Painted Souls

Part 3

"It looks like someone is having fun." Freya said as she held out a coffee cup to Elijah.

Elijah's eyebrow raised slightly. "What do you mean?" He asked as he took a hold of the coffee cup.

"I'm assuming your soulmate is painting again." She said as she pointed to his forehead where the was currently a swipe of white paint across it. "Either that or you were painting your apartment and didn't look in the mirror before you left."

"I can assure you I wasn't the one painting." He gave his sister a small smile before he looked at his watch. "My soulmate has been painting for almost three hours now. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a smudge on my face somewhere."

Freya chuckled. "At least you can appreciate the work they must be putting into it. Have you tried speaking with them?"

The look on Elijah's face had said all that Freya needed to know. He hadn't. No matter how many times the writing or the paint appeared to let him know there was someone else on the other side of this connection, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Freya sighed and shook her head slightly. "You know maybe if you actually responded, you'd feel better about moving on from Celeste."

"Freya." Elijah warned before taking a drink out of his coffee.

She shrugged slightly. "I'm just saying. Your soulmate is supposed to be the best person out there for you. Yet after that heartbreak, you haven't done a thing to try and get to know who is on the other side of this." She said as she tapped the paint on his forehead.

Freya was right, much like any older sibling was from time to time. Elijah had only deeply loved one person for the majority of his life. Celeste had been a childhood friend to the Mikaelsons. She was closer to Elijah in many ways that made Elijah believe that even if there was a soulmate out there, Celeste was it for him.

At least that was until Celeste had actually met her soulmate after heading to college. While she had loved Elijah, there was something about her soulmate that just made her feel whole and she left Elijah without a second thought. It left Elijah broken. While he could play it off that he was fine, deep down it was something he couldn't easily move on from.

And while he may have thought he was crazy, that same day his own soulmate tried talking to him. Part of him wanted to believe that they knew something was going on with him and wanted to reach out. While he had been used to the paint splatters and occasional notes that would show up on his skin, this was the first time he had ever seen words specifically for him.

Hey, I know this is a little strange trying to communicate like this, but I just wanted to apologize for all the paint. I've got this huge project due. I promise I'll give you a break from the paint soon.

Elijah must have read over the words over and over for as long as they had been on his skin. There were a few times where he almost picked up a pen to write back, but he couldn't get himself to do it. Not with how he currently felt. The moment he decided not to reply to the message, he watched as the ink faded from his skin, indicating that it had been washed off.

"What about you?" Elijah asked taking the questions off of him. "Have you finally given into whoever is on the other side of yours?"

Freya grinned at that. "As a matter of fact, I have. Keelin and I will be meeting later this week. If I hadn't put it off, we would have met a few months ago when she was out here for a month. Something to think about."

Elijah rolled his eyes. "As much as I would love to continue this conversation, we have a meeting to attend." Without another word, Elijah made his way into the building that they had been standing outside of.