Fake Sweet
1096 Words
HAZEL
I calculate where I could sit.
Do I go and sit beside Kat?
Do I sit on Axel’s other side?
If I sit beside Kat, she’ll think she won. That I am her second, beneath her .
If I sit on Axel’s other side, it will look like I’m stepping into some twisted territory, like I’m claiming something, like I accept whatever this is. The thought of the three of us sitting side by side… Axel in the center, Kat on one side, and me on the other makes something inside me twist so hard I almost gag.
So I don’t think about it anymore. I just walk forward and sit at a random chair away from both of them. No hesitation. No looking. No reacting.
I don’t look at Kat. I don’t look at Axel. I don’t look at their expressions.
I just sit. A few minutes later, Angela comes in. She doesn’t say anything; she just stares at the three of us and then goes on with her business. She has that skill, the way she can see everything but pretend she sees nothing. She sets down plates, pours tea, serves breakfast, and then slips out of the room like she was never there.
I pick up my fork and eat quietly. If I focus on chewing, if I focus on the motion, maybe I won’t think. Maybe I won’t feel.
But Kat decides to speak.
“I missed coming here,” she says, her voice all fake-sweet.
I know why she’s saying it. She’s talking to me without looking at me.
“I’ve had such good memories in this house.”
Of course you have.
“When was the last time we had a party here?” She continues, and I can hear the smile. “Maybe we should have one soon. Your birthday is next month, isn’t it?”
A direct hit. Because she knows I know that she knows that it’s Axel’s birthday. She is reminding me she used to be part of those events. She is reminding me where she thinks she stands.
I force myself not to react. Not to lift my head.
Not to let her voice scrape inside my mind the way it wants to.
I don't even care when Axel's birthday is or if he chooses to celebrate the day he was born to ruin my life.
I chew. I swallow. I breathe.
And then suddenly, Kat calls my name, loud, as if she has been calling me for a little while.
“Hazel!”
I turn to her.
“What?” I snap.
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” she asks, so pleased with herself.
“I’m sorry, but your voice irritates me; I tuned you out. What were you saying?”
She pretends it doesn’t bother her, but I see it, the little twitch in her eyes, the crack in her sweet act.
“Would it be nice to do a party for Axel’s birthday?” she repeats.
I blink at her. “Oh. So you’re telling me the devil was actually born? Does his mother exist to prove that he’s actually human?”
Kat’s mouth falls open; her hand flies to her chest.
“Just… how could you say that?” She gasps.
I raise an eyebrow, calm and steady.
“Axel’s mom is dead. She died. How could you say that about her?” she reveals.
For a second, I feel bad. But there is no way, no possible universe where I let Kat win this.
“Oh, poor woman. I’m sure she regretted giving birth to a man like him,” I say, and I go back to my phone.
I don’t look at Axel.
I don’t check his reaction.
I don’t give myself the chance to regret anything.
But then...there’s a laugh.
Quiet, sharp, unexpected.
I look up. Axel has a ghost of a smile, faint but real, sitting right there on his face like he doesn’t mind at all.
I turn to Kat. She looks frozen in confusion—caught between deciding whether she should smile along with him or be offended on his behalf. She can’t choose, and that uncertainty scrambles the sweetness right off her face.
And that look on her makes me feel just a little bit better. Not proud. Not victorious. Just… better.
Before I can even enjoy what just happened, I should have known. Of course. Because suddenly Axel calls Nico’s name.
He just says it.
“Nico.”
My head snaps up so fast my neck almost cracks, and there he is, standing in the doorway like he’s been waiting. He doesn’t look at me, or Kat, or anyone else. His eyes are locked straight on Axel. His body is tense, posture sharp. Trained. Loyal. Serious.
I remember the first time I saw him, when he was assigned to me. Yes, he respected Axel, his Don, but he wasn’t stiff. He wasn’t like the others, those soldiers who moved like iron statues. Niko had ease, humor, and a life behind his eyes.
Not today.
Today, he is stone.
“Don,” Nico answers, voice steady.
Axel wipes his mouth with his napkin, leans back, and is calm, like he’s announcing the weather.
“From now on, I want you to be Hazel’s bodyguard.”
I frown. He already is.
Niko nods once. “I’m already her bodyguard, sir. And I was hoping we could talk, because I no longer want to be her bodyguard anymore.”
Wow.
I think it—but I don’t dare say it out loud.
I don’t look at Axel. I don’t even breathe. But Axel continues as if Nico never spoke.
“From now on, you’ll be working under her direction. She will be your boss.”
My head whips toward Axel. What?
That’s exactly what Nico says too.
“What do you mean, Don? We all answer to you.”
Axel finally looks up, but not at me, still at Nico.
“You answer to Hazel. Whatever she says goes. If she wants to do something, you do it. She wants to go somewhere; you take her. You do not come to me first. You take your orders from her. She is your boss.”
Niko’s eyes slide to me.
Sharp.
Accusing.
Angry.
His jaw clenches. His hands tighten. He looks like he’s forcing himself not to move. And I realize something heavy and cold: He blames me.
He thinks I did this.
He thinks I asked for authority over him.
He thinks I want this.
- Writer
