The Second Choice | COMPLETED

Chapter 7

"Do you?" Her eyes darkened to a shade away from black. My eyes widened.

"W-what are you saying?" I stammered. The fingers gripping onto the sheets tightened. I felt my nail slice a hole through the thin cotton fabric. Then, as quickly as a moon disappears behind a cloud, her eyes brightened again.

"Nothing, love, I was just joking." She beamed at me. I was sure my face was still pale, drained of colour but I pushed a smile onto my lips, curving upwards. That was strange. She'd never acted as... Dark, as that. My hands inched slowly away from the sheets to grasp hers. She smiled and laced her delicate fingers between mine. Slowly, she crawled next to me, resting her head on shoulder. My thoughts wandered once more.

Slowly, I opened the door, leading to my room. I was conscious of the girl following me, the humble girl who only wanted to see me happy. I grasped onto the small card in my hand. The small yet enormous gesture from the kind woman behind me. It was a simple card, a white sheet of paper decorated with delicate drawings of roses, folded in half, and written in her beautiful script inside were three words. "Hope everything's okay." I squeezed her hand gently before stepping inside, pulling her through the threshold of my room. I folded my hands behind my back, still holding on to the card.
"Well, it's my room. Nothing special." I chuckled awkwardly, nervousness filling my voice. There was a moment of silence.
"You're nervous. You needn't be." Her voice said softly. I half smiled at her. My room wasn't all that special, really. Being a prince, you'd expect gold and silver, riches, everywhere. It was quite dark at the moment, especially since the velvet curtains were drawn shut. But my room was quite big in size. There was a dark wood grain floor and a huge fireplace. There was a shelve filled with my books and a glass case where stood my guns. Hunting was a passion. And then, there was my collage. I had oh so carefully placed each and every picture on this one wall, so that at least a little bit of each image surfaced. It was massive. Kriss smiled at me.
"Your room is lovely." She then noticed the little stereo.
"Shall we?" I asked, holding out my hand.
"Oh, we shall." Kriss beamed, accepting the offer and my hand. I wrapped my arm around her waist, smoothly flipping on the music, effectively at that as slow waltz music began to play. I felt awkward. My hands enveloped hers but she didn't seem to mind. We danced around my room. She stepped on my foot once but I stepped on hers thrice. By accident, of course. We fell backwards onto my bed, laughing. Our faces were red and our breaths identically laboured. She turned over to face me.
"You know, you're pretty fun to hang around."  That's when I realized that I liked Kriss. I could be myself around her. She wasn't America but I wasn't one to compare like that. I liked her soft brown hair. I liked her slender fingers. I liked her warm eyes and smile. I liked Kriss. Realization flooded through my body, lighting up the tips of my fingers. I leaned in slightly and immediately she stiffened.
"Please. You're a great person and I genuinely like you. But I'd like to wait before we go too far." She said softly, her brown eyes filling with vulnerability. 
"Of course." I nodded slowly, taking her smaller hand inside mine.
"Thank you." Her voice remained quiet and timid for the moment. Then she brightened up and smiled.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?" I asked confusedly.
"Somewhere out there." Her eyes twinkled mischievously.
"O-okay." I smiled as I stood up, hand in hand with her.

And then, just like that, the memory was gone. Poof. Disappeared. I sighed wearily, resting my head upon her soft galore of chocolate locks.

"Maxon?" Her delicate voice quivered slightly.

"Yes, my love?"

"I have a question." She said softly.

"Ask away."

"During the selection... No... I mean, right now. Do you ever regret choosing me? Regret marrying me? Regret loving me?" Her questions stunned me into silence.

"Maxon?" She asked again, fear tinting her voice.

"No. No." I shook my head vigorously.

"Do you still love America?" I noticed a tear fall down into her hands.

"What? America? Where is she even, these days? Probably a professional violinist, she was always very good at that." I rambled, flustered beyond control.

"Yes, she was. I wish I had talent like her." She murmured wistfully, her deep brown eyes filling with longing. I knew she wanted me to tell her that she did have talent. And I wanted to. I just didn't know what to say. Did Kriss have a specific talent? I don't know. I mean, she's caring and loving. She's gorgeous. She's loyal. Unlike America. America had betrayed me for Aspen. Once again, my thoughts went off trail. Could it be possible that America wouldn't be here now, wouldn't be working her undercover at the moment, if Aspen was still alive? I don't know. I don't intend to find out. Because America loved me and I loved her.

•••

As I gazed down at the sleeping woman, resting on my shoulder, I sighed, curling a tendril of hair behind her ear, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple.

"Sleep well, darling." I whispered into her ear. Her eyes fluttered up towards me. She smiled.

"Goodnight, Maxon." Then her blue eyes disappeared behind her eyelids.

HELLO READERS!
SORRY FOR THE SLOW UPDATE
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OKAY WELP IM OFF TO MORE WRITING
STAY FAB,
Val