The Best Man's Speech

14: Knowing More

A/N: Sorry, here's a late Monday update. My WiFi broke on Monday so was not able to post and I was working on Tuesday. Enjoy the update though.

✵ LYRA ✵

"You have a tattoo on your left pack." I announced, while tracing lazy circles over it. The ink formed itself into a dark anchor with a pale snake twisted around it, the head gazing down on the rest of the anchor that hung below it.

"Oh yeah, that." He casually dismissed.

"Does it mean anything to you?" I asked, wrapping one of my arms around his neck, and fiddling with his hair with the other hand.

"This is not the average conversation I have with someone after sex." He said, moving his body to make himself comfortable, while hovering over me.

"Is that bad?" I asked him, looking into his dark blue eyes that looked slightly purple to me. He shook his head in response before planting a kiss on my nose and talking again, "The tattoo is meant to represent my family."

I tried not to laugh at the fact that there was a snake on the masterpiece that froze on him.

"The anchor is my mom, the only reason I still communicate with my dad when I need to. And he's the snake... pretty much for ruining our family and feeding off of her. The projects he had presented to the public was all my mother's ideas. And while she was too busy raising me, staying loyal to him and helping him, he decided to have an affair. That insane bitch he was seeing had shown up to my parent's house. It was on my twelfth birthday. She was sleeping with my dad and my mom saw that. But I was downstairs, so she decided to walk out of the marriage. Putting us both in the car that drove her to her death and me to being the child my dad hates for losing my mother." He explained, sadly. I bit my lip when the story was narrated, trying to make eye contact with him but only failing since he was avoiding it.

"I am sorry." I finally said, "I'll stop asking." He shook his head in response, "That's the saddest tattoo here. The rest come with stories that I can tell." He wore a sad smile on his face.

"Is that why that tattoo is there? Over your heart? Because your family means a lot to you... even though you want to run from them?"

He nodded. And I sighed before pushing him off of me so that I could sit up straight, making him sit up straight too. "Do you have any tattoos?" He asked me.

I nodded, "You probably missed it. I have an elephant on my ankle." I crossed my legs in front of myself to show him the tattoo.

"I definitely missed it. It's cute. Does it mean anything to you?" He asked me, after complimenting it.

"They were once my favourite animal... now I prefer tigers more. I got it when I turned 14... my first tattoo. I got it with my twin, Michael, and we were being supervised by our older brother, Derin. It was a day after our 14th birthday. A gift from the two of them and a way to make me happier, after my mother had declared her hatred for me and preference for my sister." I explained to him, "I guess I bought it to remind myself of how innocent and fragile I was that day. Kind of like to remember my past and my core."

"Why is she like that?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows as if he had something against her, "Why does she treat you like that? Does she hate you?"

"Because I was always growing up like Michael. There was a point where my dad and he had complications, and to ease that out, Michael and I would always stay around each other, and I would force him to get along with dad. And since I was his favourite daughter, I used to get away with doing a lot of things that I was told not to - I still get away with them thanks to him. And I guess my mom always held it against me for screwing up. Michael managed to straighten out his relationship with our mother, but couldn't fix hers with me. It could also be because I was never obedient or respectful to her from when I was younger... since she wanted to raise me like I was a fragile flower, but I kept running off with Michael."

We both fell into a haze of silence until I spoke, "Got another tattoo?"

He nodded, showing me his back and tapping on the ink, "A dragon." The grey dragon was faint and not as dark as the anchor on his chest, it hung below his neck and was quite small.

I stared at the small inked image, "What does it mean?"

"To me? It's like a reminder of how I got here. I got this before I started this business... when I was planning for it all to happen. I got it as an inspiration or to motivate myself to be as great as a dragon... I got it while I was in China. I was there to pluck out shareholders and sponsors to help me build this place up." He explained, his voice was filled with pride as he explained to me.

"To be honest, I would've thought this specific tattoo would be bigger on you." I admitted.

"It was meant to be, but I didn't want people to notice it and ask for its meaning." He faced me again, staring at me, "It reminds me of a more vulnerable me. When I had nothing. And I didn't and don't want people to know that."

"Why are you telling me then?" I bit my lip, looking at him.

"Because you are you and I trust you." He smiled warmly, pulling my body close against his. He leaned over my shoulder and I could feel his lips brush past my ear, "I trust you to the point that I've made you the first person, other than myself, to have ever been in here, heck even know of this place."

I bit my lip as he whispered the words to me. He made me feel sensations that I've never felt before... but this kind of sensation was rare and this was the first time I had felt it. My cheeks heated up to a bright red as I watched him pull back from me. He made me feel like I was all his and he was mine. And I know I shouldn't say this, but I think I am falling in love with him.

"Got anymore?" He broke my chain of thoughts, "Tattoos, I mean?" He said, staring at my confused expression.

I nodded, "One more." I smiled before turning my body sideways to reveal a floral design of the crescent moon, with the words que sera sera underneath it.

"God, the guy who put that on you must have enjoyed his time with his new customer." James joked, making me playfully slap him.

"I wore a tank top to ensure that he didn't have too much fun." I chuckled out in response.

"Que sera sera?" He questioned.

"It means 'whatever will be, will be' in Italian. I got it when I was 18 and had no plans for my future. Well I knew I wanted to be successful but that was the same time that my brother took up the family company and I established I wanted something more than my dad's work. I wanted my own thing or to work my way up. But I didn't know what exactly I wanted so continued to work hard in school. I guess I got that as a way of keeping myself calm about it." I told him, watching him nod as he continued to stare at my tattoo.

"I love how yours are simple and elegant." He chuckled.

"I love how yours hold a secret memory that you don't want to forget but also don't want." I told him.

"They're rather dark." He calmly stated before showing his arm to me, "I have one more." I stared at the twinned Ouroboros that snaked each other on his arm. While one was pale and grey, the other was dark and black.

I looked up at him, waiting for an explanation. And I got it, "I got this after my father decided to marry the woman who drove my mother to her death. Which was also around the time that I found my long time girlfriend, from college, cheating on me with another guy from our year. He inherited his father's company and was competing with my business. She was snaking on me and my business deals, to keep his business on top of mine." He said, tracing over the dried art.

"She's a bitch but I am glad she screwed you over." I said, smiling to him. He was taken aback and glared at me in shock, making me speak more, "It lead you to this, and now I have you to myself." I smiled, before sitting myself on his lap and snuggling into his chest. It was then that I regretted what I had just said to him, I had practically declared my love for him and he didn't respond, instead he started to stroke my hair with one hand of his, while the other stayed wrapped around me, steadying me on him.