CHAPTER 271: CHAPTER 270: AN EXTRA

For a moment, Rex said nothing. His gaze lingered on her, unreadable. But inside, something stirred.

This... this was it.

His eyes stayed on Monica, but his mind was somewhere deeper, further back — not to another life, but to another version of himself. The one who used to follow the script. Who kept his head down, played it safe, stayed useful enough to be tolerated but never bold enough to matter.

An expendable extra in someone else’s story.

In another life—his first life—he would’ve laughed nervously here. Maybe cracked a joke, changed the subject, buried the discomfort under charm and misdirection like he always did. Because back then, he was just an extra.

But now?

Now something shifted.

"Beyond good and evil."

That phrase echoed in his mind like a slow, deliberate toll of a bell. Not just a bold declaration... but a choice. A defiance of everything safe, expected, forgivable. A rejection of the herd, of the morality packaged and sold like soap to keep people clean on the outside and hollow within.

Monica’s words weren’t just rebellious musings or a hot girl being edgy in the tub. No. To Rex, they were a manifesto. A quiet declaration that echoed everything he had buried deep—everything he never dared to speak out loud. And now, staring into her unwavering eyes, it hit him harder than he expected.

She was living the philosophy he once feared to even believe in.

This is the life I always wanted, he thought. I just never had the guts to live it.

He leaned back slightly, but not away from her. More like a man settling into a truth he could finally claim.

"...You know," he murmured, voice lower than before, more thoughtful, "there was a time I wanted to live like that."

She raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Wanted?" she echoed.

He nodded. "Yeah. But I didn’t. I played my part instead. Smiled when I was supposed to. Nodded when it was safe. Pretended to be good. Pretended I believed in all those stupid codes, those fake virtues they drilled into us."

He looked away for a second, eyes distant, almost like he was staring into another life.

"I told myself I was being smart. That survival meant obedience. That if I just worked hard, kept my head down, stayed likable, something good would come."

He gave a hollow chuckle. "Nothing came. Just regret."

Then his eyes found hers again, this time steady, focused, alive.

"But not anymore. This life... I’m not wasting it playing a background character. I’m not gonna be another pawn applauding the king while he eats."

His hand moved, brushing damp strands of hair from her face again, slower this time. Intentional.

"I’m not interested in being good. I want to be free. I want to be real."

He smiled faintly, something darker and more grounded behind it.

"I don’t care if the world calls it sin, ambition, or madness. I’ve seen what ’morality’ gets you. Slavery with applause. A coffin of comfort. I’d rather be hated for standing tall than loved for kneeling."

His voice lowered again as he leaned in, not for seduction... but for truth.

"You’re not the only one who wants to live beyond their rules."

And in that moment, it wasn’t about love or lust. It wasn’t even about rebellion for rebellion’s sake. It was two people... damaged, ambitious, self-aware, finally meeting without masks. And for once, both of them didn’t have to pretend.

She wasn’t his savior, and he wasn’t her knight.

They weren’t each other’s better halves.

But they were, maybe, finally... equals

in a world that wanted to tame them both.

Even though Monica didn’t fully understand his reaction — the way he spoke with a weight far beyond his age, almost like someone who’d lived a dozen lifetimes, but she didn’t press him.

There was something in his eyes... something that told her he’d known loss, conformity, invisibility. Like he’d once been swallowed whole by the very system she’d just condemned. But he wasn’t ready to talk about it , at least not yet. And she wasn’t the type to demand answers from someone still finding the words.

She simply leaned into him, letting the silence speak for them.

Because she understood something else ... something deeper.

Everyone in this world carried scars and stories they didn’t wear on their sleeves. Everyone had ghosts, regrets, Chapters they kept locked behind closed doors. Some truths reveal themselves only when the time is right. And something told her that with Rex, those truths would come eventually. Because from now on, whether they defined it or not, their lives were tied together.

And Rex wasn’t just some guy she’d hooked up with in a moment of weakness. Somewhere between the jokes and the silence, between the chaos of last night and the calm of this morning, she could feel that he was much more than just a pretty face, she couldn’t describe it, but she had a feeling that being with him was the right choice.

And what mattered was this: from now on, Rex and her were indispensable to each other.

Not in the way fairytales described. Not in the way society liked to box love in — wake up together, eat breakfast together, post smiling pictures on social media, kiss under sunsets. That wasn’t their rhythm. That wasn’t their reality.

But who decided love had to follow those rules?

Not everyone has the luxury to live out the soft-focus love stories sold on screens. Real life is messy. People have dreams, obligations, pasts that don’t always leave room for candlelit dinners and Sunday strolls. But that doesn’t make their love any less real. If anything, it made it stronger.

Because they chose each other with eyes wide open.

They respected the lives they had built on their own. They understood each other’s ambitions, their solitude, their chaos. They didn’t demand perfection or constant attention. They didn’t need promises of forever carved in stone.

What they had was honest.

They knew that love isn’t always about how much time you spend together, but how deeply you’re willing to let someone in, even when your paths aren’t perfectly aligned. Love can also be two people who respect each other’s world, who show up when it counts, who choose each other again and again, even when life makes it hard.

Their bond didn’t follow tradition, and it didn’t have to.

Because in a world that keeps trying to force people into neat little roles, they had found something that felt raw, real, and entirely theirs.

And that was more than enough.

(End of Chapter)