Serenity

4| Baggage

The room was thick with tension as my words hung in the silence, the kind that hung in the air like a heavy fog. I watched Shane, his eyes darting between the floor and my face, his eyes filled with a turmoil I couldn't quite decipher. I could feel the weight of my words pressing down on him like a physical force.

"Probably not," he said, and the conflict in his eyes was a stark contrast to the usual smooth facade he presented. "Look, Kara. I'm not sure what Leo has told you about our past, but we've both had our fair share of mistakes. We've made plenty of stupid decisions, and we've hurt people and gotten hurt in the process."

His words hung in the air like a heavy fog, obscuring the clarity I thought I had. I felt a pang of discomfort, like a cold draft had suddenly seeped into the room. I tried to shrug it off, but the words stuck, like burrs in a wool sweater.

"You know," I started with a bitter taste in my mouth, feeling a pang of guilt. "I don't think we need to talk about this. Maybe it's not worth it."

His gaze softened, but only slightly. "I just want you to know, Kara," he said, his eyes meeting mine with a sincerity that almost took me aback. "I just want you to know what you're getting into."

"You're not the person you were back then, Shane." I tried to reassure him, reaching out and placing my hand on top of his. His skin was warm, and his muscles tensed as soon as my fingers touched his. But he didn't move his hand.

"Maybe not," he admitted, his voice laced with a hint of resignation and his eyes on our hands. "But we still have a lot of baggage. I have a lot of baggage."

"Everybody has baggage."

"Some more than others," he countered, and I could see the pain in his eyes.

As I listened to him, I couldn't help but think about all the things I'd heard about him and all that he had told me about him. He had seemed so devastated, so lost the night he told me about him not being able to have kids. I had never seen him like that before.

But I couldn't help but wonder if there was more to his story. Shane Carver was, after all, kind of a legend in the art department, known for his incredible talent and his unconventional approach to painting. Before he just... stopped. He became more withdrawn, more distant. Stopped painting and showing any interest in his family business like Leo had said Shane did since they were kids. Surely, there was something else that had happened to make him like this and cause him so much pain.

I wasn't sure what to believe about him since I still didn't know much about him, but I knew that he was a complex person, and I was intrigued by him. Drawn to him in a way I couldn't explain, like a magnetic force that pulled me closer despite the warning bells ringing in my head. I wanted to know more about him, to see beyond the surface, to understand the man beneath the enigmatic facade. I was curious about his past, his dreams, and his fears, yearning to unravel the complexities of his character.

"So... What now?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"What do you mean?" he replied, his gaze fixed on something in the distance.

"Is that all?" I pressed, my voice filled with a hint of disappointment.

"I just want you to be careful," he said, and then sighed. "If we do this, you'll be risking your career."

"But... what if we don't get caught?"

"Is it a risk worth taking?" he countered, his voice filled with a sense of foreboding.

I didn't say anything, my mind racing with thoughts of the potential consequences. The risks were as real as the tangible world around us, as palpable as the air we breathed. If we were caught, our careers would be ruined, our reputations tarnished forever. Yet, despite the looming storm clouds, the allure of the forbidden was too strong to resist.