Afterlife

Chapter 8

DPOV

We drove a few hours to the airport.

"Did you officially withdraw? You didn't run away?" I asked Rose.

If she followed the proper channels, if we were quick, I might be able to get her back in.

"I did. I am done running away. I made a conscious choice to put you first, to put us first."

I smiled. I liked the sound of 'us' very much.

"Did you tell anyone? Other than the secretary?"

She nodded, not meeting my eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. It was a very different Rose than a few minutes away.

"I told Lissa."

Judging by her change in behavior, that conversation didn't go very well.

"She didn't understand at all. She told me I was abandoning her... she then tried to compel me to stay. I fought it, but the fact that she even tried."

She shook her head and blinked away a few tears.

"She wouldn't even let me explain."

I grabbed her hand. I didn't look her way, because I had to look onto the road. But I squeezed tightly, telling her I was there.

When we arrived at the airport I booked us two tickets to Omsk. At least Rose had thought about this long enough to bring her passport. I was waiting on a bench near the gate while she used the bathroom.

"She really got you by the balls doesn't she?"

Ivan was sitting next to me with a wicked smile on his face.

"I always thought you needed a girl that could handle you. The girls you dated before just didn't cut it. But Rose, she can give as good as she gets. You can be so stubborn, yet she talked you into this."

I didn't know what to say. Ivan was right. Although I have always shown the women I have been with the greatest respect, none were so well matched as Rose and I. It was infuriating, but also liberating.

"And I know I feel better with her by your side. I feel guilty enough as it is. If you trained her, I know she will be good."

I leaned forward, my elbows resting on my knees.

"I feel a little selfish. Because I agree. I am happy she came, she is a good fighter and I could really use her skill, but it also means that her being with me and helping me with this means the end of her career and possibly her life."

"I can't do anything about the former. But I am determined to make the latter not come true. For both of you."

"So am I, Ivan, so am I."

"You really love her, don't you? I have never seen you like this."

I smiled as I thought of her.

"She is the one."

"So how did the ever stoic Guardian Belikov end up with his seventeen-year-old student?" Ivan asked.

"She is eighteen," I responded defensively. I know she was seventeen when we met, but honestly I never really saw her age, I just saw her. And I don't like people reminding me as if my love for her is something appalling.

"And how long has she been eighteen?" He raised his eyebrow.

I sighed deeply. "A few days."

He chuckled a little. "And nothing happened, obviously before that, of course."