No Angels

.chapter twenty-four.

"Wow."

I kicked a book aside and stepped into the hall, scratching the back of my head.

"It's...messier than I remember," Ravi said awkwardly, flicking a sock off the sofa and sitting down.

I shrugged and started picking up all the debris off the floor.

"I'd been...busy," I said, dumping everything into the trash.

Ravi looked at me, his eyes flashing. Then, he stood up and walked over to the piano.

"I see you've fixed this," he remarked, running his fingers along the keys. They chimed perfectly.

"Not all of it yet."

Ravi played a few notes, letting them linger in the air.

"It's enough," he said.

He sat down and began to play.

I sat next to him and watched his fingers fly across the keys. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was crying.

Ravi played for about three minutes, then the song ended, soft and sweet.

He was staring at something on the ground.

He picked it up, and I saw that it was the Polaroid that I'd taken of us at the Han River.

The one he'd scribbled on.

"You're not going to - disappear again, are you?" I asked, my voice hitching in my throat.

Ravi looked at me, then held the Polaroid out.

"Did you look at the back?" He asked.

I frowned at him, then flipped the Polaroid over.

In the same, messy scrawl he'd used to write our names, he'd written the words "Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur".

I touched the words, wondering why I hadn't bothered to check the back of the Polaroid.

"What do they mean?"

Ravi smiled. "We choose to love; we do not choose to cease loving. I've never stopped loving you, Leo."

I swallowed.

He'd confessed to me right there, so many days before I'd decided to tell him how I felt, and I hadn't noticed.

"I'm not going anywhere," Ravi said, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

I stared at him intensely, and he flushed.

Ever since he became human, he'd gotten more sensitive - more in touch with his emotions.

It was amusing, seeing him get all hot and bothered.

"So, what's on tonight?" He asked awkwardly, gesturing towards the TV. "Any reruns of Desperate Housewives?"

I shrugged.

Ravi got up and scooped the remote off from the floor and began flipping through the different channels.

I watched him - rather, I was ogling at his back.

I'd always known that Ravi was incredibly gifted with a perfect body, but four months after not seeing him had made me more...attuned to any changes.

While he seemed more human and more gentle, his shoulders hadn't changed.

I watched him bend slightly forward, deeply immersed in an American drama, and my eyes found their way to his pale neck.