The Devil's Favourite Obsession

She slowed down without realising it. Rows of seats rose around the bright green field in endless waves, filled with people wearing jerseys, scarves, painted faces, and expressions far too serious for a game that had not even begun. The floodlights poured white brilliance over the grass, making the field look almost unreal, while the sound of the crowd rolled through the air and entered Cixi’s chest like thunder. Vendors moved through the aisles calling out snacks and drinks; children waved flags with complete devotion, and somewhere nearby two men were already arguing about the referee before he had even made a mistake.

Cixi stared at everything with wide eyes. ”Lily, this is amazing.”

Lily tried to smile. ”I told you it would be..... fun.”

”No, you said soccer match. I imagined people sitting quietly while men kicked a ball from one side to another.”

Lily looked horrified. ”Please do not say that loudly. These people will murder us before the match ends.”

Despite the guilt pressing against her ribs, Lily laughed. It came out weaker than usual, but it was real enough for Cixi not to question it immediately. They made their way to their section, climbing the steps carefully because Cixi kept one hand near her fake belly and the other gripping Lily’s wrist whenever the crowd pushed too close. The seats were better than Cixi expected. Much better. She looked at the field, then at Lily, and suspicion immediately replaced delight.

”How much did you spend?”

”Do not ask.”

”That means too much.”

”It means sit down and enjoy my poor financial decisions.”

Cixi sat, still looking at the field as though she had walked into a festival meant entirely for her. Lily sat beside her, but her gaze moved almost instantly to the three empty seats on Cixi’s other side. The entire row around them had filled quickly, yet those three seats remained vacant.

Cixi followed her gaze after a moment. ”Why are you staring at those seats?”

Lily’s mouth dried. ”I am not.”

”You are. Your face becomes strange when you lie.”

”My face is naturally strange.”

”No.”

Lily pressed her lips together. ”Maybe I hate empty chairs.”

Before Cixi could question more, the music blasted through the stadium speakers, and the entire crowd rose almost as one body. Cixi jumped slightly, then stood with everyone else, laughing at her own surprise.

The teams began entering the field, and the roar that followed was so loud that for a few seconds Lily could not have confessed anything even if she had tried. Cixi leaned forward, eyes bright, watching the players walk into position.

”They look so serious,” Cixi said near Lily’s ear.

”They are professional players.”

”But it is still a ball.”

Lily stared at her. ”Cixi, I am begging you not to let anyone hear you say that.”

”What? It is round, and they kick it.”

”That is the fastest way to make an entire stadium hate you.”

Cixi looked around the roaring crowd with new respect. ”Fine. I will respect the ball.”

The whistle blew, and the match began.

For the first few minutes, Cixi tried to follow the movement properly, but the ball travelled too fast, and people reacted too suddenly. Every pass seemed to mean something. Every missed chance made the men behind them groan as though their personal fortunes had been destroyed. A player slid across the field to steal the ball, and the crowd exploded with such violence that Cixi grabbed Lily’s arm.

In between the noise of the match and Cixi’s innocent questions about the rules, Lily had somehow managed to send Silviya a message with shaking fingers. She had not told her the truth. She did not have enough courage for that. Instead, she lied and wrote that Cixi had suddenly cancelled, that they were no longer coming to the stadium, and that the plan had to be forgotten. The moment she sent the message, she felt a little air return to her lungs, as though doing the right thing late was still better than not doing it at all. She even sent another message after that, shorter and sharper, telling Silviya not to come.

For the next few minutes, Lily kept pretending to watch the match while her hand remained too close to her phone. Every time Cixi turned to her with another question, Lily forced herself to answer as naturally as possible, though her mind was not on the game anymore. She had cancelled the plan. Surely even that girl would understand not to create drama in a stadium filled with thousands of people.

Hopefully.

But hope had never been a reliable thing in Cixi’s life, and today it did not choose to favour Lily either.

Silviya arrived during the loudest part of the first half, when the crowd had risen to shout over a missed goal, and almost everyone’s attention had turned towards the field. She moved through the row with confidence, dressed in a frilled mini skirt that looked far too playful for the malice sitting behind her smile. Her hair was arranged perfectly, her lips carried a glossy shade of pink, and she walked as though she belonged exactly where she was, even after being told not to come. Lily did not see her at first. Cixi did not either. The match, the crowd, and the sudden eruption of disappointed fans gave Silviya exactly the opening she needed.

Before Lily could turn, Silviya reached the empty seat beside Cixi, bent down with exaggerated affection, and wrapped her arms around her.

Cixi froze.

The hug came too suddenly, too closely, and from the wrong person for her body to accept it as warmth. At first, she only felt confusion because her mind needed a second to understand why a stranger had embraced her in the middle of a stadium. Then the perfume reached her, sweet and familiar in a way that made her stomach tighten before her thoughts could name it. The scent was pretty on the surface, but something about it made the back of her throat turn bitter. It pulled at a memory she had tried hard to bury: college corridors, laughter behind her back, hands blocking her way, and a girl who always stood too close, smiling as though cruelty were a private joke.

Cixi’s brows drew together.

Where had she smelled this perfume before?

Her body knew the answer before her mind accepted it.

”I missed you, Cixi,” Silviya whispered near her ear, her voice soft enough for outsiders to mistake it for affection.

Cixi did not need to search through her memory anymore.

That voice was enough.

A cold shiver ran down her spine, so sharp that for a moment even the roar of the stadium seemed to fall away. The woman hugging her was not a stranger. She was not one of Lily’s friends. She was not some overly friendly girl who had mistaken her for someone else.

Silviya.

Her college bully.

The name entered Cixi’s mind like a slap.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of her seat, and the excitement she had carried only moments ago drained out of her so quickly that she felt empty. She could not move at first. That angered her. She hated that her body remembered fear faster than it remembered strength. She hated that one perfume, one voice, one false hug could drag her back to a life she had clawed her way out of.

What was Silviya doing here?