When freedom strikes

V

(Bellas pov)
As I walk through the store with Kairo he keeps his hand on my lower back. The employees bring me up to the second floor and my eyes go wide at the site of all the clothes hidden away from the rest of the world. "This is our new fall fashion line and you get first pick dear." I look over at the woman speaking and smile. "Are you serious?" The old woman nods, her bright blue eyes looking back at me. "Yes dear go right ahead." She leaves us upstairs to go through the items.

The first thing I see is a cropped purple hoodie, I grab it and almost cry at how soft it is. "Am I allowed to try this on?" I look back at Kairo who's watching me with a smirk on his face. "Go ahead doll. It's just me and you up here. Den tha po." His words make the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. I pull his shirt over my head and toss it at him with a smile.

'WHORE!' James voice booms inside my head so I turn away from Kairo. What's wrong with me? I deserve to be happy don't I? I deserve to have a friend by my side... right? My good energy flies out the window and I find myself absolutely drained but I don't want to ruin our good day so I try to cover it up. "Hey come look at this." I give him a half smile as he walks up next me.

I hold up these absolutely gorgeous tan sweat pants and a matching black shirt. "They're men's clothes! You have to get these!" He looks the clothes over and shrugs. "I don't need anymore clothes. I have three closets full." I look over at him in disbelief. "You have absolutely way too much time on your hands." A dry laugh escapes my throat. "Are you okay?" Kairos hand rests on the small of my back as he stares at me. "Yea I'm good." I bound over to another pile of clothes hoping he doesn't notice my change in mood.

It's around 2pm by the time Kairo and I are done. "Honestly you didn't have to buy me all of this.." I hold my arms up and marvel at the amount of bags I held. "It's not a big deal Bella. Now let's get lunch I'm starving." We walk side by side and I smile to myself as I think about the outfit I showed him, it's hidden away in one of these bags. "What's got you smiling? I hope it's me." He teases me as we enter the parking lot. "Maybe."

Kairos pov

After we put all her bags into my car I drag her down to my favorite restaurant, Digardios. "This place has theeee best Italian food in the city." I look down at her and notice she's not even listening, much less paying attention to where we were going.
"Hello sir. Only two today?" Turning my attention to the waitress I smile. "Yes please." The blonde woman's eyes travel up and down my body, she doesn't even try and hide the fact that she finds me attractive.

As she leads us to our table she swishes her hips, something I would have gladly appreciated a few days ago but now I find it annoying. Once we're situated I turn my attention Bella, "What's the matter with you?" Her eyes dart to my face but still she says nothing. "Bella come on... talk to me." I find myself feeling perplexed over this beautiful woman. "It's just... I feel guilty about how happy I've been the last few days. I don't know if It's from the fact that I've been around another man or if Its because I finally just up and left." Her words leave me speechless. "And I don't wanna make you feel like your pushing me too much when in reality it's the last thing you've been doing. I've never felt more... alive then I do when I'm with you."

She looks up at me and all I see is sincerity in her eyes. "Bella, don't feel guilty for finally finding a way out. I don't know what happened between you and James but I do know you deserve happiness and I plan on helping you find that. What are friends for?" A grin covers her face as she nods. "I deserve happiness." Her small voice full of hope. "You do."

After lunch we head back to the hotel so Bella can unload all of her things. "And then my fish died because I over fed it." She snorts as she finishes her story. "How did you over feed a fish?" I try to hold back my smile but it breaks through as I look over at her. "Don't ask me, my dad replaced it the same day and only told me three years later."  My eyes widen and she nods. "I think I actually cried." I put the car in park and turn to face her.

"I just wanted to tell you you're beautiful." I notice the blush creep across her cheeks as she looks at me."Thank you Kairo." My heart accelerates at the way my name rolls off her tongue. "You're welcome agápi mou." We exit the car and I grab most of her bags before she can object and lead her to the elevator. "81st floor here we come." She does a little shimmy before pressing the button. On the ride up I catch her looking over at me from the corner of my eye. I smirk before I turn my eyes back towards the doors.

Bella's pov

Once we're back in the apartment I drop onto Kairos bed in exhaustion, he doesn't hesitate to join me. "I never knew shopping was so tiring." He says aloud and I snort. "Don't tell me you've never actually went shopping." I lean up on my elbow so I can see him better. He shrugs and I feign surprise, "Go figure, Mr. Six figures has never actually been shopping inside a store." He knocks my elbow out from under me and holds himself over me. "That's what the internet is for agápi mou." My breathing slows as I lick my lips. He stares at me for what feels like forever before pushing himself off of me. I have to say, part of me was hoping that he'd kiss me again.

Clearing my throat I ask him about that mystery language he keeps using. "So are you from the US or?" He looks at me with a raised brow. "Well I mean you keep saying things in like... I don't know it sounds like European?" I take a guess because I truthfully don't know. "Ohhhh that.." he scratches his neck with a small smile on his face. "It's Greek. I lived there for a year with my mom before coming back to the states." Woah, he's literally perfect at this point. "It's beautiful." He stares at me for quite a while after that, he's making me nervous truth be told.

"Can I make you dinner Bella?" Kairo asks me softly and something inside practically screams for me to say yes. "I'd love that."