Hate You Not

CHAPTER SIX

 Malvina:

Tonight, I was a mess. I had no business staring into that man's soul while thinking of ways about how his lips would feel like on mine. I guess abstinence does this to one's mind. I need to get my mind cleaned.

"Ah! This is so unholy. Stop thinking about him." I snap shut the book in my hand, it's useless anyway because I cannot focus on what's written in it. I rub my fingers, feeling the sticky sap left behind by the flower.

I close my eyes and start humming an old, familiar song. A long-forgotten piano tune, the lyrics are a blur, but the tune is engraved in my mind somehow.

A pair of hands, combing through a small child's hair. A gentle touch "My little rose..." A soft whisper. "You are my most precious treasure." A blurred reflection of a woman. A small tug on the hair. "I will always protect you. Always." Who is she? That voice, that touch. My eyes open suddenly. I place a hand on my chest, panting. What was that?

"Why do you keep torturing me like that?" Having these visions are nothing new. I am used to having them all the time, but suddenly it started to feel too real. It was a distant memory at first but now they feel as if they happened to me before.

My past is a blur. I am aware of the fact that, I don't remember half of my life events. It has never been a problem before, I have no particular desire to remember my past, for all I know, I maybe better off without them. Besides it's best to look forward to a life with my brother than to wallow in the past. But these darn, persistent memories do not seem to leave me alone.

"Just leave me alone, please." I whisper to the empty air. I close my eyes again, an old, strange memory from the ocean of unsolved ones. It invades my mind even if I didn't want it to.

A soft touch, silent whispers. Warm eyes, a muffled giggle, 'Take this, it took me a long time to make it... don't lose it...Rosa...I will give you something that...keep it forever...Remember me.' A chill spreads through my body. This is new. I never had this one before. What is this memory? Who was I talking to?

It doesn't even matter what it was, whatever it was, it's gone, and I don't ever want to go back there again. Ever. What is even the point if I do remember? It's not like I am going to meet them again. It's just a lost thought, nothing else. I stop my train of thoughts all at one.

I will graduate and leave this town with Ronan for good. If I manage to settle in a big city like London, maybe I will finally be able to get rid of these baseless memories that makes no sense to me at all.

I am about to turn around, ready to jump down the swing and depart for Rosewood Manor, just then I feel a pair of eyes on me. The memory of that creep from the other evening crosses my mind.

I gather my courage and turn my head to look at the person behind me. My fear turns into surprise, then confusion, then something else.

The same pair of deep brown eyes from earlier this evening, meets my hazel ones. I inhale sharply, feeling the close proximity till my bones.

He-the breathtaking man- stands there with his hands tucked into his pocket, covering the entire exit with his large presence. He stands there looking at me with a strange intensity which soon turns soft when he finds my eyes on him.

"Hello love." His voice. It sends shivers down my spine, not from fear but a different feeling.

"I thought you would be here." His husky voice sends tingles through every fiber in my body. For some reason, that's exactly how I imagined his voice to be. The perfect companion to his dark eyes.

"You." I breath.

The flower falls from between my fingers, hitting the ground below me. I jump down from the swing at once, completely forgetting about my injured leg.