Alternatively - A Pob/Leon Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Leon

Time dragged on when suffering was involved. But before I knew what was happening it had been six months since I last saw Topfah.

Six months since he stopped dropping by to try seeing me.

Six months since my parents and friends and brother tried talking to me about him.

I walked my sore body into my house, a part of me still wanted to call out for Topfah, or expecting him to stick his head out of the kitchen and grinning at me.

Sighing, I bypassed the living room, climbed the stairs and stripped for a shower. I was so exhausted, had I stopped to rest, I wouldn't be getting up again.

After my shower, I walked out into my bedroom with a towel wrapped around my hips, in my thoughts, worrying about Topfah and if I'd done the right thing walking away.

I hadn't been able to face him after that day—I felt like a coward walking out on him in that moment. It wasn't like what he'd told that us about P'Pob should have surprised me. There was things about him that I noticed over time that reminded me of P'Pob.

He'd named the kitten Pobjer.

He would draw lazy circles on the center of my chest as we cuddled in bed.

Topfah knew precisely where my bedroom was in Leo's place.

He was left-handed—even though that didn't really mean anything.

The major thing was the attraction I felt for him. The moment we'd crashed into each other there was something almost paranormal that drew me to him. It was as if I knew him in ways that didn't make any sense.

Deep down I knew what Topfah told me was true—but there were so many things that swirled through me.

I'd promised to love only him—only P'Pob. Yet here I was falling completely and utterly in love with another man. How could I face the possibility that P'Pob was still here? How could I let him see me in love with someone else?

"You've always been stubborn, Leon."

I paused.

A warm surge floated up my spine to pulse off my brain and heart. Holding my breath, I turned—slowly.

"P'Pob."

He sat at the foot of my bed, smiling brightly at me, his eyes glowing like they always did and it crushed me.

"Why do you question everything?" P'Pob asked.

"P." I walked over and fell to my knees in front of him.

P'Pob framed the sides of my face, his palms warm and familiar.

"Tell me why you're ashamed, Leon."

I tried hanging my head but he wouldn't let me.

"I promised to love you forever." My voice cracked. "And here I am loving someone else."

"You didn't break your promise to me, Leon." P'Pob told me. "You've been loving me with your entire soul for eight hundred years. What makes you think you'd stop now? My death wasn't meant to be and I managed to talk them into giving us another chance."

"Why does P'Fah think the memories are dreams then?"

"Because we aren't supposed to remember our previous lives." P'Pob explained. "Because our love is so strong and P'Fah loves you as much as I have."

"You're telling me that you're P'Fah?"

"No. I'm telling you that my essence is in P'Fah." He smiled at me. "That the love I feel for you, the memories I have with you and of you—the warmth I felt when you loved me is all a part of him. Our souls have been together for so long, it's almost as if we're stapled together and you're going to lose me forever if you don't make things right with P'Fah."