'Me and you, living under a paper moon. Cause real life just isn't right, let's fabricate.'
she watched him while he wrote in the notebook that he kept on his person at all times.
"may i read something from that?"
he looked up at the sound of her voice and the expression on his face was so incredulous it made her smile.
"are you sure you want to? sometimes my writing makes no sense."
"hand it over," she demanded, holding her hand out.
he reluctantly placed the notebook on her palm and watched anxiously as she flipped through the pages.
"who's this girl you keep writing about?"
he just raised an eyebrow in response and when the realisation hit, she blushed fiercely and muttered something about feeling flattered. it was the most flustered reaction he had ever gotten from her.
"what's this list for?" she inquired, pointing at a certain page.
"nothing. it just consists of interesting words and their meanings."
"quixotic," she read out, "which means extravagantly chivalrous or romantic. sounds like you."
"ingénue, meaning a naïve young woman. sounds nothing like you," he told her, grinning.
"serendipity," she continued, ignoring him. "which is finding something nice while looking for something else. this one is my favorite."
"mine too," he spoke quietly, staring at her.
"i want to show you my art," she said suddenly, taking him by surprise. "come to my place."
she glimpsed hesitation in his eyes but he quickly agreed to visit her home. they held hands and walked to her appartment.
all of a sudden, she felt shy while opening the door. perhaps because letting him see her work would mean letting the last barrier between them fall away. it felt like she was putting her soul into his hands.
she led him to the balcony where she kept her paintings. they were illuminated by a single lightbulb.
"they're paintings of my nightmares," she confessed.
he carefully looked at each one, but did not say a word while examining them.
"i think that's the best one," she informed him, as his fingers grazed the painting that depicted a burning room.
"you're very talented."
his voice was at a lower pitch than usual, almost devoid of enthusiasm. she could tell that he meant the compliment, but there was some underlying problem that he didn't mention.
"is it too colorful? i was wondering if i should've just used yellow and orange."
he did not respond. his body looked almost frozen and the only visible movement was the clenching of his jaw. after a few moments, a tear fell on his cheek and was followed by more. he did not make a sound while crying and it frightened her.
she couldn't help but feel that it was all her fault, even though she had no idea why he was so upset. she wondered if she had broken the wonderful person in front of her. part of her had always feared that she would do so someday, no matter how much she cared about him. her personality was always going to be too sharp for his soft nature.
she put a hand on the side of his face and made him meet her gaze. the walls he kept might as well be rubble at their feet, because he made no attempt to hide the pain in his eyes.
she tried to ask him why he was hurting, but he interrupted her.
"we can't be together anymore," he said, stepping away from her like her touch burned him.
she felt tears forming in her eyes and she hated herself for a brief moment. she couldn't stand the fact that she'd let herself become so vulnerable by falling in love. one sentence from the man she loved could make her unravel.
"why?" she asked, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.
"one word why," he responded harshly, using their earlier happy memory to push her away. "achromatopsia."
she refused to ask him what the word, choosing to wait for him to elaborate.
"complete color blindness."
-
The secret is finally out! Did you guys guess it would be this?
P.s: Color blind people usually have trouble identifying red or green. Complete color blindness where the individual only sees black, white and gray is rare, but not unheard of and is more common in men.
Dedicated to Twinster101 for the lovely banner.
