(Asta x Noelle) Happiness is a Butterfly

Chapter Four: Reminiscing on Unwanted Memories

Ever since he had seen Noelle, she's been on his mind a whole lot. He had always thought about her, but it was never so recent, or at least he thought it wasn't. Constant thoughts of her stayed overlapped in his mind and with everything recently going on, Asta found that it was good to get away sometimes. From the past, which consisted of remnants of Noelle, the present, which consisted of military duties and marrying Mimosa, and from the future, which would be even more military duties and marriage with Mimosa.

Just like he thought, no matter how hard he imagined it, Noelle was nowhere in his future. Just his goals, and his future wife. That's the way it should be anyway, yet here he was feeling...incompetent. Before Mimosa, it was all Noelle. For eight years straight, she was the only woman that he loved and cared for more deeply. She was his only lover, the only person he could see in his future besides his family. He always imagined her to be his wife.

Now here he was trying to calm those thoughts. Noelle had no right to come back and make him feel this way. To make him feel like dumping away each and every ounce of work he did to get her out of his head and bring her back, right back to where they started.

He was no idiot though. Clearly, Noelle wanted nothing to do with him. That's why she left. And deep down he knew that he shouldn't want anything with her either. He would be a married man soon.

Still, as much as he tries to focus on the blue sea and setting sun in front of him, he can't. His thoughts always retrace to hers.

"I'm such an idiot..." Asta sighs.

And it seems like all in one moment that he sees her here, silver hair and purple eyes, staring at the same scenery as him. He blinks, but she doesn't disappear. He blinks again, this time rubbing his eyes and sure enough, she's still there. "Noelle?" he calls out, and she swiftly turns her head, signaling that it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him, that she was actually here, really in front of him.

"Oh...Asta...?" she questions, wondering if her mind was also playing the same tricks. But no, as he inches closer to her, she realizes that he was right here.

"Funny seeing you here," Asta says. Noelle smiles, pointing to the laptop in front of her. "I needed somewhere peaceful to work," she shrugs. "Are you working on another book?" he questions, and she nods. "Yeah...hoping it'll do just as good as the last one, if not better," she says.

"Your book...was actually really good," Asta comments.

Noelle looks completely surprised by his comment. "You read my book?" she questions, eyes widening in the process.

"Well yeah..." he says, and if she didn't know any better, Asta was blushing. She giggles, and tries to stifle it, but seconds later her laughter sounds through the air. She didn't want to laugh, especially with Asta's embarrassed face but she can't help it. She continues laughing, practically feeling like she won't be able to breathe if she continues.

"It's not funny," Asta says, but a smile is on his face, not for any other reason than the fact that he made her laugh. When was the last time he was able to make Noelle Silva laugh?

"I know, I know," she says, her laughter dying down. "It's just shocking,"

"That I read?" he asks, and she giggles, this time working promptly in stifling it. "N-no...well yes...but only because you hated English. Back in high school," she says, unlocking an old memory in both of them. High school, which was filled with love and happiness. Now their lives are filled with heartbreak and incompleteness.

"Well, Mimosa bought your book when it first came out. It was laying around one day and I just picked it up and read it," he says, saying it like it was no big deal when in fact, it was. She didn't know if Asta realized it, but her book was basically her whole love story. It was all about him. He was her inspiration. And here, on this very laptop, was she writing another book that was also inspired by him.

About moving on. Something she was sure she could do as long as she took tiny, little, baby steps.

"What about you, Asta. What brings you here?" she questions. "I always come here to relax," he shrugs. "Ever since high school," he adds. "You remember?" she probes and he nods enthusiastically as he did with literally everything. "Of course I remember! The trips, the getaways, even when we would go with Yuno and everyone else! I even remember our very first time here-" but he stops once the words leave his mouth, echoing into the sound and air, and eventually into Noelle's ears. She blushes, embarrassed, because as soon as she saw this beach she remembered his and hers first encounter here, and now that he had voiced the idea and was acknowledging the fact that he remembered...well, she didn't know how to feel.

Because as lovers, when they were on this very beach there were happy moments and also more infatuated moments where his hands roamed her body and there was teasing and tugging and then there was love. Noelle was sure that she would never forget that moment.

How his hands roamed her body, awkwardly yet passionately, how his lips sucked on her neck, moving from there to her breast, where he tugged and turned her nipples equally a gasp to escape from her lips. And her lips, how soft, and sweet, and pink they were...they were always like that, but was it possible for them to be even pinker that day? Then how she sat on his lap, roughly moving her hips to let go even a tiny bit of friction for further relief. And then how he grabbed her thighs, picked her up, and made love to her constantly, back to back to back, each climax being stronger than the last. They were just kids then, 17 at most, the beach at night being the only place where they could partake in such intimate acts without their roommates knowing.

And Noelle shudders at the memory because she would always remember it, but she didn't want to remember it with her ex right next to her. And not just any ex, her ex who would be married soon. To her friend and cousin if that mattered.

"I'm sorry for bringing that up," Asta quickly says.

"No, you're fine. It's in the past now," she says, and it's true, it was in the past. Everything about them was in the past. And it would stay in the past, it had to. The two lived completely different lives now, and those lives no longer revolved around each other.

"I...should go..." Noelle says. She closes her laptop before standing, and Asta doesn't ask her to stay. The two went down a topic that shouldn't have been touched. Things were far too awkward to stay now, anyways. 

A/N: This chapter is on the shorter side, but I hope it was enjoyable.
I updated twice today though :) 
I'm proud of myself.
I'm trying to push out any and all ideas I have since their fresh on my mind, and even though I've written down and preplanned most of what's to happen, it's still better to write fresh in my opinion.
Please vote, comment and share if you enjoyed this chapter.
Enjoy your day guys !!

~Jas