Impassive

12| Rather

She was unhappy, though not as much as she had been before.

AVA

Matteo looked at me with a gaze that was difficult to interpret, but he said nothing. Instead, he allowed me to link arms with him, and we continued walking together. The park ahead was vast, filled with wide, winding paths and tall trees that seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky. I had no idea where we were going, but the idea of just walking, without any real plan, was strangely freeing.

As we stepped onto the soft dirt path, the sounds of the city faded away. It was quieter here—just the gentle rustling of leaves and the distant sound of birds singing. I took another breath, feeling the peacefulness start to sink in. "I'm sorry. Sometimes it's hard for me to judge what I say," I apologized, hoping he would understand what I meant by that.

Matteo paused for a moment, looking at me, his eyes fixed on mine as though weighing what to say. I wondered if he truly understood me, or if his thoughts were somewhere else. There was this kind of silence that hung in the air, as though we were both searching for the right words.

"It's not a problem," he said after a moment, his voice calm, but with a hint of understanding that surprised me. "But it's good that you say it, even if I don't always understand you." He continued walking slowly down the path, his footsteps sinking into the soft earth.

A light breeze stirred the trees, causing the leaves to rustle softly as we walked on. It was a moment that felt so ordinary, yet somehow special. The world seemed to stand still as I tried to process the meaning of his words. I wanted to say more, perhaps add something else, but in that moment, it was enough just to walk and know that I wasn't alone. "Do you think its strange between us?"

Matteo laughed, and I couldn't help but smile at the sound. There was something about it—light, almost musical—that made the air feel warmer, more familiar. It was strange to hear him laugh, though. He wasn't someone who did it often, and perhaps that was why it was so striking when he did. "Not weird," he said, "but definitely unexpected. You are... unpredictable, mostly in the best sense of the word, and I'll need some time to get used to that."

His words hung in the air for a moment, and I found myself reflecting on them. Unpredictable. Was that how he saw me? I had always felt that way about myself, always a step out of sync with the world around me, but to hear it from him made me think. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. "I don't mind that," I said. "I don't really know how to be anything else."

Matteo didn't respond right away, and for a while, we continued walking in comfortable silence, the only sounds now being our footsteps and the soft wind rustling through the trees. It was a silence that wasn't awkward, but rather peaceful, like two people simply existing in the same space without needing to fill it with constant, mostly from my side since I regained my speech abilitis back, chatter.

As we reached a small clearing in the park, I noticed a bench under a large oak tree. The bench was worn, its wood weathered by years of use, but it looked inviting. Matteo gestured toward it with a slight nod. "Do you want to sit for a while?" he asked.

I nodded, and we walked over to the bench. He sat first, and I followed, sitting beside him. For a while, neither of us said anything. We simply watched the sunlight filtering through the leaves above, casting dappled shadows on the ground. It felt like a perfect moment, the kind you didn't want to ruin with unnecessary words. "Why only mostly?"

He seemed to pause for a moment, as if trying to place which topic I was referring to, then shook his head with a small smile. "What do you mean?" he asked, though there was a hint of curiosity in his voice.