𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞 ⟪♥︎⟫ Elijah Mikaelson

III

Her hands trembled as she adjusted the bun she'd recreated from a picture on her Pinterest page, her breath hitching in her throat as the arrow on the clock started getting closer and closer to the eight. The pale pink shiny dress hadn't left her closet in years, for a very long time she'd thought it never would. But there she stood, flinching as the bell of her apartment started chiming.

The palms of her hands sweaty, nails slowly digging in her skin as she clenched her hands. Why had she even agreed to do this? Dates had never really been her thing, or more specifically dates with strangers. Daniel had once set her up on a blind date, which had turned out to be an utter disaster. Ever since she'd had a trauma to anything similar.

But as she opened the door all her fears washed away. There he stood, dressed in a suit that was worth more than all the clothes she owned together, warm chocolate brown eyes calming her nerves. And a beautiful bouquet of red roses in his hand.

'You shouldn't have.'

'You're right,' he told her as he slowly stepped forward, 'I should have picked a less cliche flower, but I'm afraid you've never told me which ones you like best and I thought that this would be the safest choice.'

She flushed a bright red as she took the flowers into her hands, 'I'll just put them in a vase, come in.'

She cut the ends of the stems off and grabbed a vase, filling it with water. Noticing that her hands were no longer shaking.

'I should've told you when you opened the door, but you look absolutely magnificent.'

'You shower everyone with so many compliments?' she snapped sharply. And as she saw the confusion fill his eyes, regret seeped into her stomach. 'I'm sorry, I just... I'm not used to people being so... flattering.'

She watched as Elijah took the flowers out of her hands and put them in the vase. His hand softly placed on hers as he turned back to her, 'Then I will do my best to make sure you get used to them.'

Heat rose to her cheeks again and her gaze lowered to her hands, 'You know, you are way too romantic and... handsome.' She turned away from him, a cough leaving her lips before she continued, 'Are you sure you're real? Or you have some really dark secret-' she stilled, 'wait, you don't have like a furry fetish or something right? Because that would be something I'm really not into.'

He coughed loudly, 'A what?

'Oh come on, don't pretend like you don't know.'

'No... I- I know the meaning of the word fetish, but I can't grasp what the word furry should do in front of that.'

She could see the awkward conversation developing and squeezed her eyes shut, 'You know, I think it's better that you don't know.'

Elijah smiled kindly at the woman, whom had used a term he had no clue off, although he was pretty sure it had something to do with sex. Having spent so much time daggered in a coffin, it was no surprise he still found words he didn't understand. And he silently cursed his brother Niklaus in his head as he looked at Leah. 'Very well, leave me in oblivion, I trust your judgement.'