ELIZA

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT: SENTENCE

Cosmo didn't look surprised. Nor was he depressed or angry, frustrated or distraught. His expression suggested that he expected this result. He is going to spend two years in prison and I had the impression that it rolled off him like water off a duck's back.

The witnesses, the people present in the courtroom, even the prosecutor and the judge began to get up their seats. Only I didn't move. If only I could come to Cosmo... He spoke to the defender, nodding fervently.

"Eliza, come on," I heard Camila, who was pulling my sleeve.

My sister and Leon participated in every trial, although they were interrogated only at the first one.

But I was still sitting like a log. I stayed where I was, analyzing the situation.

Two years. Two years are seven hundred and thirty days, seventeen thousand five hundred and twenty hours, one million fifty-one thousand two hundred minutes, and sixty-three million seventy-two thousand seconds.

Two years. That's enough time for everything to change. Cosmo can forget about me, and I can forget about him. Two years ago, I didn't dream of a romantic relationship with anyone, I didn't even know anyone I wanted to be with. Two years ago I didn't know either Tom or Cosmo. I was just an ordinary medical student.

The police officers approached Cosmo.

They'll take him outside any minute and our contact will be gone for two years, I thought. I got a restraining order even though I didn't apply for one. So they won't let me visit him in prison.

It was my only chance. We could only exchange a few words.

I left Camila.

"Eliza!" she hissed in fear, but I was already running towards Cosmo.

"I'm sorry," I groaned when he was close enough to hear me.

I apologized to him for getting into trouble with the law because of me... And for not being able to get him out of it. Many things could have been changed, done differently or simply better planned. If only we could talk. Five, maybe ten minutes. Those few minutes could decide our future.

My pitiful gaze must have touched him. In his eyes, I saw something I had never seen before. Comfort.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. It's me," he said quietly. The police began to push him towards the exit, but he resisted. "Eliza..." he hesitated. Black eyes looked at me hopefully. "Will you wait?" he asked finally.

I thought for a few seconds before I replied. I guess I wasn't expecting such question. I didn't want to lie because I knew how the law works. I knew that even if he was released after two years, the restraining order would still be valid. Probably only then will we be able to start the process of undermining, invalidating or abolishing it.

On the other hand, I wanted to look at it a bit as if my beloved was going to the army and I had to wait for him.

"Seven hundred and thirty days," I answered finally, following him like a shadow, though the police officers began to distance me from him exactly as they did at the airport. "Not a day more. I'll wait," I promised.