Chapter Text
Scarlett opened the door to his office softly, as if it were made of glass. She didn’t want to startle him, as he seemed to be on edge lately. She slipped through the opening of the door and closed it just as softly. He looked up from whatever paperwork he was working on, and she gave him a warm smile. One that wasn’t returned. She tried not to let it affect her. He’s just stressed, after all. She stood in front of his desk for a minute, waiting for him to address her presence. He didn’t. He continued to scribble aggressively on the stack of papers that were sprawled out in front of him. She cleared her throat. Copia looked up at her expectantly. After a beat of silence, he sighed and put his pen down roughly, as if her trying to talk to him was doing him a disservice. “Would you like to have dinner together? It’s been a while.” He let out another sigh as if he were aggravated.
“I’m busy.” He said flatly.
“Okay,” She whispered in defeat. She played with the edge of her sleeve in between her fingertips. He spoke up again.
“I have too much of this fucking paperwork to do. It’s bullshit.” He complained.
“Right.” She said simply. There was no point in feeding into it. Just like every other day, he would continue on a long tangent of how he deserved to remain as Papa, and everything sucks, and everything is bullshit. It was a common theme lately, and Scarlett was becoming weary of it. He spent more time complaining about his job than actually doing his job, and in between that, he left no time for her. Back then, during his papacy, she was treated like a queen. That only lasted for the last few months of his final tour before he ascended to his current role. If you asked him, though, he’d say he descended instead. They had been together for around a year by now, but things had already gone to shit. Scarlett remained in denial, still harbouring hope that he would change and that things would go back to the way they used to be if she could be the perfect partner. So far, this has proved not to be the case.
A knock came from his office door. The door opened, and in came Bartholomew, one of the brothers on sin who worked in the library. Scarlett observed how Copia’s demeanor shifted as soon as he stepped into the room, which was much different than when he was around her. Her heart ached. Bartholomew slid the papers across his desk with a smile, which Copia returned. They engaged in a little bit of small talk before he departed. When the door closed, Copis let out a deep sigh and continued to ignore her presence. It wasn’t the type of comfortable silence you’d get with a loved one or a close friend, but rather an obvious brick wall placed between him and the woman across the room. Scarlett shook her head in acceptance and turned to leave. She paused with her hand on the doorknob, waiting to see if he would say anything, anything at all. Instead, silence followed. She sighed and slipped out the door, closing it behind her.
It took everything in her not to cry. She couldn’t. Not now. Letting her tears fall would make it feel so much more real than she’d like to accept. Where did she go wrong? Was there anything left that she could do to salvage whatever was left of their relationship? Scarlett took purposeful strides in the direction of her room. When she turned the corner, she bumped into Vera, her best friend. “Oh, hey Scarlett!” She stopped in her tracks. “What’s going on? You don’t look super great..” She asked carefully.
“I don’t know, honestly. Can we just talk in my room?” Vera nodded quickly. Scarlett sighed in relief and continued walking on her original path. When they reached her room, both women walked in and plopped directly onto the couch.
“Ugh, what a day.” Vera groaned.
“Agreed,” said Scarlett. Vera turned towards her and narrowed her eyes at her.
“Okay, tell me the drama.”
“Drama? No, no. It’s just… It’s Copia. I don’t think things are going well anymore.” Vera’s eyebrows rose to her forehead.
“Oh, oh shit, okay. Should I get the wine out?” She hopped up from the couch and gestured towards the kitchen.
“That would actually be really nice, thank you.” Scarlett smiled. Vera pulled the wine out of the fridge and poured each of them a very full glass. “Oh, hell,” Scarlett smirked. “You always know best.” Vera giggled and slipped one of the glasses into Scarlett’s hand. They each took a long sip.
“Alright, now speak.” She demanded.
“Well, a few months ago, he just started to change. I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with his new role. He’s very bitter about the whole thing.”
“Changed how?” She sipped from her wine glass.
"It’s almost like… he doesn’t care about me at all. He barely acknowledges me anymore and when he does he acts all cold and broody.” She shook her head. “And the weirdest part is that he only acts that way around me. Around others, he’s still the same guy he was months ago.” She finished.
“That’s so weird, and so shitty! The fuck? If he’s gonna act like he doesn’t care about you, he should at least use his words like the grown man he is. Why should you have to sit here and suffer just because he’s a pissy little bitch?” Vera spat. Her little tangent made Scarlett laugh. It really was so silly. If he truly didn’t care about her, then why not end things with her? Why make her question herself until she lost it?
“You know, a part of me still wants to believe that he’s the same man, but I’m starting to lose hope.” She sighs sadly. “I mean, he was so good to me before! I don’t understand where I went wrong!” Scarlett expressed.
“I honestly don’t think it has anything to do with something you did. I think he’s just acting like an asshole because his ego is too big for his head, and he can’t stand the idea of losing his place as the frontman.” Vera shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a shitty situation, but you should definitely do something about it sooner than later, if you ask me.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s going to be really hard, though.” Scarlett frowned.
“I know, but it will be so worth it. You’ll be free! And you can hunt for cute single guys with me,” she winked. Scarlett rolled her eyes with a sad smile.
“Alright, alright. Do you want to watch a movie now?” She suggested.
“Duh. You can pick tonight. I think you deserve to.”
“Works for me,” Scarlett replied. The girls picked a new movie to watch and eventually crashed on the couch after the wine bottles were completely emptied.
In the morning, Scarlett awoke in the same place as she was last night, sprawled out on the opposite side of the couch from vera. The couch was only so big, so their legs became intertwined throughout the night. She untangled her feet as gently as she could so she could stumble over to the bathroom. She looked like an absolute mess. Her hair was sticking up in all directions, her makeup was smudged all over her face, and her habit that she never took off was covered in crumbs. “Ugh.” She groaned. She quickly hopped in the shower, and by the time she came out, Vera was awake, making herself a coffee in the kitchen.
“Good morning.” She croaked.
“Morning,” mumbled Scarlett. She hurried to her room to change into something more presentable. Luckily, there wasn’t much for her to do today, just a few reports and a meeting later in the day. She used to love days like this because, typically, it would mean she could visit Copia in his office after she finished her work for the day. Now, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. It’s been like this for a while. Once she began to realize his changing behavior, each day became a question of whether or not it was worth it to go see him. Today did not feel like a visiting day, especially after her discussion with Vera last night.
Scarlett collected her things, said Goodbye to her best friend, and made her way towards her office. There were a couple of desks in the office where she worked. Her desk was in the far right corner, more secluded than the rest. She liked it that way. It made her feel like she had her own little bubble to work in.
Scalett was halfway through one of her reports when she realized she needed to collect some information from the library archives. Her heels clacked against the marble floors, the sound echoing off the walls. Other sisters of sin passed her in the halls, each on a mission of their own. She finally reached the large, dark oak doors of the library and made her way inside. The library was one thing the ministry got right. It was breathtaking. The woodwork was done to perfection, and the stained glass windows allowed colorful beams of sunlight to wash across the large bookshelves. The second story had a balcony that wrapped around the entire library. After admiring the library for the millionth time, she walked directly to the front desk to request the files she needed. Unfortunately, the person sitting at the desk was none other than Brother Batholomew, triggering memories from the day before. Scarlett’s heart throbbed. She did her best to ignore it and asked Bartholomew to retrieve those files for her. It usually took a while because the archive files were found in the basement, so she decided to browse the shelves while she waited. As she was inspecting a book she had picked up off the shelf, she heard soft footsteps. She didn’t realize that anybody else had been in the library with her. A figure appeared at the end of the aisle and walked straight towards her. She didn’t recognize the man, but it was unmistakable who he must be. Her eyes widened as he came up right next to her.
“Sorry, excuse me.” He muttered. His hand reached over her head to grab a book a few shelves up. This close, she caught the warm pull of dark wood and soft musk, a scent that lingered even as he moved away. He turned the book around in his hands, reading the front cover. Scarlett continued to stare. He didn’t appear to notice.
“You really do look like your brother…” She squinted her eyes at him. He turned his head away from his book towards her and gave her a light smirk.
“I do, do I?” He raised an eyebrow. She nodded. Her eyes landed on the book that was in his hands.
“What book is that?” She asked, curious what the newly appointed Papa would be interested in reading. He slipped the book behind his back mischievously.
“Nothing interesting. What are you holding?” He pointed to the book she had pulled off the shelf a minute ago. He took a step towards her and craned his neck over her shoulder to read the title. She quickly snapped the book to her chest so he couldn’t look at it anymore. Her face flushed with embarrassment. “Interesting choice,” he gave her a playful wink and took a step back. The book she has mindlessly picked up just had to be some kind of raunchy romance novel. She hadn’t really noticed at first until he had pointed it out.
“I was just about to put it back,” she huffed. He snickered.
“I’m sure you were, Sister.” He teased. He began to back away down the aisle before pausing and giving her a look. “Your name..?” He tilted his head with curiosity.
“Scarlett.” She smiled.
“Well, then I’ll see you around, Scarlett.” He waved her goodbye and disappeared around the corner of the aisle. So this was the guy Copia had been complaining about. She didn’t see anything wrong with the guy. In fact, he seemed to be very kind. Much different than how Copia described him. She wondered if they simply had different experiences with the man, or if Copia was, yet again, just being an egoistic asshole. She rolled her eyes. Batholomew called out to her from the front desk. He held up a short stack of papers held together by a paperclip.
“Here are the copies of those files you asked for.” He held them out towards her.
“Thank you, Bartholomew.” She smiled. She really did like Bartholomew. He was a sweet man whom she could always go to for advice or a small favor, which she always returned. She hated that Copia’s treatment of him and the others made her feel so jealous at times, though she was getting better at letting it go. Especially now that she’s begun to realize that the problem doesn’t lie with her, but with Copia instead. Her walk back to the office was more peaceful after her short interaction with the new Papa. She could tell he was a little bit cocky, but in a charming way. The sisters were going to love him. Any time a new Papa arose in the clergy, he would be swarmed by sisters begging to worship him. It was only a matter of time before they came for Perpetua. She snickered at the idea of it. Her smile dropped when she realize was was about to happen. If Copia was acting like a jerk now, it was only going to get worse now that Papa had arrived. She needed to do something about it, for her own sake.