Italia

19.

Shaded, the lungs within expanded whilst intaking the breathless touch of the wind that hovers in this space. Earthy soil aroma brushes across my nostrils as I dug my hands into the small hole of the broken old pot, carefully extracting the rose from there along with most of it's soil towards the new pot that Sebastian has provided.

"Not bad." He smiled down at me; his hands, which had on dirty gloves, were folded across his large chest. His current movement shuffled the white t-shit he donned. It outlined his pecs, which flexed right in my line of view, and I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth from the heated blush that travelled up to my cheeks.

"I think I did pretty well for my first time." I shrugged and slipped off the gloves from my hands and handed them over to him.

We were currently on his balcony. It was filled with various flowers. Some yellow, some blue, some white—all in all, it was freaking astounding. His little personal garden. Royal blue and white roses lined the outside wall of his room; they ran across the slide doors dominantly, which displayed an artistic design that left me—sighing.

I felt it. It's soft orange-golden stimulation kisses softly at the corner of my eyes. My hands automatically reacted on their own towards my cheeks as I turned towards the sunset. I leaned my cheek on my left fist, my eyes staring out at the sun that had settled on the horizon.

The dark blue water from the ocean harmonized a soft hum against the shore; its saltiness rolled into the sunset air and sank on the tip of my tongue. I shivered at the calmness. Loud footsteps fell behind me; his scent, although it was an odd combination, ties in well with the salt air, I moaned softly.

"Wanna talk about what had you so down earlier?" He stood beside me; his gaze was locked on the horizon; the soft stimulation from the sunset met his irises and ignited a glimmer of ice and gray. It melt. Not in the context of fire against ice, but it melts my freaking heart.

They shifted over to me; my lips parted. Like clockwise, they motioned deeply around my facial structure, taking everything that I didn't give, and I felt the pulse in my neck hum at a pace ever so swiftly.

"I felt like I let myself down." He locked me in. His undivided attention, his irises so set that I lost myself in them.

"I was thinking about the past experiences that I had with my son and how..." I smoothed my hair behind my ear, and my eyes now tilted towards the sunset, the skies darkening a bit as the minutes transition.

The corner of my lips tilted up a bit as multiple birds squawked and flew down to touch against the rippling surface of the water.

Their freedom in tact, I felt my fingers reaching out to catch the same freedom, but... I wished I had wings like a dove.

"Everything would be so damn easy if that night didn't happen." A soft prick sounded beside me, and I turned my attention to see that the doctor had picked a stem of a pink rose from the rose tree; it's petal was so soft that it came off easily the moment he extracted it from the flower.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault, Lia." I watched as he lifted his hand and cupped the side of my face, his thumb brushing against my cheek. My head drifted back as he positioned the rose behind my ear after removing the thorns.

"Take the rose, for example; it naturally comes with thorns, sì? Does this hinder it's soothing aroma and beauty?" He smelled like dirt and nature; I inhaled sharply, and my heart thumped as his eyes sank into mine.

The skies shifted darker, the air windy and cold. I parted my lips as my skin erected goosebumps. His thumb traced the outline of my cheek and I whispered.

"No."

And lower it went, his voice drifted lower and deeper. "Then take after the rose, darling. No matter how shitty life gets, do not give it another reason to break you."

He poked his cheek with his tongue. He withdrew a petal from the rose behind my ear, and as close as he got, he stepped into my personal space, our chests touching.

Sebastian turned my head to the side and allowed the wind to take away the rose petal and with my eyes locked on the flying petal, he shifted his lips to my ears and whispered.

"Break free from the pain and fly, for peace is within every heartache."

Tears gathered at my eyes. I forced myself to keep them down. In front of a man, should I show weakness?

These tears were between me and my pillow. If my pillow could speak it would tell you how I weep.

The petal, though it was confined to a stem before, flowed so beautifully careless across the atmosphere. I grudge it's audacity. I wanted that too.

"And within every heartache, there is still someone for you to lean on.... Why won't you lean on me?" I cast my eyes from the petal and met his.

His lips were just a few meters away from mine; his hips pinned me into the balustrade that was covered thickly with flowers behind me.

"Because its not your burden to bear, and plus we've only known each other for two days. For all I know, you're still considered a stranger to me." I whispered yet he, stubbornly, slanted his gaze.

"A stranger who cares the fuck about you, Lia. The fact that I share my journal with you shows that I need and am rooting for you to win." His jaw sharpens, but his gaze—his gaze was so soft that it showed me that he meant every damn utterance.

"I was once in your shoes, and I just don't want to see you break yourself to the point where you find yourself too far gone where peace cannot save you."

My shoulders dropped as he spat the truth, and just as I parted my lips to speak, I looked to the sky as the thunder rumbled across the dark region. Night took its course then, and a soft patter of rain fell on my arm.