No more tears - Leon Kennedy

Chapter 15

"𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝. 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭."

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"Thanks for coming. You were right... Once again." I finally said as his gaze shifted from the window to me, inscrutable. Realizing I looked like an Eskimo child wrapped in my blanket, I put my feet on the cold floor.

"So, do I still have to jump off that bridge?" He asked, his voice softened, making me chuckle lightly.

"No, of course not!" I replied, still laughing, as the corners of his lips seemed to lift for a brief moment.

"Damn, I was looking forward to it..." he added simply, and I tried to guess what he was thinking at that precise moment. I pouted, unsure of what to say, then got up, dissatisfied with this situation that floated more than it brought conclusions.

As the rain continued to fall, liter by liter, my thoughts began to wander.

"If the rain doesn't stop, how are you going to get back?" I finally asked as he sighed, seeming not to care much.

"You want me to leave? Already?" He asked after a few seconds of silence, to which I quickly shook my head.

"No, of course not! It's a several-hour drive, it would be silly for you to..." I began to respond, but he stood up and started pacing, then stopped when he seemed to recognize the place I was painting.

I approached as well, suddenly soothed by this landscape that brought back good memories, but I didn't want to discuss it because he knew it so well.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to draw his attention away from my artistic creation, which was a bit too personal for my taste since it was my old room at the castle, which I was trying to recreate from memory alone.

I swallowed my saliva, realizing he was waiting for some intervention from me as his gaze locked onto mine, realizing that just this situation had managed to embarrass me.

"If you want, I have a guest room..." I tried to catch myself as he raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Nice, I'm a guest, now..." He remarked, making me pout slightly.

"Well, you're in my house... What should I call you, then, a friend?" I hesitated as he chuckled softly, a mix of amusement and irritation.

"Friends... Even better," he concluded firmly, while I grimaced, understanding that the situation was slipping slightly out of my control. I let go of the physical contact and clenched my fists, deciding that this time I would get out of there.

"You, tell me. Did you come here to mess with me?" I started to scold him as he sighed.

"No, of course not! I'm just trying to understand what you want," he grumbled back as I placed my hands on my hips, feeling the anger rising.

"You know very well what I want!" I snapped back, not moving an inch as his voice, usually so expressive in my presence, became grave.

"I do?"

I grimaced, feeling at that moment like I was back to being twenty, behaving like a child. But that wasn't the case today. I took a deep breath and grabbed him by the collar, forcing him to look at me.

"Leon, when you take that tone, when you say things like that, my heart hurts so much! There's not a day I've thought of you without crying because you decided that three weeks would be a reasonable time to respond to a woman, and now you've come just to rub salt on the wound? I don't understand!" I cried out, my voice breaking with emotion.