The Little Rose (VA Fanfic)

Summer without her

DPOV
Every time I saw Rose and André together I hoped it was the last time I saw them as a controversial couple. It was agony to watch her smile and laugh, flirt and kiss. He was a sophomore who knew how to work a crowd and Rose was learning how to fit in with his group. If any of them had plots against her she was winning them over and gaining their friendship and allegiance. He adored her. His eyes lit up around her, at the mention of her name. And I could not stand it. He was wooing her. I had no doubt about that.

Abe rang me a week before the Academy was due to let out for summer. What I heard shocked me.
"Belikov, Rose is spending summer with the Dragomirs and she's requested only Helen go with her. You and Kalle are staying at the Academy while Anton will be coming to Turkey to help me move again."

After we hung up I realised that this was my punishment. She wasn't just simply furious with me for trying to protect her best interests, she was losing her trust in me... or at least, she was determined to make it appear that way. By leaving Kalle, Anton and me behind she was sending me one very pointed and very powerful message. She didn't need me to look after her because she was determined to look after herself. It cut. It ripped a piece of my soul from me. She had become my life, and she didn't give a damn.

"We warned you, Belikov," Anton commented at lunch the second day of summer break. I had no clue where the Dragomirs were taking my Roza. I was clueless as to what she was doing. I was blind as to what she and André were getting up to. I hoped beyond all hope they wouldn't have a summer romance, a holiday fling. I hoped Rose would spend more time around Lissa than Andre. I hoped Eric and Rhea would put an end to them, tell André to have some class and get a girlfriend his own age that was a royal Moroi that could expand the Dragomir line.
"We warned you she would stab you in the back," Kalle agreed.
I held back a scowl. "She's just being a young teenager."
They laughed. "It's not like your own nineteenth is just around the corner, Belikov."
"I've learned my lessons. Right now she doesn't seem to care about her future. At. All," I bit out.
"Is she worth it? She's already wearing you out. Is she still worth it? Can you still take all she can throw at you?"
"She'll always be worth it." That was not something that could be easily changed. Not when I loved her more deeply than I should love a thirteen year old novice, let alone one that was also my charge. I had a duty of care to uphold and keep in tact with her, and she expected me to throw it away and pretend the laws and morals didn't exist for a reason.

It wasn't my place to give into the desire to keep touching her, holding her, the desire to kiss her. By god! I wanted to kiss her. So badly. I wanted to hold her and kiss her so badly it hurt. I wanted to do things no eighteen year old should want to do with a thirteen year old. My control was already tested enough when we were on good terms, but when we weren't I needed all the more control. The more she pushed away the more desperately I wanted to do things and say things to make her understand my love for her.

"But can you survive what she's throwing at you?" If only Kalle knew the extent of my punishment.
I sighed. She really was testing me, but she was worth it. She had to be worth it. So I had to be able to survive her punishments. "Yes."
The other two shook their heads. "I don't know how you can do it."

Time dragged by. I spent many hours working ward shifts or guarding the extra summer classes. Worry gnawed at me. No matter how many shifts I worked or how many hours I worked in the gym none of it distracted me from the worry of what she was up to and the ache of separation from her. Was this pain what I was doomed to always suffer whenever she was out of my reach, literally not figuratively? Because if it was I wasn't sure I could live. In less than a year, Rose Mazur had worked her way into my soul and I felt incomplete without her, unable to breathe not knowing how she was. Even having her around but hating my guts was better than this. This was out of my control, way out of it.

I thanked god when Ivan arrived for the last three weeks of break. I still didn't like how he'd gotten so physically close to Rose, so sexually close to her, made out with her. But right now I needed my best friend even if I held a level of animosity towards him.

"Hey Ivan," I greeted with a level of happiness and relief that took me by surprise.
"Hey Dimitri. How are you and Rose?" he asked while I walked into the guardian lounge with him in tow.
"Don't ask. She's got it in her head that it's perfectly fine to be with her best friend's big brother."
Ivan, to my dismay, shook his head and laughed. "Dimka, you need to relax when it comes to Rose. She's barely thirteen, give her a break."
"I. Can't. Society won't let her live down her actions between now and graduation. She's got to learn to take responsibility for her reputation."
He laughed again while grabbing some of the food on offer. "You're lying. Besides, it's André Dragomir. He's going to realise soon enough that she's only a little sister to him."
I scoffed and grabbed one of the ham sandwiches from the fridge. "You haven't seen the way he looks at her. He's completely besotted. He adores her. Not to mention the scathing way he looks at me. He's got a grudge against me. He's determined to keep her as happy as possible and as far away from me as possible. He collects her from training when she's barely gotten started on the dummies." It was pissing me off to say the least.
"You have to let him look after her, Dimka. You want her happy, don't you?"
"Always. Happy and safe."
"Then let André take care of her. Let them be."
I didn't know if that was ever going to be possible.