[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝐹𝐴𝑆𝑇 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐍
"𝑀𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠, ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠."
—𝐴𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑥

𝐈
— 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑎 —

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐀𝐍 hour after the fiasco of a discussion, Mara headed back to the living room.

She peered around as she entered to see that no one was there, and continued inside. Only when she reached the nearest couch did she realize that her short analysis of the room had been incorrect.

Diego's eyes flickered up to her as she approached. He was laying down on one of the couches, his gloves now off and his right hand clutching onto one of the knives, whose handle he had been inspecting.

He sat up, sheathing his knife with one hand as he patted the spot next to him with the other, silently telling her to take a seat as he kept his eyes on her face.

She gave a reluctant sigh before sitting down, her fingers nervously playing with each other as she leaned forward onto her elbows.

"So you still mad at me?" Diego questioned with a small exhale, copying her movement so that their faces were level with each other.

She turned to face him. "You haven't done anything that would make me stop being mad."

"What?" He scoffed. "My charm and good looks weren't enough for you?"

"Definitely not."

Diego shifted closer to her, his face now only a foot away from her as he tilted his head and murmured, "So what do you want me to do?"

"An apology would be nice," she said stiffly, trying to pretend that her cheeks weren't growing furiously red from the non-existent distance between them.

"Apology?" he echoed with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah." Mara nodded with a small shrug. "Maybe 'Hey, I'm sorry for being a dumbass and not telling you that I was leaving forever and then also not ever talking to you again.'"

He looked at the ground for a moment before shifting his gaze back to her. His eyes wandered over her face for a few seconds before he spoke softly, "Hey, I'm sorry for being a dumbass and not telling you that I was leaving forever and then also not ever talking to you again."

"Mm, you know what?" She pursed her lips together, although a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I was wrong, it's not enough."

Diego rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to retort when the sound of music cut him off.

The opening of Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now played throughout the entire house, slightly muffled by the walls and floors.

Mara looked up at the ceiling, her eyebrows furrowing. "Is that coming from Luther's room?" She looked back over to Diego, whose lips had transformed into a grin, and her eyes immediately narrowed. "Wh . . . why are you smiling like that?"

Diego edged forward, a playful glint in his eye as he whispered, "I think I found a way to make it enough."

Her eyebrows remained tightly knit. "What are you talking about?"

He sprang to his feet and made his way over to the entrance, peering outside before sliding the doors to a close. He walked back over to her, his eyebrows raised as his grin widened. "I'm gonna show you something that no one else will ever see."