Beautiful Lovers

24.

EDITED

The girl lays her chin on her knees and hugs herself just like Paris wanted to hug her. When she sat in front of him so vulnerably with eyes in distance like she wanted to escape the truth here too, Paris realised in the heart his Juliette is a little girl with fear of the shadows. And Paris was a fool. He was a fool who couldn't understand. Fear is constant. It didn't matter where, when or who. Fear will follow everything living even to the heavens by the Sun like lovers follow their mates into the flames of the inferno. Paris was sorry for how scared the girl was. When they first met, she couldn't even look him in the eyes. And now he understood. He was sure that behind those words, the gestures and sighs there is a story. But he knew he needed more than questions for her to reveal it.

"Constantly running and never stopping. Hiding in pubs with outlaws behind a wall. Sleeping under the sky, at the mercy of the Fate and wild animals. Being able to survive only because of pettiness because it was everything, I knew my entire life. Yes... yes, it is all very terrifying." says Juliette quietly, half-mad but her misty eyes are present and scarily real. As if she showed the truth of her words through the steel lines of her irises.

"Why do you have to run?" asks Paris just as softly. And he curses himself. Couldn't he think of something better? But he was curious and you cannot shame a human for their curiosity. But he still cursed himself and his questions. Juliette looked at him with obvious hesitance. The worried lines between her eyebrows deepen as if to say: Do I have to?

So Paris declares himself an idiot.

"The king... The king searches for me. He sent monsters that haunt soldiers in their dreams. No, in their nightmares. They have almost caught me so many times and often bandits have been helping them. I have escaped every time for the time being."

Paris paused. He didn't blink when he stared at Juliette. There wasn't even a slightest buzz in his ears when the astonished silence takes over his mind. He thought Juliette was running away from home. He thought that... well, he himself didn't know what he thought. Maybe that she ran away from her abusive parents. He thought that is the reason why Juliette is so jumpy. He created a story about her and didn't feel the need to ask. No, when the cruelty of the question was worse than a confirmation to his theory.

But this crushed him.

She was in danger. In mortal danger the whole time they were dreaming. When Paris was sleeping and she was too. And he didn't know. He couldn't grasp how is it possible. The night when she looked so petrified, the night she threw a dagger at him and he said that stupid joke... how could he not ask? How could he not know? And then he realised how distracting Juliette could be.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Juliette didn't look at him with those grey eyes full of pain. He could see how her scars teared her to two, to four, to eight... to thousands of pieces. Her soul soft like the fabric between her fingertips falling in the ink of the darkness and disappearing in the pitch black she called Amichemin. Paris didn't want to torment her. Paris wanted to make her laugh. Selfishly, he wanted to be the one who would possess her laughter coming from between her lips.

"Doesn't matter. Don't tell me. Let's talk about how unboring I am to you." Paris smiled suggestively and winked. Juliette giggled.

He didn't know if Juliette lied. He didn't mind. He knows what truth costs. He knows what payment he has to do to earn her trust. And even if it meant thousands of lies, he would still take it. Because Paris wants her to look at him with those misty eyes without a shadow in her mind.

"I will still have to buy you a mask though. You know. Because you are so mysterious." Paris smiles mischievously and looks at Juliette with crystal clear joy on his lips.

"Don't tease me, Paris."

Silence. And then they both burst out laughing at the silly joke. God, they both had sauch a terrible sense of humour. Juliette is still laughing when Paris gazes upon the scar on her lip. He stares at the pale line like it's a slogan written on her forehead.

Some king was haunting her. What did he want from her? What if they catch her? What if they punish her somehow? What if one day, she just doesn't come? Would Paris even know if something happened to her? Would he know if... What would he do? How would he save her? He almost laughed at himself. What is he saying? He doesn't know how to save anybody. And suddenly he got sick of the laughter.

"You are thinking too much." Juliette silences Paris's thoughts with a warm smile that he could feel on his tongue like warm milk. This girl... he couldn't say she always knew what to say. But she strikes home damn well. Because of her the beat of his heart dances in Paris's chest. How could she do that? How could she be so lovely and so real? Her excitement is sometimes almost childish that is maybe why it seems so real. Who wouldn't want to be as happy as a child? How could she be someone so strange and yet perfect? How could she awaken so many questions in him? Suddenly he didn't feel worthy of her. He always asks her something. Maybe she would deserve someone better. It was strange it was him who could dream with her.

"Have you ever wondered... why me? Why you dream with me?"

Juliette looked at me like she was uncovering the blankets in the story about the princess and the pea. But instead of a pea there was the most important question in the world. She smiled like she was waiting for the question and she was already plotting a perfect answer, Paris knew she'd say.

"Not even for a fraction of lifetime. I think I wouldn't be able to share my dreams with anyone else. I can't imagine a being I would rather like to spend nights with."

Paris breathed out.

The most important question in the world was: Is it better to have a heart or a whole in the chest? Is it better to have a feeling or be void? Is it better to live than to die?

Well, it was more questions but when Paris gazed upon Juliette, all the answers where quite clear.

♡♡♡

Okay like... they are giving me diabetes. Fuck Romeo and Juliette I want what these bitches have. Jokes aside, thanx for reading and don't forget to return on MONDAY for more romance.

VOTE, COMMENT, LIKE... whatever just enjoy the ride.

⁓SD