The Story of Blood and Roses

"Did I look like I knew what I was talking about?" Speak, for god's sake.

"You looked beautiful." He looked away for a minute. "Oh, boy. The shy fellow from the conference is very worried about how single you are. After all the courage it took him to ask you out..." he trailed off. "You should go back to him."

I chose to ignore him.

"Is hugging considered to be public indecency?" He straightened up instantly. "Well, it doesn't matter. We've already done much worse."

"Mia..." he warned.

"Get up," I groaned, impatient. He did protest but did as I asked.

It took me some time to familiarize myself with how tall he was. He was in a suit, probably trying to fit in with the academics at the conference. His tie was a little poorly tied, so I reached up to fix it.

"What have you been doing all this time without me?" I asked as I retied it with care.

"Waiting for you..." he gulped. "To forgive me."

I could literally feel my heart drop.

I pressed my palm against his chest, relishing the warmth before I pretended to straighten out his shirt.

"You look nice today," I commented.

"Mia." He sighed. He raised his hand, plunging his fingers into his hair and tugging at it.

It crashed down on me.

Just... how much I had missed him.

I gently placed my arms around his waist, snickering when I heard him gasp in surprise. He recovered quickly. Placing his hand on my hair, he stroked it gently.

"You shampooed your hair this morning."

"I did."

"It's really soft. But you changed the brand you use. It doesn't smell the same."

"Still a dog, I see. Sniffing around things that don't belong to you..."

"Still such a venomous little thing, my kitten."

"Speaking of... you stink. Have you been sweating bullets about me ending my sentence of celibacy?"

"Didn't you just call me a dog who knows no boundaries?"

I giggled.

"Thank you for coming today. I can't tell you how much this means to me." I sobered up.

"I know," he whispered. As usual, I thought.

"Are people staring at us?" I could feel him hum. "I don't care."

"That's a good thing." Silence. "Sean is still tinkering with his computers in that little room and Ethan has almost worn Daisy down. They have been dating for a while. The club is doing well and Jacob is a fucking disaster, as always. That boy is going to run the organization to the ground one of these days, I tell you."

"I have something to tell you."

"You should hurry about it. Your friend is agitated and contemplating getting up from his seat. He thinks that I drugged you and that is why you won't move. Funny, he knows so little about drugs. Why are you talking to him again?"

"I don't associate with intellectual criminals any longer, remember? And don't distract me," I scolded him light-heartedly.

"At least let me go and sit down. I do want to appear like a normal person. Being ostentatious doesn't suit people in my position." I grumbled, but I let go of him anyway. I plopped down on the seat across him and motioned him to follow suit.

"You are acting younger... more... your age," he commented, staring at my face. "You look happy." I nodded.

"I am... so happy." He laughed.

"If I knew that letting you go would make you so happy, then I would have done it earlier." I shook my head.

"You are too selfish to have let me go. I am, as well." I stared at his plate of noodles. "You can't imagine how happy it makes me to see you. I know who I am now, and I need to know that... Anthony... I don't want to hide. It felt so liberating to hear my name again."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, perplexed. "You won't go back with me, you have a life now and I will just hold you back."

"Listen..." I huffed. "I forgave you a long time back."

No response. I could hear the footsteps coming towards me, but chose to inspect Anthony's expression instead.

"Have you been watching romantic movies, Mia?" I shook my head. "I don't understand. You—you are acting like nothing was ever wrong. I spent years trying to redeem myself, keeping my distance because I thought you hated the thought of me and here you are, telling me that you forgave me a long time ago. Do you understand how that makes me feel? Could you not have put me out of my misery... given me a call or just fucking written me a letter and told me that you wanted to talk to me? I would have come. I would have gone anywhere you told me to-"

[All the curses I had received for ruining your time has been overturned. I don't know if you like it or not, but I hope you will let me know.]