So no oh, sorry, no yeah, my bad?"

She just gave me a knowing look.

And that's when it hit me.

If that was the plan all along… then why the hell wasn't I told?

Sometimes, I swear, I feel like an outsider in this house.

That day, Biancus and I talked about Irene a lot—all the things she did that we didn't approve of, all the moments that made us roll our eyes, and all the times we had to bite our tongues.

At some point, I casually mentioned how I had nicknamed them Princess and The Queen.

Biancus burst out laughing. "What? I'm not the Princess—whatsoever!"

I smirked. "Oh, but you are. You act so much like it. You and Irene? You're like mother and daughter."

She gave me that look. The one that said, Stop it. Just stop playing like that.

I laughed. It was funny.

For the longest time, I had imagined this day would come—that one day, Irene would just gloriously leave, and everything would go back to normal.

But now, looking back… I guess Irene and I are kind of alike.

We tend to love people best when we're distant.

We make mistakes—mistakes we're not proud of.

And then, like a tornado, Biancus came busting with the one name I wasn't ready to here,

"HEY! Guess what?"

I looked at her, unimpressed. "What?"

She grinned. "Daræy has been all up about you whenever I'm around him."

I blinked. "What?"

Biancus threw her hands up dramatically. "Like, dude, you need to forgive that guy. Seriously. He said he was just trying to be close to you, so why not give it a try?"

I raised a brow.

She waved a hand. "Forget what he said about your parents, and you being a dumbass just because you had a carryover and all that stuff. Just let go."

I sighed. "Biancus… you know me. I already let that go. I just can't get over the fact that he thought I was dumb."

She gave me a look.

I continued, "I'm insecure, okay? And that word hit me like a thunderbolt. I know I should let it go, but I just… can't."

Biancus groaned. "Sweetheart, you have to let it go."

I exhaled. "I know, but it's just going to take time."

She gave me a sly smile. "Ohhh, I see. You want him to win your trust back? Is this turning into a love story now? Are you guys secretly writing a romance novel together and just forgot to invite me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Girl, cheer up. You have Joshua, you know."

And then—Biancus paused.

Frozen.

I guess I hit a nerve.

"Well, Joshua ain't the real drama king." Biancus smirked. "Daræy is the drama king—and honestly, we've been lacking a lot of drama in this house."

I gawked at her. "Lacking drama? With all this Irene stuff going on? That's not enough for you?"

She grinned mischievously. "Nope."

I groaned. "I taught if I finally let go of Daræy, I'd finally be drama-free. But nope. You guys just had to put a powerbolt on it, didn't ya?"

Biancus laughed. "Well, Irene's drama is like a headache—annoying and exhausting. But Daræy's drama?" She let out a dreamy sigh. "Now that's the kind of drama worth hearing."

I scoffed. "Oh? And what exactly makes it so special?"

She leaned closer like she was about to reveal some ancient gossip. "It's the way he carries himself. The guy just exists, and suddenly, everybody wants to know about him. It's like he's news itself. For no reason at all, you just want to know what's going on with him."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. And let me guess—you think he's handsome, too?"

She smirked. "Well, yeah. Daræy is handsome and you know it."

I crossed my arms. "And Irene? She's dead beautiful."

Biancus nodded. "Yeah, her skin glows—she's beautiful, no doubt. But her character?" She made a face. "Not so beautiful."

We both laughed.

"Well, Irene did do a lot of things," I admitted. "But… let's just leave that be. Very soon, when she moves out, we'll finally close that chapter."

Biancus gave me a knowing smirk. "Oh, sure. Irene's chapter might close. But Daræy's chapter?" She tilted her head teasingly. "That one can never be closed."

I glared at her. But deep down, I knew she was right.

That evening, Irene and everyone returned to the house after class. It felt like a normal day until Irene announced, "I'm finally ready to leave. My house is comfortable now."

We all exchanged glances. The moment we'd been waiting for had finally arrived.

"Oh, congratulations," we said, though the words felt strange leaving my lips.

Me, ever the good Samaritan, immediately offered to help. "Let me help you carry your things." I said

And since I was the only one who had never really done anything for Irene before, I figured… why not?.

Irene didn't refuse. She handed me a load of her things, and I carried them to her place while she waited for her bed to be transported.

We waited forever at her house before I could finally leave. And of course, her Biancus, Ruth and Light —found it all hilarious.

"You wanted to help, right?" one of them teased. "So, how was it?"

They all laughed, and I could only shake my head. Never again.

But that was it. Irene's chapter was officially closed.

And just like that, things were finally going back to normal.

Which also meant one other thing—Daræy.

Next time I saw him, I was ending this ridiculous feud between us.

Because, if I was being honest with myself… I missed the drama. Not Irene's exhausting kind of drama, but the kind that came with Daræy. The tension, the arguments, the way he always made me think, made me feel alive.

I missed the way Biancus and I never got tired of talking about him.

And I wanted it back.

So stay close, Daræy.

I'm coming for you.