WMMAP - [S1] Shelter You - (愛)してる

Chapter 52: Truth

Growing up as a girl who was supposedly timid, Athanasia had never thought she would be the one to pull the trigger. Nevertheless, she was her father's daughter, and as such, hardened at an early age. Athanasia watched as her father displayed no signs of faltering when he put the aristocrats, and political members, where they belonged as a consequence of their actions. She knew she would do the same if that zenith was given to her. When she was deemed ready one day, she was prepared.

Hence, as she changed the blanket, and tended his body, she herself was surprised at how composed she was in such a circumstance. Perhaps her boyfriend's initiative activated what was deep-buried and captivated her desire too. The intimate contact from earlier was their closest yet, something she could get addicted to.

His chest rose up and down ever so peacefully as she finished buttoning up his shirt. Athanasia, then, took a moment to admire his face, downright different from minutes ago. The thought made her flush deep red, but it didn't stop her from running her hand through his bangs.

For a guy who kept bragging about his unrelenting stamina, he didn't even stir when she touched his face with the back of her hand. He was fast asleep, so defenseless, so innocent, so fragile. She wondered if that was how he regarded her too, even though both knew neither of them was breakable.

She ran the pad of her thumb onto the corner of his eye, mesmerized by his long eyelashes. He was too beautiful to be a guy. His eyes would be the changing aspects of how he chose to look at people, and how he would look at her.

Sometimes it resembled hellfire, bringing terror, singeing every single soul that he stared into. That fragment of him came out when he refused to listen to reason and his fists were famished for blood.

Sometimes it was like a blue pale flame despite the color red when he would be merciful to those who were worthy of it. Those were how he chose to look at people, differently. As for her, the way he looked at her with his eyes would be him offering a bundle of roses. She was yet to experience any of the above, personally at least.

How much had she changed him- tamed him? How careless and reckless had he become or has he always been like that? She pondered if she was the force that had impacted his sense of awareness. If she was the rationale behind why he was growing more vulnerable, not that she would point that out loud. But she recognized that he wasn't the same guy who saved her from negligible danger back then. He was no longer the guy who had his guard up all the time, denying every head pat she was trying to give and rejecting almost every invitation to a meal at her place, or growling and snarling at anyone who annoyed him. But unlike his sense of awareness that was growing dulled, his fangs were as sharp as ever.

She placed another kiss on his forehead. Little did she realize, that she kissed him more than he ever kissed her. She laid down beside him, using his bicep as a pillow, her arm across his chest, snuggling closer to him, as she closed her eyes for the next few hours to come before parting ways with him for a while.

The vibration from the muted alarm clock woke her up. Hours of little sleep were better than nothing. She managed to gather some of her energy back as the dawn broke through the curtain. Careful not to wake him up, Athanasia slowly got off the bed, having never been so grateful that Raven was with Lilian and Felix. She knew her dog would always jump on her bed and wherever possible, wipe his tongue across her face. And Raven's dad would proceed to chase the dog out of her bedroom so he could be the one to bounce on her bed instead. The father, then, proceeds to get kicked out of her room as well.

Felix said the couple deserved some quality time together. Not that the dog and the godmother entirely agreed on this, but Felix was able to kidnap those two away. Felix promised he would return them before the forthcoming event this weekend.