The Wrong Vow, My Perfect Match Right On time by Promise Osama

– A Heart Bigger Than Sixteen** The afternoon sun painted the school garden in soft gold. Selene Harrington, only sixteen, sat on the old stone bench with her head resting on Marcus Kane’s shoulder. Seventeen and already taller than most boys, Marcus was laughing at the silly doodle she had drawn on his notebook – a tiny crown with a c***k down the middle. “You’re the only person who makes this boring school feel alive,” he said, his voice warm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Selene.” Her heart did that wild flip it always did when he said her name. For months now her love had grown bigger than her age. She wasn’t supposed to feel this much at sixteen, but Selene’s heart had never listened to rules. Today… today after school, when he walked her home like always, she would finally say it. *I love you, Marcus. I’ve loved you since the day you shared your umbrella with me in the rain.* She smiled, hiding the secret behind her eyes. “Then don’t ever lose me,” she whispered. Later that evening, inside the Kane mansion, Marcus bounded into his mother’s study, still carrying the glow Selene had left on him. “Mom, you should meet her properly. Selene Harrington – she’s incredible. Top of every class, kind to everyone, and she actually listens when I talk about my dreams. I think… I think she’s special.” Madam Eleanor Kane did not look up from her papers. Her diamond rings flashed like knives under the lamp. “Harrington?” she repeated coldly. “That poor little girl from the old district? Marcus, darling, some flowers grow in dirt. They look pretty, but they don’t belong in our garden. Stay away from her. That’s an order.” Marcus’s smile faded. He left the study confused, heart heavy. Across town in her small apartment, Selene lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. She had overheard the last part of that conversation when she dropped Marcus’s forgotten notebook at the gate. Madam Eleanor’s voice still rang in her ears. *Why does she hate me?* Selene wondered, tears pricking her eyes. *I’ve never done anything to her. I’m polite. I study hard. I even helped Marcus with his mother’s charity project last month… Why?* She didn’t have the answer yet. But the next morning, the answer walked into school wearing designer heels and an ice-cold glare. Madam Eleanor Kane had arrived unannounced for a sudden board meeting. The moment she stepped into the crowded main hallway, her voice sliced through the chatter like a whip. “Everyone out! Clear the hallway immediately. This is private business. Move!” Students froze, then scrambled like frightened mice, books clutched to their chests, whispering in fear. No one dared question Madam Kane. She was the woman who funded half the school, the woman whose name made teachers tremble. But Selene Harrington did not move. She stood right in the middle of the hallway, backpack still on one shoulder, eyes steady. When the last student tried to pull her away, Selene gently shrugged them off. “Selene, please—” someone hissed. “No,” Selene said clearly. Her voice carried. “Why should we leave? We’re all following the rules of this school. You can’t just change them the second a fake queen walks in.” The hallway went deathly silent. Madam Eleanor turned slowly. Her perfectly painted lips parted in shock. No one – *no one* – had spoken to her like that since her own relative, Lydia Voss, dared to confront her years ago… before Eleanor had her quietly removed from the world without a single regret. “You insolent little—” Eleanor began. But Selene wasn’t finished. Her big heart, the same heart that had planned to confess love today, had decided to protect the boy she loved instead. “I know what you did,” Selene said, voice shaking but loud enough for every student and teacher now peeking from doorways to hear. “You killed your own relative, Lydia Voss, because she was the only one brave enough to tell the truth about you. You took her baby girl – just one year old – and erased her like she never existed. Then you set your eyes on Richard Kane. He was in love with an honest, simple girl named Abigail Thompson. A girl who loved school more than anything, a girl who was disciplined and kind. But you hated her. So you waited. You listened to Abigail and her friends talk about their cycles. You learned the exact day she would be most vulnerable. At that party, you drugged both their drinks. They were so happy at first… then the pain started. Abigail cried afterward. She ran to her grandma saying she had been violated. Her father, who had raised her alone after her mother died, was heartbroken. He thought she had betrayed him. He remarried just to punish her. All because *you* wanted the Kane name. You stole another woman’s life so you could wear that crown. You’re not a queen, Madam Eleanor. You’re a thief who murders and destroys to keep power.” Gasps echoed down the hallway. Phones were already recording. Tears filled several girls’ eyes. Madam Eleanor’s face had gone bone-white. For the first time in years, the unbreakable woman looked… broken. Marcus stood at the far end of the hall, frozen. His eyes darted between the girl he had laughed with yesterday and the mother who had raised him. His heart was cracking in two. Selene looked straight at him through her own tears. The confession she had practiced all night died on her tongue. Instead she whispered, only loud enough for him to hear: “I was going to tell you I love you today, Marcus… but maybe protecting you from her is the only way I can love you.” THE Flash BACK She wrote a letter early that morning before the break out, saying no matter what please love me back, while giving him the letter, She smiled, hiding the secret behind her eyes. “Then don’t ever lose me,” she whispered. But deep inside, another truth burned hotter than her love. It had started when she was only five. The day her mother, Lydia Voss, lay dying in their tiny apartment, clutching a sealed letter and Selene’s small hand. Her mother’s eyes had glowed with the same strange light Selene sometimes saw in her own dreams. “I give you her mark on her forehead, my child,” Lydia had whispered, voice fading. “Selene… do not let my sister breathe. Please… you must let the world know her true colors. Bring the dark to the light.” Then she had died. Five-year-old Selene hadn’t understood. She only remembered the words flashing like fire every time she closed her eyes. Years passed. She thought it was just grief. Until she turned fourteen. Her grandmother had come one rainy evening carrying an old wooden box. Inside were yellowed photos and a thick journal. One photo showed a woman with a faint birthmark shaped like a broken crown on her forehead — the exact mark Selene had started seeing in visions. The journal told everything: how Eleanor Kane (her mother’s own niece) had murdered Lydia because she was poor, truthful, and dared to speak against her evil ways. How Eleanor had stolen everything — money, name, husband — by destroying an innocent girl named Abigail Thompson. Selene had read it all night, tears soaking the pages. Her mother’s dying command became her mission: *Bring the dark to the light.* But the universe had played a cruel joke. The boy she fell in love with — Marcus Kane — was Eleanor’s only son. She never planned it. She never wanted her heart to be tied to the child of the monster who killed her mother. Yet every time Marcus smiled at her, the love grew stronger… and the sacrifice felt heavier. *My love will be the price I pay,* she thought now, watching him laugh. *To expose her, I may lose him forever. The vision from her mother flared behind her eyes — the broken-crown mark burning on Eleanor’s forehead like a brand. You killed her, because she was poor and truthful and refused to bow to you. The only person who ever dared speak against your evil. You erased her like Marcus still in shock, stood frozen at the end of the hallway, eyes wide with shock. She repeated, .. “I was going to tell you I love you today, Marcus… but my mother’s dying words were to bring the dark to the light. And my love for you — the son of the woman who killed her — is the sacrifice I have to pay.” The bell rang. But no one moved. And in the silence, Madam Eleanor’s eyes promised a revenge that would one day come wrapped in flames… and a fire that would claim Selene’s life.