❛ 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 ❜

⌜𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓻 - 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓀𝒶𝓀𝑜𝓁𝑜𝑔𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁 ⌟

⊟

Agathokakological (adj.); composed of both good and evil.

With her deceased lover's voice ringing through her ears, Verena abruptly sits upright in bed, greeted by birds chirping outside of the window and the sun peeking through the gap in the curtains. Elbows digging into her thighs she huffs, resting her forehead against the inside of her wrists.

No less than a moment later her head perks up and a knowing smile spreads across her face. Tying her robe she almost floats down the grand staircase, skipping over to the door to greet the radiant man crossing the porch.

"Good morning, angel." She stifles a chuckle, evidently pleased with her cliché pun.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to use that nickname on me."

"Hey there are worse names," Verena closes the door behind him. "I know you don't usually partake in the joyous activity of consuming food, but all I have done for the past few days is bake and I need some help eating everything."

"You certainly have been busy." Cassian follows her into the kitchen, examining the neatly decorated cupcakes, cakes and cookies.

"Well you know," her shoulder raises, "I had nothing else to do. Besides, I love baking. It felt amazing to be back in the kitchen." He seems to pause for a few seconds, squinting from across the island. "What?" She then nervously smiles. "What? What is it?"

"You know I can tell when someone is lying. Especially when that someone is doing it purposely to hide their trauma." She stares at her hands leant against the counter. "I can sense your pain, Verena."

"What do you want me to say, Cassian?" Her eyes eventually meet his. "Of course I am hiding my trauma. I died and was brought back to life. In the last two months I have suffered both a near death experience and an actual death experience. Not to mention I was trapped in Hell listening to the damned screaming nonstop as they were tortured for their lifetimes of sins."

"Okay," he murmurs while nodding.

"I still can't sleep. I can eat but only at certain times otherwise my body rejects it. I don't even know why I bothered baking all of this- I wasn't lying when I said it felt good to be back in the kitchen. It distracted me for a little while. But it was just another temporary fix," her head lowers.

"I will stay with you if you need rest."

"No," she sniffs and folds her arms. "Thank you but I don't need rest, not right now, every time I close my eyes I'm back there with no way out and it's just, it's too much."

"Alright, no sleeping until absolutely necessary."

Her posture softens. "One thing that does take my mind off the bad things is you." His eyes light up. "I end each night feeling comforted because I know that I'll wake up to the sound of you flying down from Heaven to check up on me. Something about you just makes me forget all of the bad things that have happened to me."

"Well then," he flashes his pearly white teeth through a wide grin, "let's keep those negative thoughts away, shall we? I don't wish to ruin the moment because my heart truly is about to burst, but this cake has been staring at me since I walked in."