She was the girl who was afraid of love. Terrified of it. It isn't permanent, she believed, it leaves you and it leaves you broken.
He was the boy who desperately needed it. Love--the only thing that could've rooted him to this world.
Ophelia and...
"love me until we both ache no more, but burn from within."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You guys really didn't have to do that." I still couldn't keep the stupid, happy smile off my face, even if I was standing here now, inside Alastair's cosy little apartment.
When I had said my goodbyes to all my friends and everyone who had been a part of that little surprise, Alastair didn't really take me home, but to his instead. Not that I was complaining.
"What are we doing here though?" I asked him, leaning back against the kitchen counter as I let everything settle in once again.
"Obviously, not here to sleep." He passed me a cheeky grin as he closed the front door. "Although I suppose we can come to that too."
I laughed a little tiredly. I wasn't as exhausted as before, not when I was still pumped up with adrenaline. But only one hour of sleep wasn't gonna keep me up forever.
"Can't. As much as I want to." I felt my face heating up a little when Alastair glanced at me with a raised brow, especially at the second part of what I said. It just slipped out. "I mean...Mum...asked me to be back for dinner. Mum does that on each of our birthdays and well, I can't really ditch her plans. Would be weird."
He smiled. "I know. Your mom asked me to bring you back by evening."
I nodded, relieved that he seemed to understand. But then he started walking towards me and I pressed back against the counter a little.
"But I've still got something left to show you." He added.
Oh. "Still?" I had to crane up my neck to look at him when he leaned over to pick something up from behind me, his arm brushing against my side.
"Yeah." His eyes seemed to be smiling too as he pulled back a little. My eyes trailed down to his hand and noticed a small white box, almost a little bigger than my palm.
I looked up at him cluelessly.
"Come on." I couldn't look away from the beautiful grey in his eyes. "Open it up."
With a little bit of hesitation, I took the box from him in both of my hands, my curiosity peaking up. Then I slowly opened it, only to gasp when I saw what was inside it. "You did not."
"I think I did." He was smiling. I was smiling too, but more so in disbelief.
A small huff, that sounded more like a laugh, escaped my parted lips as I took out the delicate silver chain from the box. I held it a little too gingerly, my gaze fixated at the silver pendant. It spelt my name. Ophelia. And right beside it was a flower engraved into the silver.
"Oh, Alas," my voice fell down to a tiny whisper when I almost immediately recognised the flower. It was a hawthorn.
I glanced up at him and I think my eyes filled up with tears. "You...you didn't have to," I added.
