"I'm engaged to Jane," Harry spoke, not with happiness or excitement.
"If I ever get to be engaged to her, I will probably stop breathing!" is what he said a month ago, smiling creepily with that handsome face, imagining his wedding with his crush. Now all that's left is an empty expression worn to please everyone around.
"How did that happen?" I asked.
"After you left, Lia, my father called me in. My brother has come up with some shocking news," Harry spoke while his eyes wandered off to Jane, who kept drinking with Den and Sara.
"You can drop her off. She looks drunk; I will take a cab," I suggested.
"Oh, sorry. I just want to have a proper conversation with her. Where was I?" Harry pressed his hand against his neck and sighed.
"Your brother," I answered, feeling the breeze.
"Right, that asshole got one of his girlfriends pregnant. Jane's dad got to know, and he was furious. Jane was looking happy for a split second, and then my dad interfered and brought me up as a suitor. He even promised to make shares of the company in my name to make up for what I lack. That was embarrassing." Harry looked down with disappointment.
"Didn't Jane oppose it?" I asked.
"We both got scolded and blackmailed. Actually, I made everything worse by interfering. They even fixed our wedding date before my brother's," Harry spoke.
"Why is she listening to her dad so well? Will she ask you to stop it?" I asked, finding it complicated to understand.
"I don't know if she will run away or ask me to break it off. But I do know why she might agree. She is funding an orphanage and looking after it closely; her dad will take away her rights to interfere, stop funding it, and stop her from visiting her dying mom," Harry spoke, hitting his head.
"Wow, definition of a villain," I replied.
"Yeah, even if I break it off, she will be married off to my cousin, who is worse than my brother. Ugh, I'm getting shivers just by thinking about him." Harry shivered.
"How are you a normal guy?" I asked with curiosity, comparing him to his family.
"I did have a bad guy phase in high school, until I fell in love, and none of those things mattered. I wish I could at least go back a month ago, when I just knew my brother was trash and Jane didn't like this marriage. Now that I've watched her closely, falling for another man, it just hurts to see her trapped. Should I just suggest an open relationship so that she can date anyone she wants?" Harry turned towards me with a stupid idea. I stared for a long time.
"She might already think you are trash, and you suggesting things like this will only make her hate you more," I replied, my head exploding.
"She's different, isn't she? She's sad because of her dad, who is trash, while we drown in sadness because of our own hearts," Harry spoke with little tears in his eyes.
"Well, hurry and finish talking to her before she passes out." I walked away after patting his shoulder, eyes fixed on the road ahead. Wanting to unpack it all, I didn't think tonight would be this heavy; I would have skipped the party.
Harry went to Lia. She took off her heels as she stumbled forward and backward, the whole crew reacting to the drunk princess. One face was missing—her secret lover, Vick. I wonder, does Lia still love him?
What was he going on about?
"Hey, I am not done talking," Vick spoke, standing at the exit, his eyes blood red, his expression nothing less than art. His long eyelashes dripped tears. It makes my heart race whenever I see him make an expression I have never seen before. But I need to snap back before I'm pulled into his curse.
"Can we just move on? I don't want to have this conversation now," I spoke.
"No, I want to talk now," Vick replied sternly, his face one step away from breaking point.
"Listen, it's already past eleven. Let's talk first thing tomorrow," I lied. The first thing I will do tomorrow is submit a resignation letter before anyone comes and then get a new job, even if it means emptying all my savings.
"Then take me home." Vick stepped forward, his messy hair somehow looking perfectly placed.
"Are you kidding me? No," I spoke, staring at him while my mind was filled with thoughts about him.
"I don't want you to disappear again," Vick said, looking into my eyes as if he could read my mind.
"Alright," I said and called a cab.
The first time I ever kissed someone wasn't exactly special; it was a desperate attempt to drown in my sorrows—making myself hurt more to distract from what I was really sad about. The overwhelming sadness and the comfort in the arms of a predator. Did I feel good? No, but I did it anyway. The high expectation of a first romantic kiss had turned into a swamp of ugly memory, painted with fireproof dishonesty.
The first kiss with Vick made me imagine it would be better than I ever imagined; that spike in happiness soon took a downturn. And I was so sure such a kiss would never happen again, not even with him. I was walking on shattered glass everywhere I went, reflecting my emotions to the deepest, darkest parts. Can I ever be back to my old self?
I don't know, but I surely cannot refuse his lips on mine.
His eyes now looked blood red, tears still dripping from his eyelashes, the smell of cinnamon, and cold hands wrapped around my face and waist. He kissed me again, pushing me little by little towards the wall. I held his wrist; he loosened his grip, a small pause breaking the momentum. I stood there, looking into his eyes, sparkling in the dim light.
"I love you. That afternoon when we stayed back to back, I felt calm, and I felt something I had never felt before. I wanted that moment to last forever. Labelling it as love didn't make sense—it wasn't the first time I had seen you, we never had a proper conversation, I didn't know your personality, but I didn't want to be apart. And the strange feeling of happiness would make me go crazy," Vick smiled a little, tears dried on his cheek.
"I didn't know I wanted more than that until I touched you accidentally in my car, knowing you would be leaving any moment and knowing I had tied myself to a marriage. I didn't know everything I carried felt so heavy. After that kiss, knowing you wanted me too—everything I had felt wasn't one-sided. Going back to the life I had lived so far hurt so much. I lost control; there was no perfect Vick left, only the guy who was broken. And by the time you appeared, I felt I didn't deserve you." Vick's face dropped again; it was too many emotions to process.
"I want you to give me a chance to be your Vick. I will never disappoint you again. No family, no friend, no past is going to change the fact that I have loved you and will continue to love you until my last breath. Please accept my love... If I'm still suffocating you, I'll leave." Vick's words stopped as I reached out to stop him; we started to kiss.
My heart still hurts. I don't know what's true, but all I know is right now I don't want him to stop being my Vick.
- Lia