"I’ve been thinking about you for a long time. And I feel like Clarke doesn’t deserve you and the kids. So I put a little test, whether he will continue loving you or cheat instead."
"Turns out, he cheated on you in full consciousness. I can’t stretch how disappointed I am. That’s why I want to take you away from him."
Reed’s grieving gaze was so convincing that Gaius was dazed for a good while. He didn’t know how to swallow this truth.
Of course, he knew what Reed did was wrong. He basically intended to ruin his marriage with Clarke, but... even without Reed interfering, the marriage was deemed to fall in the end.
"You... You don’t need to do that much..." Gaius said weakly. He tried to pull his hand from Reed’s grip to no avail. "Y—You can release my hand now...."
Reed didn’t obey such request and tightened his grip on Gaius’ wrist. His gentle gaze showed a hint of lunacy as he asked, "Do you hate me for what I did? All I did is to dispatch Mystica to be Gaia and test Clarke. I didn’t do anything more."
"I did this because I care for you, Gaius. I don’t want you to get hurt...." Reed said as he leaned forward and pulled Gaius in his tight embrace.
"I will never hurt you, Gaius. You might think this was a total bullcrap because it came from someone like me, a playboy. But I’ve been keeping myself single for a while now because...." Reed gulped. He had been thinking about saying this for a while now.
Maybe he had this feeling unnoticed until the moment when Gaius finally slept in his arm last night.
To have someone you prefer to sleep with you, sharing the warmth together... was the best feeling Reed ever felt.
He didn’t know how this feeling grew inside him. But he couldn’t deny it anymore. He mustered his courage and said something so sincere, probably the most sincere he did in his life.
"I love you, Gaius."
...
...
[Hehe, of course, he’ll say that he loves me right after killing that Mystica woman. He is trying to mix the fear with attraction, making me unable to refuse.]
[I mean, he is a master manipulator. But seriously, that’s so dumb! Of course, I know he’s lying!]
[He just wants to destroy me!]
[Pupa: Calm down. Based on my observation, he sounds more or less sincere about that part.]
[Huh? I am calm, Pupa. But you see, he is trying to manipulate me, who is also a manipulator virtuoso, hehe~]
[Alright, let’s play this game, shall we?]
[Pupa:...]
"R—Really? You... fall in love with me?" Gaius asked doubtfully.
Reed could sense the doubt in Gaius’ voice, which was understandable, honestly.
Even Reed still hadn’t fully understood his feeling.
But he did want to stay with Gaius and the kids, a place he could call a family.
"You don’t believe me?" Reed asked. He caressed Gaius’ hair and whispered gently, "You think I’m lying, hm? You think I am a monster who can’t fall in love, right?"
"I—I never said that...." Gaius said. He tried to sound calm, but his body was trembling in fear.
Reed could feel pain in his heart. It was a heartache he had never experienced before.
He knew that Gaius must’ve been scared of him, but he didn’t care much. He could tune in whatever he liked later, as long as they stayed together with the kids.
But he was still grieving over the fact that Gaius didn’t accept him quickly, "You are scared, Gaius. Unfortunately, you have to be scared of me even though I never did anything bad to you. While you keep falling in love with Clarke over and over, even though he has cheated on you plenty of times."
"Even the kids know that Clarke is not a good father."
...
Gaius lowered his head. He knew that was the truth, that Clarke never loved his children, at least not as much as Gaius loved them.
"Just forget him, okay? I’ll take care of everything. You don’t need to worry."
"I will try...." Gaius replied weakly, but he didn’t give a definite answer.
As if he still had feelings for Clarke.
"You seem to still hold some feelings for him, Gaius," Reed mentioned. He tightened his hug, and terrible ideas started popping into his mind.
He hated when his plan didn’t go well. He expected that Gaius would throw Clarke away at this point, but no, he was still the same idiot.
"It’s alright. I know forgetting about someone who has lived with you for ten years isn’t easy. I can wait," Reed said.
He couldn’t, of course.
Reed was always impatient for whatever he wanted. If there was a way to speed things up, then he’d do it.
"Reed..." Gaius called Reed’s name gently and slowly reached by hugging him back. "You’ve done enough. We can just stay like this... if you want...."
Reed’s heart was beating rapidly as Gaius finally hugged him back, reciprocating his feeling.
With this, he could finally rest assured and never hurt anyone again. He could live in harmony with Gaius and the kids, maybe got his own child from Gaius later on.
...
...
NOT.
Reed snickered in his heart, mocking Gaius for his idiot move, ’Hehe, I know that you just want to protect Clarke, right? You know I can kill him in just one touch, so you don’t want me to do more than this and kill him in the process.’
’Oh, Gaius, you really think that I can be fooled so easily? I do have some weird feelings for you, but that doesn’t mean that I can get tricked easily by you!’
’I am Reed Ville. I will make sure that nobody will get in the way of something that I want. Just you wait, Gaius....’
[Pupa: Ding! Reed Ville’s Fatemeter increases to 80%.]
[Pupa: No, seriously, what the heck?!]
[Hehe, Pupa, I know what kind of person he is. I can read him like an open book~]
[I think we’re close to the climax, at least soon. I don’t exactly know what he’ll be doing, though. But it won’t be pretty.]