Dove's POV

I was laying on the bed, blankly staring at the ceiling. I could feel my mobile phone vibrating so I looked at the caller ID. I smiled when I saw who was calling, immediately picking up the call.

"Hey bunny~" I greeted.

"Hi, kitten. How are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm doing great, now that you called," I replied.

"I'm glad you are doing good. I was missing you so thought of calling you. I hope I'm not disturbing," he said. So considerate, Twilight Harris.

"Not at all, love. I have all the time in the world for you," I flirted. I suppose flirting comes naturally to me when I am talking to him.

"Well... how is your work going on?" He asked.

"It's going good. I might be able to get back sooner than I thought," I replied.

"That is great. I went home to meet my mom, turns out Vinter is nowhere to be found. He hasn't been home lately. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Twilight asked. This Harris brat has not told anyone that he's here?

"I have no idea where he is, but I will let you know once I get any news about him. You know how he is, he's just ghosting everyone again. Don't worry too much okay?" I told him. He hummed.

"I know. You too, don't worry about him. I know he is okay," Twilight said.

"Yeah," I replied. I heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, bunny sorry. I will talk to you later."

"Okay then, take care kitten."

"You too."

I hung up the call and went to open the door. Vinter stood in front of me with his hands shoved in his pockets.
I let him in the room and gave him a questioning look.

"What?" He asked. "This is my room too, you know."

"Well, then you could have just walked in without knocking," I replied. He chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I want to talk to you about something."

"Before that, first inform your family that you are safe. They are worried, I can't believe you didn't inform anyone that you were not there. You are a pop-star Vinter-"

"I didn't want to be!" He raised his voice so suddenly, I went quiet looking at him with wide eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"I didn't want to become a pop star... I just..." he paused.

"What are you saying?"

"I just wanted to produce music. I didn't want to become a public figure," he spoke.

"Then why did you become one?" I asked.

"When I applied for becoming a music composer, the company told me that I am good-looking enough to become a public figure. I didn't want to become one but my father forced me to, and even I thought that if I do become famous I guess finding you would be easier."

"But it didn't go quite as planned. Finding you only became harder, I didn't get enough freedom, and I was forced to do public appearances whether I was in the mood for socializing or not. It was so chaotic, and I was losing sight of what I wanted to become... that is why-"

"Your music lost its soul," I finished his sentence. It makes sense why he became like this, now that when I think about it Vinter is too introverted and reserved to live a life of a celebrity. Did he go through all this trouble just to find me?

"No one asked you to go through all that trouble just to find me, Vinter," I commented. He let out a dry laugh.

"Don't make me laugh, Dove. Do you think I did that all for you? I think you are mistaken here, princess. I did it for my soulmate. I won't have done it if I knew that my soulmate is going to be a coward like you. I just thought that maybe... maybe my soulmate will put equal effort into finding me as I did. If I had any idea that it was going to be a quitter like you, I would have never done what I did," he spat.

"Your words cut deep, you know. You almost sound like someone I know, Mammon told you things, didn't he?" I squinted my eyes at him.

"Aries just helped me see the bigger picture," he replied.

"You see, princess. Aries knows you way better than anyone. He knows well that you think he doesn't support you because he doesn't support you blindly as Leviathan and Belphegor do. You were never able to manipulate him, just like how you will never be able to manipulate me unless I let you do so. You have a dislike towards people you can't manipulate, don't you?" He leaned closer to my ear. "Because we can see the weak side of you that others cannot."

I stiffened at his words, how does he know things that I have been trying to avoid and hide all this time?
Just a few days ago I thought of this man as the most naive man I have ever seen. And just in a matter of time, he's this smart. I knew selling his father to the devil corrupted his sanity, but this man. Was he ever sane to begin with?

"Wh-who told you all that?" I asked.

"I don't need anyone to tell me this, we share the same soul. Want to make a bet? There will come a time when I will know you better than you know yourself," he replied.

"If a genius like Lucifer can't understand or predict me entirely, what makes you think that you will?" I asked.

"I don't have to be a genius to figure out my soulmate's inferiority complex," he smirked.

"I don't have an inferiority complex! I'm called the 'narcissistic genius' for a reason-"

"You pretend to have a superiority complex to hide what is inside you," He spoke. He was looking down on me- for the first time in so many years, I feel exposed. I hate this feeling.

"Why... why are you doing all this?" I asked.

"Why... because I want you to face our bond. I want you to see that I am not making our relationship toxic, you are doing it too. I want you to face what truly is inside you, I want you to face the truth. There is no running away from the truth, Dove Stanley. Our bond is the truth," he leaned closer. His amethyst eyes hold a different kind of insanity in them. It's something I have never seen before.

"I don't care what you say... I will break this bond," I tried walking away. But Vinter pulled me back as my back hit his chest, and I winced.
I could feel his hot breathing on my ear as his fingers danced on my arms giving me goosebumps.

"Before you go to do the good deed. I want you to take a look at the gift you left on Aries's chest permanently. Let me help you face your demons for the very last time," he whispered in my ear.

"Gift? What gift?" I asked. What is he talking about?

"Ask him for yourself," he chuckled as he let go of me.

I rushed outside to find Mammon. I found him sitting on the couch. I ran up to him and pulled him to get up. He looked at me confused while I proceeded to unbutton a few buttons of his shirt. He yelped and stepped back trying to cover his chest.

"What the fuck, brat?! What do you think you are doing?!" He yelled at me. I glared at him as I tried to remove his hands.

"Let me see! What did I do to you!" I demanded. He looked at me confused until the realization hits him.

"Did that flower boy-"

"Let me see!" I screamed. He removed his hands and I took a look, there was a huge scar on the right side of his chest. Like someone stabbed something very sharp and big through it.

"Oh, my God! Did I do this?" I asked looking at him. I could feel hot tears running down my eyes. Mammon was not meeting my eyes.

I raised my hand and slapped his cheek, he winced in pain but he finally looked at me.

"I asked you something, damn it! Fucking answer!" I yelled.

"Yes, you did. But trust me you-"

"Why would I do something like this!" I held my head. "I tried killing you, how can you be so normal about it? You didn't even bother telling me-"

"Listen to me!" Mammon shook me. "You were not fully conscious when you did this! It was just one violent attack in sleep! Don't let it get through to you! I'm fine now! Nothing happened to me okay!"

"Well, Dove. Now you know that all the victim card you were playing all this time, trying to make me villain, Aries villain, and who knows how many people villain in this story. You know now who the real villain is," Vinter's voice echoed in the room.

I turn to look at him, Mammon was already probably glaring at him.

"I told you not to tell her!" Mammon spoke. Anger dripped in his tone.

"I can either protect her from the truth or make her see what she is like. I am incapable of doing both, Aries. I understand your concern for her, but unlike you, I cannot sit around letting her be the coward who runs away from everything for the rest of her life," Vinter spoke.

I could feel my blood boiling in anger. Even hate is a small word to describe the amount of rage I'm feeling for Vinter.

"I will end you, Harris," I spoke as I marched outside the house.

I will break this soulmate bond. I hate Vinter Harris.

I hate him...

I hate him...

I hate him...

"I hate him as much as vampires hate sunlight," I mumbled.

I know Gabriella is at infinity lake right now. So that's where I will go. I will force her to help me break the bond. I know she can't refuse me since I was the one who brought her grandson back.

After a while of walking, I reached Micah's car, so I unlocked the door and got inside the driver's seat. I turned the engine on and started to drive toward infinity lake.

When I reached the place I parked the car and got outside. I saw Gabriella sitting under the sacred tree. An evil grin appeared on my face.

I walked up to her and when her eyes fell on me, she stood up.

"You dare enter this sacred place!" She spoke with authority. I dismissed her almost immediately.

"I don't care about all that. I want you to help me break my soulmate bond!" I demanded.

"What makes you think I will help you do such a crime? I will be condemned to death if I would do such a thing. Mother nature will not only curse you, but she will curse me alongside too," she spoke.

"I don't care. I brought your grandson back. I want you to pay my kindness back," I spoke. "You don't have to help me do it. Just tell me which root or whatever I have to cut to break the soulmate bond, I can do it myself."

She paused and thought. She was having a mental battle about whether to help me or not. She will have to though, one thing I'm sure about Gabriella is that this woman hates having debts to someone. She will repay it as soon as possible.

A few more minutes passed by, but she finally spoke.

"You have to touch the tree. If it feels your emotions strongly, it will respond by raising its roots above the ground," she spoke.

I walked closer to the tree and got ready to touch it. I closed my eyes, reliving all the memories that I remember; all the good and bad ones. I have to bring in my strongest emotions for this tree to respond. So I did. I placed my hands on its trunk when my emotions were at their peak.

I could feel the ground move beneath my feet. I opened my eyes and saw the roots and branches on the top of the land.

"It worked," Gabriella spoke. "This is my first time seeing something like this."

"What do I have to do next?" I asked.

"Now this is the most difficult part. You will have to cut that one branch of the root which resembles your soulmate's eye color," she spoke. Easy, Vinter's eyes are very unique. I highly doubt anyone in this world has eyes like that.

I searched for a purple-colored branch. I walked around the tree trying to find the branch.

I did find a purple branch, not one but four. This is bullshit! There are four people in this world with this eye color. How is that possible?

"Mind it, Dove Stanley. If you accidentally cut the wrong branch. You will face the worse curse," she said.

"What kind of curse?" I asked.

"People you love will all die, and your soul will suffer for eternity alone. You will never have a life partner. No one has dared to break their soulmate bond in thousand of years. Are you sure you want to take this risk?" She asked.

Do I want to take this risk?

♤♤♤

I ended up making Vinter's character more complex than Dove.