EVERYTHING I LOST

ARGO STORIES. CHAPTER ONE

I woke up startled by the sound of the alarm. I had to go to work and that wasn't usually what excited me the most about the day but had changed weeks ago. I dressed in typical Argo clothing, a pastel-colored linen dress and comfortable shoes. I let my hair loose because I didn't feel like picking it up and went down to breakfast.
"Good morning." Kal was in his usual chair eating some fruit.
"Good morning Kal. Hey, Mom." I greeted them while I poured me a glass of juice and grabbed something to eat.
"Good morning, honey." My mother came up to me and kissed me on the cheek. "There's a council meeting this afternoon, and you know how long it takes, so don't wait for me for dinner."
We had breakfast quietly, without talking too much and then I went to the Argo market, where I worked. I greeted several merchants and headed to the store. I put on my work apron and looked at the job I had for today.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. I fell asleep." Mon-El appeared from my back. I noticed that he should have been coming running, since he was sweating.
"Don't worry, I just got here too." I smiled at him and handed him the apron.
"What do we have today?" Mon-El came close to the schedule. His head was very close to mine and I could hear his breathing. My heart began to beat faster and my mouth was unable to pronounce the answer to my partner's question.
"We just need to get on with the sorting of the raw material." I finally got to talk. I turned to look at him but I didn't realize that he had also turned to me. We were a few inches away from touching each other. I knew I was blushing when I started noticing my cheeks were burning. I noticed that he alternated his gaze from my eyes to my lips and that made me even more nervous. I don't know how I did it, but I got my act together and I split up a little bit. "Well, shall we begin?" Mon-El seemed to come back to reality and also took a step backwards.
"Sure."

We were busy all day with the tasks they had given us and luckily I didn't have to interact too much with Mon-El. Lately I was noticing that we'd become closer and that was making me pay more attention to him. But I had to keep my distance. He was the former prince of Krypton's enemy planet and no one would tolerate a Kryptonian being with him. And no matter how persistant he claimed that his life as a prince was over and that he wanted to be a different person, I really couldn't trust him. I was taking inventory of some fabrics when I heard a loud noise. I jumped up and ran following the noise. There were a bunch of boxes lying on the floor. Below these was the daxamite.
"Mon-El! Are you all right?"
"I need some help. I was on that stool when one of its legs broke and I fell and all these boxes." He tried to get up, but one of the heavy boxes prevented him.
"Wait." I started picking up and stacking the boxes, releasing Mon-El. I offered my hand to help him get up. He grabbed it and I pulled up as he picked up momentum. The force we used was too much and when he joined he swung forward a bit, unwittingly coming towards me. We got too close again, and I didn't know how much longer I could take it.
"Thank you for rescuing me." Mon-El said with a smile. And he stepped aside to put on his apron. I realized I was staring at him as I smiled unconsciously. Luckily he didn't notice and I was able to look away right away.

Luckily there were no more incidents for the rest of the day and I was able to concentrate on my tasks. The owner of the shop at the market where we worked claimed Mon-El a few hours because he had a problem with putting up some awnings so I lost sight of him during that time. How much longer could I resist? I had to get as far away from him as possible and try to evaporate the feelings I was beginning to feel. I wish I had someone to tell all this to. In Argo I sometimes felt lonely and even though I had my mother and Kal I needed to have a confidant to tell my problems and vice versa. Mon-El was the closest thing I had to a confidant lately. He told me things about Daxam and how he had never felt full having the life he had. I told him mostly about my family, about how I was expected to be an important person in society because my parents were. And how I didn't want that, because I preferred to be relevant person to person, with small actions. With him I felt very comfortable talking about these issues, as if he had been through the same thing somehow. Stop! That's what I had to stop doing. I couldn't base all my thoughts on him or anything he'd said to me. I took off my apron, folded it and left it on my shelf. I picked up some papers and stacked them so they wouldn't fly.
"Have you finished?" Mon-El appeared out of nowhere, with his apron on his hands.
"At least for today, I have." I smiled at him, and stepped aside so he could leave the apron on his shelf. "Have you been able to put up the awnings?"
"It took a long time, but in the end I was able to" Now he was smiling at me. "I spoke to Drec about what you told me about you wanting to be  costumer-facing staff but he said no. I guess he wouldn't listen to me either, but I had to try."
"You didn't have to tell him anything. But thank you." I smiled at him and he smiled right back. "I'd better go. It's late."
"Do you mind if I walk you home?" I was surprised by that question and he sensed it. "It's just that I'd rather delay the arrival at my apartment because you know I have constant vigilance. This way I have the excuse to come a little later." Since he had appeared at Argo, Mon-El had been under surveillance, in case he tried to attack the Kryptonians or Argo. It must have been very overwhelming for him to know that he could never do anything without anyone knowing, even if he was just going jogging in the morning.
"In that case, of course you can. Besides, maybe if they see you escorting an El home, they'll see you with better eyes and they'll take away some surveillance."
"Or they put me on more because they think I'm trying to kidnap you." I laughed, because deep down it was something that could happen.

We walked the lonely streets of Argo silently. I was partly happy about it, because that meant not thinking so much about him. The night was clear and the stars could be seen, dimly illuminating the shadows of the street. I noticed that Mon-El was staring at the sky, enjoying the small lights. I imitated him because it was really beautiful. We got to my house and I saw it was all dark. I knew my mother wouldn't be here, but I thought Kal would. I guess he'd be at his friend's house and Auris, his mother, would have invited him to dinner.
"Well, here we are." I said. Mon-El turned to me.
"Thank you for letting me go with you. See you tomorrow." I had the feeling that he wanted to get closer to me, but that for some reason he stopped.
"You want to come in? My mother always prepares a few more food rations." I said it without thinking, as I often did when I was with him, acting impulsively.
"I don't want to bother you. It's late." He still smiled at me, though.
"I insist." Now I smiled at him. Mon-El shrugged as he nodded and entered behind me. We walked around the house to the kitchen, and I pulled two portions of dinner out of the fridge. I set the table with the rest of the cutlery and glasses and waited for dinner to warm up. Mon-El sat on one of the chairs and I watched as he watched everything around him.
"You have a very nice house."

"Thank you. My mother is passionate about gardening, hence there are so many plants everywhere." I said, joking. Mon-El laughed. We started to have a quiet dinner, talking about work mostly and how we would rather stop being in the warehouse to see some light during the day. When we finished Mon-El helped me clean up and we chatted a bit more in the living room until it was getting late.
"Thank you for dinner. And for the company." I smiled at him, as a way of receiving the thanks. We were left again without knowing how to say goodbye, quietly. Mon-El decided to keep talking. "I know I shouldn't say this and it might complicate things. But I can't take it anymore. I'm. . . I'm starting to have feelings for you. I don't know exactly when it started, but I can't stop thinking about you and seeing you every day at work is hard. It's like I've connected with you like I've never connected with anyone and you're the only one who doesn't judge me by the person I've been in the past and sees me as the person I hope to be one day. And it's okay if you don't feel the same way, I'd even understand. But I needed to tell you because I can't take it. . . " As it was becoming a tradition, my impulses were responding before my brain could process it and I rushed towards Mon-El and kissed him. I guess that's what I wanted to do after all, no matter how hard I tried to repress it. The kiss was unexpected at first, especially for Mon-El, but he knew how to react quickly. It was an intense kiss, with a lot of emotion. When we part, we join our foreheads, while we catch our breath. "So. . . I understand you feel the same way?" I nodded, smiling. Now it was he who took the initiative and kissed me. He put his hand on my cheek to draw me closer to him and I did the same. If the first kiss was more emotional, this was certainly more passionate. It was like there was a magnet that wouldn't let us separate. I could feel my cheeks burning, my whole body burning.
I heard the door slam shut and I was instantly separated from Mon-El. I got tense in a matter of seconds. Mon-El opened his eyes wide and, almost as if he had a nervous tic, began to put on his shirt properly. When my mother appeared in the living room she found us both firm, almost as if we were soldiers, looking at her with a very tense posture.
"Mom! You're home now."
"That's what I was going to say." Alura looked at me strangely. "Hi, Lar." She greeted Mon-El coldly. "Have you just come home from work? Have you had dinner?"
"Yes, your daughter invited me. Dinner was delicious, by the way." Mon-El intervened.
"I'm glad to hear that." My mother seemed to relax her tone with the daxamite. "Do you want a drink?"
"It's getting late and I should get back to my apartment. But thank you." Mon-El smiled and I tried to hide the silly smile he was putting on me.
"I'll walk you to the door." I said. We both went to the entrance and looked towards the living room to check that Alura was not waiting. "I want to give us a chance, and I think if we do, we have to keep it a secret." I was talking in whispers. Mon-El nodded. "It's the safest thing for you."
"I'm happy with just being with you." He smiled at me and I smiled at him, almost as if we were mimicking. We stayed like this for a few minutes, until I went back to the real world and I thought my mom could catch us.
"See you at work tomorrow." I made sure to say that out loud, so my mother could hear it.
"See you tomorrow." Unexpectedly, he approached me and hugged me briefly, as a farewell. It's not perhaps what I would have liked most at the time, but it was the safest thing.