𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄 ~ | 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘤

IX

Chapter Nine:

~ Item: Doubt ~

He loved me.

After all this time.

After all these years.

And I loved him.

I remember the first time I saw him. All he had to do was smile and I was his. I never stood a chance.

I have hated him for so long. Loathed him with every fiber of my being. And now... now I need him. I need him like I need air to breathe.

I'm lost in the feeling of being lost in him.

It's silly really, now that I think about it. The way he looked at me, the way he talked to me, the way his hands felt on my skin. It's all so... so beautifully tragic. Like a poem that you read once and can't forget, but the meaning is lost on you until you live it. And here I am, living it.

He said he wasn't good for me. That he'd only hurt me. And he did. He hurt me in ways I never knew existed. But he loved me in ways I didn't think possible either. Ways that healed parts of me I didn't even know were broken.

There was a side of him, a side that was kind and gentle, a side that I had only caught glimpses of through the years.

And I loved him.

Love is a curious creature, isn't it?

It doesn't always come wrapped in a neat little bow, with a clear path to follow. It never does, not really.

Love is more like a wildfire, unpredictable and often uncontrollable.

It often comes in the most unexpected of moments, love. It sneaks up on you like the sunrise, subtle at first but then suddenly it's all you can see.

When Charles looks at me, it makes me think he sees someone worth looking at, someone worth loving.

I wonder if he knows the power of his gaze.

He was looking at me now.

The same way he had for a long time, but now... it was different. There was a softness in his eyes that made my heart flutter in a way that was new, yet eerily familiar.

"What?" I ask, trying to play it cool. He smiled.

We were sitting in the cozy house the fireplace was crackling with the warmth of the burning logs, casting a flickering glow across the room. I was nestled into the corner of the couch, my legs tucked under a soft blanket. I was immersed in the pages of a book, but him?

"Nothing." He smiled.

He was just watching me.

His eyes were half-closed, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. I tried to focus on the words in front of me, but they were just a blur. All he was doing was sitting across from me, his gaze never leaving me, and here I was, melting into a puddle.

I sighed, dropping the book a little to look at him properly. "Seriously, what? Either you want to do something stupid or you already have."

He laughed. "No, I swear I haven't."

"Did you break something?"

"That was one time."

"Then why are you staring?" I asked, my voice playfully accusing.

"Because you're beautiful," he said simply. He said it so easily like it was the most natural thing in the world to say. "I can't help it."

"You flatter me, Leclerc." I tried to sound nonchalant, but the blush that crept up my neck betrayed me.