New Life: A Second Chance

"Wha … wha … what are you … going to do to me?" Byron asked fearfully.

Zero grabbed the back of Byron's neck while simultaneously letting go of the arm. Pulling Byron off the table, he literally had Byron in his hands as his fingers pressed upon the side of Byron's neck.

"Why are you here?" Lianne asked, her face not showing any emotions.

Right now, the expression on Lianne's face and Zero's face was identical - making those who were still watching the 'show' feel like they were the perfect couple.

"I - I was just passing by," Byron mumbled, "And I saw you inside. So I wanted to say hi."

"Just. Passing. By?" Lianne scoffed, "Alone?"

Zero pressed harder on Byron's neck when he hesitated in answering, "Yes."

Lianne frowned.

"What about your parents?" she asked, not believing for a second that he was here alone.

Byron shrugged instinctively, then found that he couldn't do it so he said, "Work."

Lianne looked at Zero, and Zero looked at Lianne.

He basically did sound rather pitiful right now.

Byron had always been the happy-go-lucky guy in school, seemingly without any problems. He had tons of people around him but yet, right now, he was all alone?

Lianne never paid any attention to him other than the sort of image and persona he gave in school but now, perhaps things were not as simple as it seemed.

They were not exactly in a place that people would come to. Not that it was a bad place, but it's not a popular hang-out for those within their age group. That was the reason why they decided to eat here.

Something occurred to Lianne.

"How did you get here?" she asked.

Byron didn't answer.

"You live around here, don't you?" Lianne pressed on.

When he didn't answer, Lianne then said, "Or were you following me? Stalking me?"

"NO!" Byron said quickly.

Lianne nodded. 

She didn't think he did, but he wasn't really willing to open up so she said the words to goad him. From what she could tell from his past actions in wooing her, he had been very careful not to step over the line.

Hence, the act of him following her would never be within his plans at all.

It truly was a coincidence then.

But for him to be out here, and seeing them here, meant that he was wandering alone outside. Though it wasn't late, it was still dark and his parents weren't around? No one stopped him from going out? 

Sure, he was a guy and some parents tend to take it for granted that they would be safe. That only girls would be in danger if they were to wander about like this.

But still, Lianne felt there was something more to this.

"Come on, Zero," Lianne said, her voice gentler and her gaze on Byron not as harsh, "This is not the place to talk."

"Your house," Zero said to Byron, pushing him forward a bit, "Empty?"

"Y-Y-yes," Byron replied, walking ahead.

"Go," Zero ordered, and Byron quickly led them to his home without further thought. He was just too scared, fully believing that Zero would give him a beating otherwise.

[Of course, he was right about that … ]

Lianne walked side-by-side with Zero, and was whispering to him her observations of Byron.

She basically wanted Zero to calm down and not jump on him at the moment. She could feel his anger at Byron and when he was like this, there was a danger of him turning full 'Volcano' mode.

He wouldn't kill Byron, of course, but a few months in the hospital would definitely be in the cards.

"Stand down, Zero, you hear me?" Lianne said to Zero, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket.

"I have already warned him," hissed Zero, "And he actually dared to malign you like that?!"

"He wasn't thinking," Lianne said, trying to pacify Zero.

"That's not an excuse!" 

"He's an idiot, yes, but a harmless one," Lianne replied, trying to convince Zero.

Zero snorted.

Sarah had been a 'harmless' one, too at first. Look how *that* turned out.

No way would they ever let anything like that happen again. Any sort of threat to the Smith Line, and to those connected to them, would be eliminated.

This was something they, the Diamond Group, had decided.

Lianne pinched Zero's arm and he let out a snarl.

Not at her, but Byron who was now fumbling at the door, trying to unlock it.

"With you keeping an eye on him, you'll make sure he won't cross the line, right?" Lianne said, "I think he can be saved. He's still young."

Zero snorted again.

Byron, in the meantime, was sweating buckets.

This boyfriend of Lianne was damn scary.

Not only was he so merciless in dishing out pain, he hardly talked. Snarls? Grunts? Snorts?

The only time he ever said full sentences was to threaten him.

That made it worse.

If words were so valuable to him, the fact that he took such great effort to get his point across when threatening him meant a lot.

"Come in," Byron said weakly, inviting them in even though he was petrified.

"See?" Lianne whispered to Zero softly, "He still has some manners."

Byron saw the rather intimate way Lianne interacted with Zero, the scary guy. How could they be a couple? Lianne was so sweet. So warm and that … that thing was not.

Lianne looked inside the house, seeing the minimalist decor. It was cold and rather devoid of warmth. With its dark furniture, lack of lighting and even dreary curtains, it was small wonder Byron the sunshine boy would prefer to wander about outside.

There was nothing in here that would be able to house such a person.

Byron was a pretty good host, too.

He went to the kitchen to make some drinks after telling them to sit down in the living room. He came out with a tray of milk tea and some biscuits.

"We don't have much," he said as an apology as he put the tray down, his hands shaking a bit.

"This is fine," Lianne replied, "But we're really here to talk."

"Talk?" Byron repeated stupidly.

"What? You didn't think we asked you to bring us here so that Zero could beat you up without anyone witnessing it, is it?" Lianne asked with a wry smile.

Zero leaned back on the chair, glaring at Byron.

"It wasn't?" Byron asked in surprise.

"It was," Zero said, upon which Lianne hit him squarely on the c.h.e.s.t.

"Stop it, Zero. You're scaring him," Lianne said, pursing her lips.

"No, I am not," Zero replied with a slight smile.

To Byron, it wasn't a smile at all but it had the 'you know it' sort of evil vibe. The sort of 'come, give me an excuse' sort of thing.

Perhaps it was because Byron had too much of an active imagination but he had visions of Zero just waiting for him to fumble just so he could punch him. Now that they weren't in public, could Lianne truly keep him down?

"Do you know what you did wrong?" Lianne asked Byron.

Byron nodded vigorously.

Lianne stared at him.

Byron shook his head slowly.

Lianne sighed, Zero's glare got more menacing.

Byron nodded again.

Lianne looked at Byron, then at Zero and rubbed her forehead.

This was going to take a bit of time but time was not something they had. She would have to be heading home soon.

As such, trying to get Byron to think upon his actions would not work. Lianned had to be blunt.

She normally would be, but this time, seeing Byron's family condition, she felt she couldn't. She would be direct, but would frame her words better. Softer, in a way.

Byron was simply a socially inept fool. He was, to her estimation, just someone that spoke before he thought it out properly - and even then, he would not have the proper thought process.

Lianne had thought her actions of avoiding Byron would have been obvious enough to him of her disinterest and normally, that would work. 

For a normal person.

Byron's thought process, on the other hand, probably just took it as that she was truly busy. Not avoiding him.

"Byron," Lianne said firmly, "First, shouting out my personal issues in public is bad. Secondly, you didn't even get the facts right before making such an accusation. Do you know how rumours can get out of hand? If there was someone from school who heard you, how do you think that would be for me? Did you ever think about me at all? For someone who claims to care, you're really dense and dishing out hurt."

"You mean you're not pregnant?" Byron said with a gasp.

"NO," Lianne replied, putting a hand on Zero's c.h.e.s.t to stop him from leaping up and punching Byron.

"Let me ..." Zero hissed.

"No," Lianne said.

"Just a little?" Zero asked, looking at her pitifully.