◤𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕪◢ - It Started With Vomit!

Chapter 31 | Senseless Appetite

"Would you just let go of me?"

"Not unless you start walking out that door."

"Walking out that door spells disaster, Shadow!" His grip relaxed, sending Amy tumbling back onto the bed with a soft and loud thump, eliciting a breathless squeak from the back of her throat. 

Without thinking, Shadow moved elsewhere, trying to hide the red flush rising beneath the neutrality of his mocha skin, when a provocative image of Rose soft in his arms, sighing his name, ready for the taking, played across his mind. 

Then he groaned, dropping onto a leather ottoman, emotionally exhausted. 

Shadow's hands planted sloppily on his waist, attempting and failing to reinstate his usual stoic demeanour. However, determined to identify a way out of the fog called Freudian Motivation, Mr. Hedgehog willed himself to articulate why he was growing increasingly out of control by wanting to be intimate with Amy, even after being shot down ruthlessly.

For some weeks, he had maintained a comfortable distance (for both their sakes), attempting to eradicate residues of childish romanticism towards Rose. But it refused to disappear, which wasn't a good indication of his willpower because whenever Shadow Hedgehog sets his mind to something, he accomplishes it. 

The Hedgehog's entire reason for existing was strictly to produce achievements that a regular person couldn't even envision, and Shadow refused to be an exception. He was a leading innovator in promising industries. His brains paved the way for improved electronic devices, solar-powered infrastructure, and other futuristic technologies. Yet, in a cruel twist of faith, his abilities fell below the bar when it came to elementary tasks, preventing him from carrying out what any simple-minded individual could.

"Why?" Shadow asked, allowing his voice to come off stormy, afraid that a sliver of emotion would compromise his already volatile plans of remaining indifferent. "I plan on easing you out of this contract with minimal involvement since, while it has its advantages, you've found it more uncomfortable than I have thus far. So help me understand why you're being so difficult."

"Why?" Amy scoffed, sitting upright, her face blotched with a mixture of irritation and trepidation. "There's a hundred percent guarantee nobody will buy what we're selling if I go out there."

"Because you're too righteous to fool them?"

"Because I can't sell, Shadow! There is a difference!"

"Stop saying that!"

"Stop saying what? Your name?" Amy snapped, perturbed by his foolish implication.

Unwavering in spite of his ugly temperament, she almost leapt to return the mistreatment—"You call me Rose without pause, on the daily! Do you see me making a big deal out of it?"—but paused abruptly, not moving a muscle when Shadow stepped forward and lifted her right hand to his chest, fingering its crevices before sliding an iridescent rose-cut diamond into her ring finger. 

Taken aback, all Amy could do was admire the glimmer of its facets and ruby cluster side stones, shivers travelling down the length of her arm, pumping her nerves with an unhealthy amount of adrenaline as her face softened.

"It's beautiful... Thank you." Her voice trembled, ardent in genuineness yet holding apprehension about the jewelry's true purpose. After all, the excessive gesture allowed her to imagine what could be—which was dangerous—and uncannily reminded her of Shadow's unrequited feelings—which Amy prayed ceased to exist, for her sake. 

These troubling feelings were in their sprouting years, like a scion that could be well exterminated if withheld water and sunlight. Situations like these would be direr to control otherwise, and the mighty force propelling Amy away from Sonic would mercilessly consume her.