Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent

CHAPTER 58: Sins

CHAPTER 58: SINS

Come, sin with me.

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Acedia (apathy) – the absence of love

For Kaoru Saori, Crosse Williams' face, though filled with melancholy, had always been a spectacle to behold – a countenance too faultless if not for his woeful soul slowly poisoned by despair. She continued to stare at him as he slept peacefully beside her like a little boy swung on a wooden cradle. Saori could not hold back the soft sigh that escaped her pink lips.

Who would not fall in love with a man so beautiful?

But Crosse was also human like her. He was a man with fists so strong but with a heart so fragile. Slowly, Saori reached for his face to fix the strands of his rumpled blond hair. She wiped the sweat rolling down his neck using the back of her palm. She felt solace in sensing his overwhelming presence – the scent of his cologne, the taste of tobacco on his thin lips, his damp skin against her nakedness like a blanket of comfort that warmed her soul.

A soft sigh escaped Saori's lips as she watched him open his eyes.

"You're awake…" she whispered.

Crosse did not turn to meet her gaze. Instead, he looked up to the bottle-chandelier on the ceiling and uttered those words he said from the previous night –

"You're ceiling is boring."

"At least mine's bigger than yours," Saori's reply was both clever and redolent. "Did you sleep well?"

Crosse returned her question. "Did you?"

Saori shook her head, "I was awake the whole night watching you sleep. Before I knew it, it's morning..."

Her words made him turn to her direction instinctively. Then, he found himself staring at Saori's eyes that were too honest in spite of her untruthful actions, pretenses, and lies. Distracted, Crosse turned away. He rolled to his side, his broad back facing her, "Are you happy?"

"I'm happy, Crosse-kun…" Saori smiled. "I'm very happy because you're here."

"Because you want to be with me?"

"Yes," she replied automatically. "I want to be with you."

She was surprised when all of a sudden, Crosse burst out in sarcastic laughter, "Hahaha!"

Saori looked at him quizzically, "Was there something funny about what I just said?"

"You're happy because you got what you want," Crosse pulled himself up to sit on the bed. He bent down to pick up his white polo sprawled on the floor. "Happiness is the new term for selfishness."

"Crosse…"

She tried to reach for him, but just before her fingers could land on his back, Crosse spoke coldly, "Don't touch me."

"But… Crosse…" Saori persisted.

"I said don't touch me," Crosse buttoned up his polo. "Didn't you already get enough?"

"It's… it's not like that," Saori pulled up the sheets and wrapped it around her body.

"Then you don't need me anymore," Crosse stood up to put on his loose-fitting pants, zipping it up and buckling his belt around his lean waist. "And I don't need you either."

"Crosse, please don't be like this…"

"But who knows? Tonight, I may be in the mood to fool around again. So what about it?" Crosse looked towards her with an empty gaze. "I'll just call you."