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Anya was having a relatively normal day at school when it happened.
She sat next to Becky at their usual spot for lunch while waiting for Sy-on boy’s free period. He had wanted to stay after class to ask Mr. Green about their recent project like the nerd that he was, when all of a sudden, a girl from another hall approaches them. The girl had a long brown ponytail and kind eyes.
“Um, Anya?” She greets, nodding at Becky too. “C-can I talk to you about something?”
It wasn’t at all unusual for her to be at the receiving end of stares and rumors from other classes due to her reputation as the first imperial scholar to earn seven Tonitrus bolts (and be on the brink of expulsion) but it was rare to have someone go up to her for something. Anya nods eagerly.
“Sure! What’s up?”
The girl, Anya, was pretty sure her name started with a T, hands over a small white envelope.
“Can you give this to Damian for me? Please? I’m kind of in a hurry and I’m not sure if I’d run into him after the study period.” She trails off.
Suddenly, Anya wasn’t at all interested in her peanut butter sandwich anymore. She could hear a soft gasp from Becky.
“Wait? Sy-on boy?”
The girl nods. “Please, it's really urgent.”
There was something about the way the girl bit her lip that made Anya’s chest start hurting.
Years after the end of Operation Strix, Anya made a vow to her parents (and WISE) to control her powers and never directly use them unless it was an emergency. She learned how to tune out her general mindspace, and now she had to actively focus in order to read someone’s thoughts. Did this count as one of those emergencies? Anya thinks, shaking her head. What was this feeling in her chest?
“Y-yeah, sure, no problem.” She chokes out.
The girl smiles, relief pouring out from her pretty features. “Thank you so much! Please tell him it's from Talia!”
Talia, Anya notes in her mind. Anya throws a thumbs up to her as she scurries away. Talia Kreugmann was the daughter of a diplomat and a business tycoon. She remembers from her Papa’s files on her schoolmates.
“What the heck was that?!” Becky hisses from her side. “The nerve! The audacity!”
“Wait, why are you mad all of a sudden?” Anya stares at the white envelope in her hands. She ended up smearing some bread crumbs over the pristine white paper. Figures. She thinks.
Becky huffs, “Anya, I’m being offended for your sake!” Becky hands her a handkerchief. “Seriously, if she wanted to talk to Desmond, she could have just talked to him directly, at least she would have been rejected properly!”
“Rejected?”
Becky looks at her like she said something incredibly dumb. “Yeah, this-” She points to the crusty envelope, “-is clearly a love letter.”
Oh, Anya thinks. That’s why her chest hurt all of a sudden!
“Oh no…Becky-” She trails off. Sy-on boy, she discovered all those years being his classmate and friend, was a really good guy. He would never reject someone without giving them a chance. (He’d probably turn red and give them a shaky thanks and then offer to buy them peanuts too!)
So it was more likely that he’d accept the love confession just like all those dramas she and Becky watched. If Sy-on boy were to date someone, she’d have a harder time keeping up with him and being his confidante since he would have a girlfriend. (The word felt bitter in Anya’s mind.) This was extremely bad for her mission of keeping tabs on him!
Becky interprets her silence as dawning horror and nods sympathetically. “Don’t worry Anya, even though I’m still mad at Kreugmann, I’m sure Desmond would never do that to you.”
She wasn’t sure what Becky meant by that, but she keeps the envelope on her person anyway.
As expected, Sy-on boy takes the envelope from her without much fanfare. He nods and thanks her.
“So…” She trails off, “Talia Kreugmann?”
Sy-on boy was looking at her funny. He shakes his head. Typical Damian, even though they’ve actually become somewhat close, she still has a hard time reading his expressions without her powers.
“Yeah, she wanted to discuss our arrangement.”
Wait,what?! Something must have shown on her face because Damian immediately starts to ramble which is an admittedly cute thing he does when he gets nervous.
“Don’t get the wrong idea or anything, it’s just something between the Desmonds and the Kreugmanns, t-there’s nothing, uh, it’s just a discussion between the two of us for—”
Huh, Anya should be paying more attention, but she nods anyway. The corners of her lips pulling to form a smile? She thinks, she hopes. It better be a good smile or else she'll never forgive herself.
“I gotcha, hehe. You don’t need to explain.”
Damian sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Really, it’s nothing you should worry about.”
“Why would I be worried?”
He flushes. Another quirk she’d picked up on from when he was eight. His ears and the back of his neck turned red whenever he was embarrassed. It was the most endearing thing ever, and Anya would absolutely tease him about it if it weren’t for the sinking feeling in her stomach.
“W-whatever!” He hisses, “Anyway, do you wanna stop by the library later?”
Anya shakes her head. “Sorry Damian, gotta catch up with my mid-afternoon cartoons you know?”
“You and your cartoons, of course.” He sighs, a soft smile on his face. Anya could feel the fondness emanating from his eyes. She tugs at her hair, trying to hide her face. When did Sy-on boy suddenly become so smarmy?! She thinks, ignoring the heat in her cheeks.
No, she needed to get to the bottom of this. She was a spy in training, she couldn’t let this compromise her mission.
“Becky, what do you think meeting for an arrangement means?”
Becky slams her fist on the table, rattling her mug of hot cocoa. “DID HE REALLY SAY THAT?!”
“Uh yeah, why are you yelling?”
“He probably meant an arranged marriage!” Becky wails, “This can’t be happening, I can’t believe him, Anya!” She grabs Anya's shoulders. Anya was feeling pretty dizzy and it probably wasn’t helping. Arranged Marriage, the words rang hollow and foreign in her mind.
It made sense in hindsight too. Damian was a Desmond, and he needed to find some rich girl he could marry. Talia was a Kreugmann and she was pretty, tall, and probably really smart too. Plus she was just as rich and important as a Desmond.
And Anya was…well, she was an Imperial scholar, she was Damian’s friend for over 10 years now. But she was just Anya. There wasn’t really anything she could do about the political aspect of her friend’s life. Why was she just comparing herself to Talia anyway? She shakes her head.
Oh yeah, the mission. She was supposed to keep an eye out for Damian to see if the Desmonds were still conspiring over political power. She doubts that Damian would ever go to such extent given the kind of person he is, but this was still her own way of contributing to world peace.
“Becky, what should I do?”
“We have to persuade Desmond to call off the engagement of course!” Becky declares.
But if Damian had the power to call off the engagement, doesn’t that mean he agreed to it in the first place? Anya thinks and fails to suppress her frown.
Becky seemed to have gained mind-reading powers of her own because she pats Anya on the back. “Even if he agreed to the marriage in the first place, we could easily convince him to cancel it!” Anya ignores the pang in her chest at the word “marriage” again and nods.
“Lead the way.”
Most of Becky’s plans involved extreme sabotage. Borderline stalking probably, Anya thinks. But it was for the sake of the mission!
She corners Damian at their spot outside the classroom. Becky winks at her, “Shoot! I need to go Anya, Berlint Love’s special original episode airs this afternoon!” She gives Anya her most dramatic sigh.
Anya grins, giving her a thumbs up. Damian gives her a look and waves her off.
It was just the two of them at their spot in the library, which wasn’t at all unusual, but this time it was different. Anya grabs the first book she finds on the shelf.
“I can’t believe we have a cumulative final.” Damian whines, “Why do we even need to study for the midterm lessons?, this is stupid.”
Anya nods, “Yep, definitely stupid. But you know what else is stupid? Getting married.”
“Yeah—I, What?” Damian’s eyes widen for a fraction. Heh, gotcha, she thinks.
“Yeah, getting married often leads to unhappy relationships. Apparently, only 17 percent of married couples are happy after the first five years of marriage.”
“Huh?!”
Anya nods, “Did you know that the divorce rate is over 2.7 per 1000 of the population? Most couples either divorce or end up cheating on their spouses anyway.”
“Hey, did you hit your head earlier?” He stares into her eyes, she is slightly offended at the genuine concern she finds there. “If you wanna tap out, you can go home, you know?”
“What? No, I’m trying to tell you very important facts here Damian!”
“Facts about…marriage?”
“Uh-huh, so you shouldn’t rush into things all of a sudden.”
“O-kay.” He trails off, “I’m gonna go start going through my notes now. You can go back to reading your cookbook.” He snorts.
Anya stares at the book she grabbed, Baking Bad for Teens In Love ? She flushes.
Halfway through reading about cinnamon rolls, Anya decides to read Damian’s mind. It wasn’t exactly the emergency WISE had asked her to keep an eye on, but she was bored and boredom meant forgetting about her objectives. So she allowed herself this one time.
She closes her eyes and clears her head. She directs her focus on Sy-on boy sitting across her, completely engrossed in his physics notes.
-her hair looked super soft today.
What the? These thoughts weren’t about Vector addition and Newton’s laws of motion! What a liar. Damian was really good at faking his good student image, she snickers.
-right I’m supposed to meet up with Talia tomorrow afternoon at the lounge.
Anya gasps, sitting up straight.
Damian glances at her, “What is it?”
“N-nothing!”
It was the afternoon of the next day. Becky and Anya had a plan. At lunch period, Becky had pulled her over to her house.
“If he can’t go to this particular meeting, then Kreugmann would think he was blowing her off and she’d call off the engagement!” Becky declares.
Anya could think of 50 ways to keep him from showing up to the meeting. Half of it involved throwing a bucket of water over his head so he’d have an excuse to change and run away. But apparently, Becky had a better plan.
“Anya, it’s time for us to pull out our trump card.” She says, pulling out a tiny box.
Which is how Anya Forger came to school face caked with makeup. The eyeliner and glittery eyeshadow felt itchy on her eyelids. Becky had curled her long hair into waves that fell from her face and clipped it with a shiny green pin. Everyone was staring at her.
Is that Forger?! Holy hell-
She cleans up nicely
I knew she was cute, but not like this?!
Anya grins, the nervousness bubbling up in her stomach when she and Becky sat down in their classrooms.
“I know he wouldn’t be able to resist you.” Becky giggles from her side. “He’d be so enamored, he’d forget all about Kreugmann in no time!”
On cue, Sy-on boy enters the room. He nods at their classmates and his gaze stops on Anya. She freezes, the heat creeping up from the back of her neck. She bats her eyelashes for dramatic effect, as per Becky’s instructions.
“Remember, let the makeup do the talking for you!” Becky assures one last time.
“Yo, Damian.” She greets.
He looks at her for a split second, before nodding and averting his gaze. “Hey, what happened to your face?”
“Huh! What about my face?”
Before he could reply, the afternoon class period bell rang and they all had to scamper to their seats. Well, Anya felt a little silly sitting in class with a face full of makeup.
If Anya were paying attention, she would have heard the small voice at the back of her mind.
She looks prettier than usual today. But what else is new?
“Damian, I need your help with something.”
“Something?” He’s still averting his gaze. Anya wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him. “Can’t right now, sorry, I have to go meet Talia.”
Anya wanted to scream, “B-but it’s really important, you can’t-” Anya trails off, she doesn't know what to say. The makeup was supposed to do the talking for her!
“Listen, Anya, this meeting is really important—” But Anya wasn’t listening anymore. She just stares straight ahead at Damian’s face. “This arrangement is a matter that needs to be discussed by both of the Desmonds and the Kreugmanns.”
“But why?”
“Huh?” Damian pauses.
“Why does it have to be you?”
“What is that supposed to—”
Stupid, dummy, she wanted to pull at her own hair. What was happening to her? Papa always said to not let emotions get the better of her, and here she was at a loss for words because of some feelings she couldn’t even name.
“I get that you’re a Desmond, but why do you always have to be the one shouldering all the responsibilities?” She bites back. He shouldn’t even be thinking about marriage until they were like, 25 or something! He should be out there having fun, reading manga, and just being a kid like the rest of them were, like Anya.
“Because I have something to prove, Anya.”
Anya meets his eyes to find determination burning in his gaze. They were in an empty classroom, the sun was starting to set, and the orange of the sunset emphasized Damian’s features.
Oh.
“I have something to prove, not just for my family,” He continues, “But to myself too. I have to believe that I can be better than my father.”
And to you. So I can be a better person for you.
Anya swallows the doubt in her throat. “I can’t believe you’re just gonna accept that—” she struggles to form the words. “Without telling anyone, without telling me.”
“Anya, I have no idea what’s going on right now, but there’s nothing that can stop me from meeting Talia—”
Damian was gonna say more, but she slaps her palm against his mouth. The sound echoes in the empty classroom.
“Then how about this?”
She leans over and places her lips over the back of her palm covering Damian’s mouth. He nearly drops his bag in shock. She had to get on her tiptoes to reach his face.
Her hands are shaking, she was pretty sure strands of her hair were sticking to her neck, and the gloss on her lips felt warm against the back of her own palm. She could see flecks of green in Damian’s eyes. His cheeks were very warm, and he also had very long and pretty bottom lashes.
She doesn’t drop her palm because he might say something that could ruin her forever.
“Please.” She managed to choke out.
Damian was still staring at her, she wanted to tap out immediately. Maybe find a little hole to die in. Tell her mama and papa that she was running away to change her name.
Why wasn’t he saying anything!
“I’m—”
Anya ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t have stubby legs anymore, so she can run just as fast, if not faster, than a sprinter. Hah, take that Desmond! She thought, her face burning.
“Wait!”
Nope, nope. Who cares about the mission, she sure didn’t!
“Anya, we are so gonna talk about this tomorrow!” she hears him yell.
“Pa, I’m dropping out of Eden.”
Loid Forger nearly drops his mug. “What?”
“I wanna run away. Possibly forever. Maybe as far away from here as possible please.”
“Anya, what brought this on, sweetie?” Her amazing, beautiful, mama asks.
“Boys, are dumb mama. “
But Anya was first and foremost, a good daughter. So she went to school the next day anyway. Even though she’d probably see Sy-on with a wedding ring, or worse, see him sitting next to Talia at lunch, it didn’t matter. She was fine with everything. She was even smiling when she sat next to Becky.
“Anya what happened to your face?!”
What was Becky talking about? her face was fine.
“You look like you swallowed a hundred cough drops at once.”
Anya smiles at her best friend with her best, big-sister worthy smile. “I’m having a really good day Becky.”
Becky grins, “Yeah, so I guess the breakup plan was a success huh?”
“Whu—”
“Well, I’ve asked daddy for news regarding the engagement between the Desmonds and the Kreugmanns and he said he hadn’t heard anything of the sort!” She says, completely destroying Anya’s facade instantly.
“Wait? Really?!”
Becky nods, “Yup, so I’m guessing Damian called it off! So, what did you do to convince him anyway?”
Memories of yesterday flood Anya’s poor brain. The heat creeps up her face and neck. Oh no. What has she done! She just basically almost kissed him? Why did she do that? Oh no. Anya wanted to die again. Becky looks at her and gasps.
“You didn’t!” Curse Becky and her Anya-specific-mind-reading powers.
Yes she did! She wanted to smack something. Did she really like Sy-on boy like that ? Damian was her friend! The son of Operation Strix’s former target. Mr. Plan B! She wasn’t supposed to feel like this. But Damian was also really nice, he gave her peanuts and head pats. Even though he acted like a jerk most of the time, she didn’t need to read his mind to know that he was really kind. She really liked the way she smiled and laughed at the smallest things, and how he was really patient with her even though she didn’t get half of the lessons—
“Waah, Becky!” She covered her face. And on cue, Damian entered the room. He didn’t look any different from any other day. He waves at them. Becky glares at him, but still waves back. She could feel his stare from a few seats away.
“We need to talk.” He corners her after class.
“No, we don’t.” In fact, what they needed to do was pretend like nothing happened ever. Technically this mission was still a success since Sy-on wasn’t getting married? She needed to confirm that. They could still get married in the future, what if they just postponed the date? The thought made Anya borderline nauseous.
“Anya, you’ve been acting weird all week.” Damian says, completely obliterating Anya’s mental state again. Had he been paying attention all this time? Stupid considerate, caring Sy-on boy.
“Huh, what do you mean?”
“I mean…” He trails off, signature blush on his cheeks. He was blushing? At her? Has he always been doing that? “Y-you haven’t even called me Sy-on boy recently, what’s up with that?”
Despite her growing embarrassment, she snickers. “That’s what gave it away? Really?”
“S-shut up! You’ve literally called me by that stupid nickname for ten years!”
"I can't call you Sy-on anymore because—" She gathers her courage. "Because you're engaged right? What if people get the wrong idea by having me call you nicknames and stuff." She explains. Oh wow, wasn't the floor extra shiny today, she thinks.
Silence. Maybe Damian couldn't hear hear over the sound of her own heartbeat.
"Engaged?"
"Yeah, you know, your arrangement with Talia?" Way to poke at her own wounds, thinks Anya.
She couldn't meet Damian's eyes and the sun was beginning to set when he spoke, his voice soft.
"No Anya, I'm not getting married."
"Yeah but you're still gonna be married in the future right? For your families and stuff."
"No, we're not getting married in the future either, Anya." Anya ignores the hope bubbling in her chest. Damian continues. "The arrangement was for the Desmond-Kreugmann business partnership between my branch of the company and Uncle Kreugmann's. He wasn't able to make it to the meeting, so he sent Talia as his representative."
"Then—"
"And by the way, Talia is my second cousin."
Oh.
"Oh." Suddenly, Anya felt very dumb right now.
She could hear him muttering under his breath. She decides to salvage the situation.
“Uh, Hehe, okay then Sy-on!” She sing-songs, drawing out the nickname trying to ignore the weird combination of relief and mortification in her chest. “I’m glad you aren’t getting married so I can call you that for another ten years.” She decides to finally meet his gaze for the first time in the day.
Damian looks like he’s seven again with his dumb blank gaze and impenetrable mind. Anya wants to pinch his cheek.
“You thought I was getting married to Talia.” He says slowly as if trying to process the concept of language.
“Duh, you said you had an arrangement between your families and stuff, you were super vague, what was I supposed to think?!” she defends.
Damian looks up at the heavens, before meeting her gaze again. “So, let me get this straight, all this time you thought I was getting married?” Anya nods. “So that whole spiel at the library?”
“Was to stop you from making bad decisions of course!”
“And the sudden afternoon makeover?”
“Becky’s idea, dunno.”
Damian pinches the bridge of his nose. “What about yesterday. In the classroom?”
It was her turn to shy her gaze away from his intense searching eyes. “Um.” She mutters. “You see, that was-uh…”
Damian waits. This was an emergency. She had to use her powers now!
But before she could clear her mind, Damian suddenly laughs right then and there. It was one of those genuine roaring laughs. His laughter echoes across the empty classroom. Anya could feel the happiness in her chest expand and spread through her body in waves. Sy-on had a really pretty laugh. She’s pretty sure she’s in love (She buries that thought in the recesses of her mind to examine later.)
“Wait a minute. Were you jealous? This whole time?!” There were tears in his eyes from laughing too hard. Nevermind his pretty laughter, Anya hopes he trips and falls on his face. Preferably along a flight of stairs. Her cheeks burn. Being in love sucks. Mama and Papa made it look so easy. Both of them were stinking liars.
But Anya was nothing but an honest person underneath all the lying. She slaps her own cheeks and faces Damian’s gaze. He had a stupid fond smile on his face. She takes a deep breath and tells him the truth.
“I don’t want you to get married to anyone else.” She says it as clearly as possible. No room for misunderstandings at all.
Anyone else? Does that mean? No wait, I can’t jump to conclusions—
“I think you should get married to someone you like, someone you definitely deserve.” She says. Thinking back to how her Mama and Papa were once strangers living in a shared house. Now she catches them dancing in the kitchen at night. That was the kind of love Sy-on boy should get to have too.
“So you gotta wait for me, okay?” She pulls the smile from deep inside, she hopes Sy-on boy gets it. She had absolutely no control over what she was saying now but she was in a groove. “No rushing into things.”
“W-what?I-You’re the one who k-kissed me!” He hisses, and oh yeah, that was a thing she did.
“There was a mosquito,” She points out like the totally honest person that she was, “ -On your face, and uh, I killed it for you. You’re welcome.”
“You literally—” He groans. Anya feels a little bad, but Damian was smiling. “Next time, try to do it properly alright?”