[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝑂𝐹 𝑀𝐸 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚."
—𝑁𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑠 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑠, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘

𝐈
— 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑎 —

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐓𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 fingers against the white table as she waited, glancing over to the clock that told her it was half-past twelve.

She was sitting in the visiting room of the Holbrook Sanitarium—the mental institution that Diego had been punished to staying in—and waiting for the man she had so desperately wanted to see in the last five months.

Ever since reading the article about him in the newspaper the day before, it's been all she had been able to think about.

Of course the first thing he would do would be to try to prevent the assassination of J.F.K. Of course he would show up at Lee Harvey Oswald's house with his knives at the ready. Of course he was a dumbass.

But she had decided that that wouldn't be the main topic of their discussion—it would be the first time she's seen him in months, after all. She didn't want to greet him with a 'Hey, dingbat, you're the dumbest person alive!' now, did she? (Well . . . maybe a little.)

Mara sighed, flattening out the skirt of her red dress before smoothing her hair down. She usually tried her best to look nice—she worked in a boutique, after all—but she had especially tried her hardest today.

Luckily, Annie had been completely understanding of the situation and had switched lunch hours with Mara. Mara couldn't be more thankful for Annie, not only for the switch but for telling her about the newspaper in the first place, and she planned on thanking her with a cupcake that she'd buy from a nearby bakery that they visited frequently after work.

She bit her lip as she glanced at the clock once more. How long were they going to take to bring him? She could hardly wait another second.

Fortunately for her, the sound of three sets of footsteps filled her ears about a minute later, causing her to straighten up in her chair and smooth down her hair once more.

"Hey, hey, I know how to walk, all right?" came Diego's voice from down the hall. "No need to hold me so tight."

Mara swallowed, trying her best to not cry at just the sound of his voice. How she was going to deal with seeing him in just a few moments, she hadn't a clue.

"Who's even visiting me? I have no—"

Diego, who was dressed in all white, paused as he and the two guards that were clutching his arms came to the door, his eyes softening as he saw who sat at the table.

"Mara," he breathed out, relief coming over his face as he wriggled out of the guards' grasp and quickly sat down on the other side of the table. "You're here."

Mara found herself unable to answer as she gazed back at him, feeling her eyes well up with tears as she stared at the stupid face that she somehow cherished so much. She bit her lip, trying her best to hold her tears in but found herself unable to as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Hey, it's okay, baby," Diego immediately reassured her softly, reaching over and brushing the tear away with his thumb. "You really miss me that much? It's only been a week."

She shook her head, glancing over to the two guards who had stationed themselves on either corner of the room before leaning forward and dropping her voice to a murmur. "I've been here for five months, Diego."