Saving the Villain

Cosette stayed with Olivia for a couple of hours before the attending physician told the patient to take a rest. Olivia would be discharged tomorrow, but she was told she would need to attend her therapy strictly. After that, Cosette bid her farewell.

"You\'re okay?" Maxen\'s voice snapped Cosette back to the current lapse. He was in the driver\'s seat, stopping at the stop light while Cosette was in the front passenger seat.

Maxen didn\'t go to school to accompany Cosette. Remo and Luke did, though. Those two had many things to make up for their absence.

"No," came out Cosette\'s shaking voice, looking away from Maxen to hide her teary eyes. "I\'m angry."

Cosette sniffed, recalling her conversation with Olivia. "She didn\'t want to report this incident because she said it will devastate her parents. It makes me angry and I think it\'s unfair that after all that they had done to her, they would just get away from it."

"But that\'s her decision," Maxen replied, warranting a glare from her. "Cozie, I understand where you are coming from. I also feel angry about it, and I might sound like a jerk, but it sounds cowardly. But… we are like this because we weren\'t in her shoes."

Maxen checked the stoplight before setting his eyes back on her again. "We\'re not Olivia. We had no idea about her until that clip, so even if we try, we will never see her eye to eye."

"But that\'s even more frustrating!" Cosette yelled as her eyes stung. "Does that mean they will just get away from it? Or she will have to endure it until she graduates? Max, Olivia almost killed herself."

"But she needs time, Cozie." Maxen noticed the red light from the corner of his eyes, taking the helm as he drove, before pulling over to the side. When Maxen pressed the hazard button, he faced Cosette squarely.

"Justice has no time limit, babe. If this girl endured everything until last night, I believe she is wiser and stronger than what she thinks right now." Maxen reached for her hand, guiding it to plant a soft kiss on her knuckles. "Give her some time. Everything takes time, Cozie. Right now, she hasn\'t had a clear mind yet, but I\'m sure… she\'ll act according to her morals and beliefs."

Her lips parted, staring at him as he rested their intertwined hands on his lap. She wanted to argue with Maxen too, but how could she? Maxen had a point. Olivia was still strongly against this because, at first, she wasn\'t ready. And second, she didn\'t have a clear and firm resolve yet.

They had to be patient.

"Okay," whispered Cosette, conceding helplessly.

Seeing that she was still upset about it, a shallow breath slipped past his lips. He knew Cosette more than anyone, and she didn\'t have that long patience to spare to get things done. She was also like this to him on many occasions.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" he asked after a moment, watching her raise her eyes at him. "We don\'t have anywhere else to go. So… if you want to unwind for a bit, we can go somewhere."

Cosette pressed her lips into a thin line before she sighed. "Yes."

"Where?" Maxen raised his brows, looking back at her curiously, waiting for her lips to say the place she wanted to go.

***********

Cosette\'s request to Maxen came as a surprise. He didn\'t expect her to request to visit Olivia\'s parents, but it was also not surprising. Hence, Maxen took her to Olivia\'s work which was the marketplace just around the area near the school.

Maxen and Cosette stood in the distance of the marketplace, staring at a particular stall where a woman in her fifties was busy cleaning fishes. The woman\'s hair was tied in a messy bun, some of her hair falling down to her neck. She looked exhausted but was still smiling at her customers.

Cosette\'s eyes softened as her eyes never left the woman. Olivia said her father used to work in a corporate job with a good position before the company he was working for declared bankruptcy. Things were a mess, and that was why Olivia\'s mother had to also find a job to help her husband.

"I see…" Cosette whispered while watching the woman. "... they\'re barely surviving and she\'s scared their entire world will shatter if they learned about it."

Until now, Cosette still thought that Olivia\'s decision wasn\'t the right decision. But it was also not the wrong one. Olivia had a reason, and Cosette was in no position to criticize her for that.

"Should we buy from her?" Maxen turned to her and asked. "Luke had been eating street foods or noodles. It\'s nice to cook for him once in a while."

Cosette slowly gazed back at Maxen and smiled subtly.

"What do you think?" he asked her with a smile, giving her the excuse to approach Olivia\'s mother. "Should we cook something nice tonight for Luke? I think he will like it very much."

"Mhm…" Cosette hummed and nodded weakly. "I think he has been eating too much unhealthy food that his brain is not working properly anymore. He needs some nutrition."

"I know, right?"

With that being said, Maxen and Cosette approached Olivia\'s mother to buy whatever they could to cook for Luke tonight.

"What is it…?" the haggard woman trailed off as she raised her head to the two youngsters standing in front of her stall.

"We would like to cook for our friend since he hadn\'t been eating a proper meal…" explained Maxen and then asked for any recommendation on which they should buy. Hearing Maxen\'s explanation, the woman chuckled and smiled warmly at the young man and lady.

"This friend of yours is lucky to have you two as his friends," said the woman after recommending which type of seafood they should buy that was easy to cook and also fresh from the port. "I also have a daughter who is probably the same age as you two. She\'s also very thoughtful and a nice girl. Always thinking of her friends and helping them. I\'m glad she found good friends in here."

As the woman told them about her daughter while cleaning some of the fish Maxen and Cosette bought, Cosette couldn\'t help but lower her eyes. When the woman finished, she handed them a plastic bag while Maxen paid for it.

As they walked away, Cosette stayed silent while Maxen peek at her from time to time.

"Max," she called, lifting her head at him. "I can\'t let them off."