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Chapter 12
~Spring’s POV~
Rose wasn’t listening. No matter how gently I tried, how calmly I spoke, she didn’t care to hear it.
"Rose, stop. Just let go. I only ca to take what’s mine," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking and control my anger.
But her fingers only gripped tighter into my hair, yanking my head back with a sharp tug that made my scalp sting.
I clenched my jaw, biting back a cry. She was furious, unreasonably so. Her anger was like a fla licking higher with every breath.
"I’m not giving it back!" she scread, spit flying. "You don’t deserve it!"
"I need it for my school project. Your old one doesn’t work—" I tried again, my words stumbling out with what little calm I had left. "It was never yours."
She didn’t care.
"Liar! You gave it to . You just don’t want to have nice things!"
And that was it. I’d had enough.
I placed the laptop on my table, grabbed her wrist and stood up.
Then I twisted slightly and pushed her off . Rose stumbled backwards and dropped to the floor with a thud. My chest heaved, my head ached, and for a second, I thought it was over.
But Rose wasn’t finished.
She shot up like the snake she was, and before I could stop her, she lunged for the laptop.
I saw it on the table, exactly where I’d set it down just monts earlier. I reacted without thinking, rushing toward it. My fingers found it at the sa ti hers did.
We both grabbed it. "Let go!" I snapped.
"You let go!" she barked back.
The laptop shifted between us, jerking side to side. The tension in my arms built fast, my muscles locking as we fought for control and then—
Wham!
Her knee drove into my stomach, making gasp as pain exploded through . My grip weakened for a split second, long enough for Rose to yank the laptop free, her eyes glittering with vicious triumph.
Before I could recover, she raised it high above her head and just like my phone, I knew what was coming.
"Don’t—!"
CRASH.
The sound echoed, louder than it should have, louder than anything. I stared as my laptop—the laptop Rhys had given —smashed into the floor, splintering into jagged pieces.
The screen cracked in spiderwebs, the casing twisted, and the keys flew loose. It felt like sothing inside broke along with it.
Rose stepped back, all smug and looking cruel in her frantic, scattered hair. "Oops... it slipped."
I didn’t even think. I stood straight and let my palm fly across her face.
Her head turned with the impact, her mouth falling open in shock. And then...
"Spring!"
Soone called my na. A second later, Rose let out a bloodcurdling scream and dropped to the ground, curling into herself like she’d been brutalized.
She clutched her cheek, then her stomach, sobbing—no, performing. The tears ca too quickly, her body language too deliberate.
I just stared at her, dumbfounded. I hadn’t even touched her beyond that single slap, and yet... the way she cried made it look like I’d kicked her down a flight of stairs.
Imdiately, the door slamd open and Rhys stord into my room.
His eyes were wide, scanning the room until they landed on the two of us. His gaze locked on Rose, who was still crying as if her ribs had shattered.
"She... she attacked !" Rose wailed before he could even speak. "I tried to stop her, but she was so angry! She said she hated ! She slapped , kicked in the stomach, and then she—she destroyed the laptop! She said if she couldn’t have it, then I shouldn’t either!"
I lifted an eyebrow, but that did not stop her from slandering .
"She hurt , Rhys. I told you she hated —she’s jealous because you love !"
I made a sharp scoff and stepped forward just as Rhys lifted his eyes to look at .
"You can believe her lies if you want," I said calmly, "but don’t drag into it. I didn’t harm her. She ca here on her own. I only took back the laptop she, your beloved little innocent Rose, stole from , to do my school project, since the old one she gave wasn’t even working. And instead, she yanked my hair, kicked in the stomach, and destroyed my laptop."
Rhys looked at , then at Rose, then back again. Conflicted. Like he wanted to believe , but didn’t know how to unhear Rose’s sobbing lies.
Rose saw his hesitation and pounced.
"She’s lying! It’s all lies! She gave the laptop. I didn’t steal it! She destroyed it herself!"
I stared at him, my voice quiet now. "You gave that laptop, Rhys. You know I cherished it."
He frowned. "If you cherished it so much, why would you give it to Rose in the first place?"
I shook my head slowly. "You still don’t get it. Why would I ever give her such a precious gift... unless she stole it?"
He opened his mouth, but the words didn’t co. He looked like he was trying to piece sothing together—sowhere, deep in the recesses of his mory, he knew I was telling the truth.
And then... it was like a light ca on behind his eyes, a mory maybe and then the exact mory flashed in my own eyes as though the body recognised the laptop and the pain that ca from seeing it destroyed.
**Flashback**
It was my sixteenth birthday.
The day had passed quietly, but that night, Rhys ca into my room. He was smiling, holding a silver box wrapped in dark ribbon. I rembered sitting up, surprised, reaching for the gift with shaky hands.
He sat beside . "Happy birthday, Spring love."
My cheeks heated up, just from how he called my na. He loved to tease in a nice way.
"Rhys... You already gave gifts."
"Doesn’t an you do not deserve more."
When I opened the box, my breath caught. A brand new MacBook. The newest model. Sleek. Shiny that I could barely speak.
"You didn’t have to," I whispered.
"I wanted to," he said gently.
I looked up at him. "Did you use your promotion salary?"
Rhys raised an eyebrow. "You heard about that?"
I nodded. "You said on the phone you wanted to get sothing aningful with your first real paycheck."
Rhys had laughed, kissed my forehead and nodded. "You are special, Spring. It is only right that I do this. You an the world to ."
"In that case, I will cherish it forever and keep it with ."
Rhys chuckled, ruffling my hair. "No, silly. If it breaks, I’ll buy you another one."
"No," I told him. "I’ll keep it forever. It is my precious gift."
**Flashback Ends**
The mory faded like mist lifting, and I blinked back to the present.
Rhys’s shoulders sagged. The sharp lines of doubt on his face started to crack. Rhys was looking at . There was sothing in his eyes I hadn’t seen in a while—softness, clarity.
"You rembered," he said quietly.
I nodded, unable to say anything else. He didn’t need to.
Because this ti... he knew.
Then, almost like a spell being broken, Rose shot up from the floor. "Why are you listening to her?" she snapped, her voice sharper than before, the tears now suspiciously gone. "She’s manipulating you!"
"No," Rhys said at last, quietly but firmly. "You are."
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