Red Rhythm: His Sweet Obsession

28

● AUTHOR'S POV

"Does it hurt?" Ava couldn't help but be a little concerned, she felt like there was something different about Xanthos, he seemed serious, and not in the manner he habitually is.

Xanthos shifted his detached stare to look at her, his gaze now focused on the night eyes staring intently at him. Xanthos raised his hand to meet Ava's and clasped her fingers with his own, moving it closer to his faintly bruised cheek, he brought its back in contact with his skin.

"A lot." he whispered.

Hearing those words something clicked inside Ava, she felt defensive, she felt irritated, the outrage in her was like a reflex, and all for the person sitting beside her.

"Who was it?" the words came firmly, echoing in the silence of the night. Ava felt an inexplicable mixture of emotions, she did not fancy the idea of Xanthos having dealt with something of that sort, though she hadn't realised it yet, but; someone else did.

"You will fight them?" Xanthos queried only to get replied back in a wink, "Yes."

Xanthos' hand plopped down on his leg, whilst holding Ava's, and a chuckle erupted in the hushed surroundings of the playground park.

"Why... are you laughing?" Ava questioned monotonously.

"It's jus--" but before Xanthos could finish, Ava cut him off with an agitation squirming through her words.

"Why are you like this?" she asked silencing Xanthos, and having him just stare at her.

"Why do you act like that, every chance you get? Why? Why do you always pretend that your pain isn't worth bothering over? Last time in this same playground you acted so ignorant of yourself and now again. I'm surprised you accepted, it did hurt, but only to be the same nonchalant man you always are, and not for anyone else, but only for yourself. Why must you act tough and let it all just go, why don't you take your pain seriously! What is stopping you, is it some ego thing?" Ava had a rush of words just flowing out, whilst her mood worsening with each passing second.

Her black eyes had rage in them, but it felt a little different, soiled with ache perhaps, or maybe displeasure, it was something Xanthos was trying to figure out.

"Why must you be cruel, why can't you be kinder to yourself? You hold onto others in need, then why not yourself?" her words sounded more like a plead than a question.

For the first time, Xanthos had absolutely nothing to say, he had a burst of emotions that swept across his body, and all he wanted to do was savour this moment, as the woman he loved, had just 'yelled' at him for not being 'kinder' to himself.

Ava stared back at him and after a second or two, stood up fixing her dress.
"It's late, I should be heading back." she said dully, and turned away.

"Alone?" Xanthos stood up almost immediately, "It's gotten too dark to head back alone." he added, his eyes staring intently at Ava's loose hair, covering her back.

She turned around but before she could answer, she saw something unfamiliar lingering in the eyes looking back at her, something that almost pleaded to her to hold onto him, for a very long time, perhaps for forever.

A warmth spread through Xanthos' body as the woman he adored came closer and wrapped her arms around him, her grip gently narrowed, he didn't hesitate in reciprocating the act, nestling his face in her neck, he breathed into her scent.

A moment of haste, a rupture of emotions, the mesmerising night sky, or perhaps something quietly brewing inside of her, for sometime now; Ava couldn't comprehend which one was it, that made her leap towards the tall man that stood before her, and embrace him in a manner as if promising the world to him.