SPEAK UP

"You know, I've never met anyone like you." He eyes me up curiously, and I gulp. I've never seen anyone look at me so intently.

When he's done scanning, his gaze fixates directly on my eyes, I try to hold his stare, but those eyes are too intense. I get lost in the green sea. I gulp again, trying to sound confident.

"Like what?" He narrows his eyes; a chuckle escapes those plump lips.

"You... you say whatever is on your mind. All the time." I have a million responses. A million things I could say back.

Why don't you? Comes first.

I want to tell him how wrong he is, but ironically I stay quiet.

"It's refreshing." He adds. He takes a sip out of his cup; I watch intently the whole time. I don't think I've ever been so jealous of an inanimate object before.

"You don't." I don't know where that came from. I regret it immediately, but I can't take it back.

"Doesn't mean I don't have things to say."

"So why don't you... I don't know ... speak up?" His face changes, his smile less playful. And if I wasn't so in tuned with the way his face looked all the time, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. But once it was gone, it burned in my brain. Even when he tried to hide it, I saw that look.

Fear.

...
Peter Sylvio is the vice-president of a multi-million dollar structural engineering firm. He is successful, gorgeous and besides his breathtaking green eyes, there is one thing that everyone notices about him; the fact that he's incredibly quiet.

When Maria meets Peter her life flips upside down. Piece by piece they break down each others walls, but Peter is hiding something big, if only he'd just speak up.