Ruins of Autumn

28• Truce

    "Do you want me to help you with your clothes?"
 
    Blerimi left her suitcase next to the bed, and Leonora stared intently at the real man, who was in the same room with her in New York, America.
 
    She had spent so much time in a state of agony that now she was in danger of easily hallucinating, that she was in a dream, and that happiness was all in her imagination.
 
    "Which ones?" Leonora approached him without breaking her provocative gaze. "I was just thinking about changing the clothes I'm wearing."
 
    Blerimi chuckled and shook his head slightly at her flirtation.
 
    "Are you feeling brave, Leonora?" He passed his hand gently to the side of her hair over the left ear and tightened his fingers behind her head.
 
    She placed her fisted hands on him, clutching his black shirt across his chest. Deep heartbeats, like breathing, became a challenge to be kept under control, not counting the legs in danger of folding and falling. 
 
    "I was just dreaming," she justified herself, with no desire to be tolerated by him.
 
    Blerimi stared at her parted lips and released himself from the unbearable longing in the form of passion for her by kissing her.
 
    "You must be careful, autumn princess," he warned her, breaking away from her. "The danger is much more beautiful than you think it is."
 
    "I can handle the addiction." Leonora didn't back down from the provocation, and he liked that.
 
    "Enjoy the break until marriage, Leonora. I assure you that you won't miss it at all when it's over." Blerimi held her captive for a few moments under his gaze and then released her by going to his room to get ready to go out. 
 
    Leonora placed her right-fisted hand on her warm lips and the other on the centre of her chest, feeling more and more the rapid beating of her heart, which felt as if it had been set on fire. The memories of moments with Blerimi and imagining the rapturous future with him added a lot to the rhythm of those beats.
 
    She decided to wear light grey jeans, a closed grey sweater, and black boots, just like the coat and the scarf, and went to his room.
 
    She found Blerimi in front of the mirror and gave herself over to the feeling of admiration—how comely, strong, and enticing he looked in black clothes—by watching him put on the black coat and look seriously at his reflection in the mirror.
 
    The way he turned his head to her, understood her gaze, and added a dose of contemplation by beaming lovingly at her made Leonora feel even more fond of him.
 
••••
    The walk around the city ended with his suggestion to buy fast food, and she struggled to enter the pastry shop. 
 
    "OK. You go, and I'm waiting for you here."
 
    "Why?" He was flummoxed by her choice.
 
    "If I go in, I'll end up buying sweets, and now I've made a promise to myself that I won't eat desserts every day. We ate a while ago."
 
    "What will you do when you see them on the street? You enter, but resist."
 
    "You think so?" She didn't seem so convinced that she had enough willpower to overcome the habit of buying sweets as soon as she entered a store. "Fine, but if you see that I'm tempted, don't let me buy, okay?"
 
    "Okay," he chuckled, and Leonora went into the pastry shop with him.
 
    Her eyes immediately found their way to the displays on the left, the cakes curated with details, more delicious than ever, and the thought that she would buy one only that day, and then she wouldn't eat for the whole week, managed to shake her.
 
    "Hi," Blerimi greeted the pastry employee wearing a black work uniform from the other side of the counter, who looked about twenty-four years old while he was holding Leonora's left hand. "Two of these sandwiches, please."
 
    "Yes," the blonde girl with dark brown eyes took two bags under the cash register counter to prepare the orders.
 
    Blerimi looked at his girlfriend behind him, who smiled at him.
 
    "You're very strong," he encouraged her, and Leonora clenched his hand in thanks.
 
    Blerimi took the money out of his blue wallet so he would be ready to pay when he got the bill. The employee put the sandwiches in the bag and approached the counter to hand over the bill. 
 
    He turned his head back to see Leonora, who had broken away from him and, lost in thoughts with her hand into a fist, was resting her nails on her lower lip while gazing with appetite at the cakes in front of her in the displays beyond.
 
    "Nora," he called in the smallest voice he could, but she didn't hear him. "Nora," the call fell on deaf ears again.
 
    He made the payment and walked over to her.
 
    "Did they strike you, Leonora? Can't you fight anymore?" he teased her.
 
    She looked at him guiltily and then bit her lower lip, which slowly slid across her teeth as she looked at the sweets.
 
    "Maybe tomorrow is a better day to start the war. I am calling a truce today," Leonora decided. 
 
    Blerimi laughed at her shy and playful demeanour.
 
    "Sweetheart," he touched her loose hair behind her head. "Which one do you prefer?"
 
    "This one," Leonora immediately referred happily to the cake with white chocolate, strawberry cream, and vanilla, the label next to which read 'Sweet Memories'.
 
    "Okay," he accepted and looked in front of them at the pastry employee, who had been waiting for them, this time more smiling and positively feeling the love between that couple of strangers, even though she didn't understand their words.
 
    "Two 'Sweet Memories'." He read to the employee the name of the cake on the label next to it, and she nodded. 
 
    Leonora was eagerly waiting to take the sweets.
 
    "Here, keep their box." Blerimi extended the long-awaited box when they left the pastry shop.
 
    "Come, my twins," she referred to the sweets, and she immediately took the box.
 
    He put his hand on her shoulders to pull her close to him, and they returned home.
 
••••
    Leonora put the cakes on two plates together with the forks and went out to the balcony next to the living room. Blerimi was waiting for her while sitting on the sofa at the edge of the balcony.
 
    She happily sat on his lap, resting her head against his left shoulder. She accepted a piece of dessert, which he took with her fork and offered to her, and looked away.
 
    "I love you," Leonora said softly, and he remained silent for a few moments.
 
    "Can you end my torture by telling me who you were saying that?" asked Blerimi. "To me or the dessert?"
 
    "You," she laughed. "I love the dessert too, of course, but now I told you."
 
    "I am not jealous at all," he replied, and kissed her on the forehead.
 
    Leonora closed her eyes and sighed in relief, enjoying the peace within herself that she had finally achieved.
 
    The moment when she was going to die came to her mind, and she made the wish that, when that time came to watch the whole life, that she had lived, like a movie one last time, she wanted the memories to start with the first meeting with Blerimi and end with him.