Daylight

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"Andromeda is— was my wife."

The gentle rain poured over them, small clear droplets gifted by the dark sky. The soft pattering of it against the hard concrete was heard.

"I had a wife." Caroline said, her voice was quiet and ethereal "No, not exactly in the way you are thinking. We didn't get married but we exchanged vows to each other." she picked the skin around her nails, lowering her head "That was enough."

"We met in London, she was the daughter of a noble man and his late wife. I was nothing but a commoner but she never treated me differently, she treated me the exact opposite..." she licked her lips, hesitating to continue "She loved me."

"Both of our families were against us, they tried to pull us away from each other so we decided to run away and leave. We left the city and moved here, by the town, in my cottage." the skin around her nails had turned red and although it didn't bleed, it still stung "She had beautiful blonde hair that curled around her face, bright blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean that I always wanted to see, and the most luxurious red lips."

The description sounded familiar and it made Madonna's heart ache with dread, she tore her gaze off their reflection, glancing over her shoulder to meet Caroline's eyes full of tears.

"In some way, she resembled you."

Madonna looked away, her eyes falling onto her hands there were on her lap, her red nail polish had started to fade away. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat and said "I am not her."

Caroline gently shook her head "No, you are not Andromeda and she is not you." she stopped picking the skin around her nails, glancing at the redhead who refused to look at her anymore, her face darkened with ache and betrayal "Do you truly wish to know the truth, Donna?"

"Yes." Madonna uttered in a brittle voice.

"The very first time I realized my feelings for you, that it was no longer platonic, I thought perhaps I felt attracted to you because you reminded me of her so much." from the way Caroline spoke, Madonna could hear the silent apologies that were behind them "And I haven't moved on yet at that time. I refused to love another after her but then as I got to know you more, I realized you were also so different."

Even through the misty night, Madonna could still see the red highlight of Caroline's cheeks "Well, you made me feel and experience new things." she bit her lower lip "You are also very dominant and you look really mean at first sight." she suppressed a small chuckle "And you didn't know anything about life in the countryside. In a way, we both made each other feel and experience new things."

"Then a storm came along. You ran under the heavy rain to be by my side, you wrapped your warm and strong arms around me, you whispered sweet and soothing words to my ear." Caroline said and they both recalled the memory "That was when I realized I liked you- I wanted you not because you resembled my late wife but because you were such an incredible woman who genuinely cared for me, you are an amazing woman who made my life colorful and fun again, who filled my life with rainbows and painted my red cheeks, who made my heart beat so fast."

"Those words I said to you yesterday, it was because of that. Because you resembled her and because you took care of me the way she always did." her lips quivered "I was afraid to tell you that reason because I was afraid it will hurt you, that I will hurt you and I do not want to hurt you, Donna. I do not want to lose you too." she cried, tears once again sliding down her cheeks.

When the echo of Caroline's voice finally faded out of her ears, Madonna took a deep breath, swallowing into the pit of her stomach, screwing her eyes shut before she found the courage to open them again "I am a cruel woman, Caroline."