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[Seven]

.:Chapter Seven - Pretty Brown Eyes:.

Milena's POV.

Flashback

"Mummy?" I asked my mother as she plaited my hair.

"Yes darls?"

"What's love?" The question made her stop for a minute, leaving a blank look on her face.

"Love?" She said shakily, as if the word was a great burden on her, a huge weight on her chest making her not able to breathe properly.

"Yeah, love. It's only that I was skipping the other day with Thaise and Maria and the other boys came up to us and they took our skipping rope and cut it in two and told us that we shouldn't be skipping because we should be in the kitchen, cooking, and then they said to me that I should cook for Lucas because he loves me and I love him but I don't, mummy, I don't." I cried in exasperation, all my words jumbling up and coming out as one big noise.

Silence filled the room like a poisonous gas. My mother finished plaiting my hair, noticeably taking her time. Seconds turned into minutes and by the time she was done, I was infuriated that she wasn't saying anything to comfort me in my moment of trouble.

She slowly got up off the bed and came to crouch down in front of me. Sighing, she said "I'll call their mothers in the morning, okay? Now night night, sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite." and with that she turned off the light and closed the door, leaving me with nothing but unanswered questions.
Flashback Over.

What five-year-old Milena didn't realise, however, was that my mother didn't need to say anything to answer my question. The blank look, shaky voice and silence were all an explanation on their own. Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are so entwined together that it is impossible that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. It's a strength and a weakness. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the proclamation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second, every minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. That is just being "in love", which anyone can do. Love is a sensation that spreads through your body, that makes you see the world more positively than normal. You feel like you're glowing whenever you think about what has triggered your love, and in that moment nothing else matters. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away.

What I later came to understand was that I did love Lucas Montiero, despite my cries otherwise. But he changed. He was no longer the sweet charmer who visited me everyday with roses or chocolate (sweeties for his sweetie as he liked to call it). He had become a controlling monster and expected me to be okay with him hooking up with other girls, eventually breaking up with me when I said I'd had enough and wanted him to choose between me and his partying lifestyle. But, of course, he kicked me to the curb, leaving me in the ruins of what used to be.

The song was, in a way, for him. Not him as a person, but the memories we created together. Woah, I just realised I pulled a Taylor Swift.

After the song, I went on the hunt for Claudia seeing as I didn't know anyone else here. I made my way through the groups of chattering people with the usual "excuse me's", "sorry's" and "coming through's" and they parted like the sea, some congratulating me on my performance.

Finally spotting Claudia near the bar talking to a man wearing a black three-piece suit without a blazer, I skipped up to her and lightly tugged on her ponytail, indicating my presence. When she turned around to face me, I got a glimpse of who she was talking to and, boy, was I surprised.