feelings ~ hector fort

part 6/ a change of mind

The bathrooms were tiled in marble, golden taps were on the sinks and beautiful soft light shon. Anyway, as the minutes passed and I waited for Lorenzo to show up, I touched up on my makeup and applied some more perfume.

The door swinging open revealed Lorenzo's tall figure. As soon as he entered, he slammed the door shut, locking it. "I slipped out quietly; I don't think anyone noticed," he said as he stalked towards me already attacking my neck in harsh, desperate kisses. My mind wandered then, as I was sure one particular person would have definitely noticed that the two of us were gone.

Lorenzo's hands roamed freely over my body as his lips met mine in a deep, needy kiss. My mind still wasn't were it was supposed to be: on Lorenzo in this moment and the bliss of sex. Instead, I drifted to another place where Hector's face would not leave my thoughts.

Did I enjoy the time spent with Lorenzo? Definitely. Did I drag him to this bathroom just to make a certain person jealous? Maybe. Was I currently in the mood for this? No.

I tried to take a step back away from Lorenzo, peeling away from his touch, I said, "Lorenzo, I'm actually not in the mood for this, stop, please."

He let go but stepped back with a look of fury on his face. "You're the one that wants to sneak off together and now you decide that you actually don't want to?" he shouted at me, pure venom in his voice.

I couldn't get a word in as he continued, "Who do you think you are to lead me on?" This was accompanied by something unexpected, something that never in a million years I would have thought could happen. I felt a harsh sting on my face. I took me a few seconds to catch up with what had happened; he slapped me across the face. In the process of which he managed to leave a cut across my cheekbone.

"You bitch," he sneered and walked out of the bathroom.

A single tear ran down my face then, stinging the cut on my cheek. Breathe, I reminded myself. I took a deep breath and looked into the mirror. A light trickle of blood ran down the side of my face and the light imprint of a hand was visible. Fuck.

I couldn't go back in there looking like this. Fuck sakes. Before I did anything else though, I readjusted my dress that had rolled up revealing too much.

I thanked the heavens above that I was one of them girls who carried her whole collection of makeup in her bag. Because makeup was the only solution to fix this mess.

I saw the door was left ajar from when Lorenzo stormed out so I quickly went to shut it. However, just before I reached it, it flew open. My heart stopped.

"Oh sorry," said Hector, "wrong bathroom." He was about to turn to walk out. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed my cut cheek and red, tear stained eyes.

He slowly walked inside, shutting the door behind him. "Adella... what happened?" His hand went up to my face and his thumb carefully wiped underneath my eye to stop any more tears. "Who did this to you, Ads?"

"Nothing happened," I tried, "I'm fine, it's okay," but the sob that erupted from my chest betrayed me. I felt Hector envelope me into a hug, holding on tightly. He stroked my hair and consoled, "Shh it's okay, I've got you."

We stayed like that for about 5 minutes until I was able to return to normal.

At the mirror, I needed to sort the state of myself out. Whilst I was taking out all of my products, Hector got tissues dipped in water, grabbed hold of the good side of my face and delicately wiped the blood off. I looked at his face, concentrating not to hurt me. Something inside of me softened. "Thank you," I said.

I carried on to cover the area with colour corrections, concealers and foundations until I managed to carry the whole cut and surrounding area. I unpinned my bun and let my hair flow so that it covered some of my face as well. Once more, I looked presentable.

Hector adjusted some strands of my hair and I smiled up at him a sad happy smile.

"Ads, I'm so fucking sorry," he said.

"Fort. It's not your fault, it's my stupid shenanigans," I tried to make light of the situation.

"I swear, if he ever puts his hands on you again, he'll end up with no hands."

We returned to the dinner together. No one seemed to notice that things took a turn just a few rooms away.

Lamine asked me, "Della, where's Lorenzo?"

"He wasn't feeling very well, he's gone home."

That answer seemed to satisfy him as he left the topic alone.

Throughout the rest of the evening, I picked at my food, engaging in some conversations, but minimally. I kept on subconsciously bringing more hair to the front of my face just in case.

My eyes drifted in Hectors direction and he was always looking at me already. Ready to reassure me with the now soft look in his eyes and an encouraging smile.