unrequited love.

17.

BEAUTIFULLY PERFECT.

norahs eyes flutter open to be faced by an already wide awake eyes admiring her. still too tired, she closed her eyes back. "it's rude to stare," she muses, nuzzling against the pillow.

she could practically see the shit-eating grin on his face. "well, i wouldn't stare if you weren't so adorable when you're sleeping."

"you never stared before," she points out.

he shifts closer to her underneath the sheets. "and how would you know?" he whispers.

she peeks one eye open to see him inches away from her face, his head on her pillow. "excuse you, this is my pillow."

"actually, this is my bed," he reminds, stroking her cheek. "so if i have to share, i'm afraid you do too." her other eye opens only for her to roll them dramatically before flipping to her other side.

not to her surprise, marco wraps his hands around her to tug her closer to him. "how long have you been awake for?"

"thirty minutes," he answers, running a hand through her hair.

her brown eyes widen. "you've been staring at me for thirty minutes?" before he could reply, his phone starts to ring. "shouldn't you get that?" she asks when she noticed he made no effort to move.

"i should, seeing as that was the 30th time its rung this morning, but no," he mutters before nuzzling up closer to her. "your phone has been ringing too." he regrets to inform her, not wanting to move from their current position.

as he expected, norah sits up but he keeps his arms around her. "where's my phone?" she asks, looking around the room that was brightened by the sun illuminating through his windows.

"i'm not saying," he claims, trying to pull her back down. she laughs at his failed attempt as she shoved his arms off her.

"marco, i'm serious. where's my phone?" she smiles, though it was quite conflicting. "it's probably just nessa."

finally, he sits up and leans his chin on her shoulder. "then nessa should learn some patience," he mutters before kissing her shoulder. "my parents and siblings won't be home until later tonight, so why don't we just stay here watch movies all day." he tempts, rubbing her arm.

feeling quite relaxed by his rubs, she hums. "as much as i'd love to, i need to go to nessas. i should tell her the truth about what happened last night." at the mention of last night, marcos flirty smile drops.

he sits up to face her. "so what are you gonna do?"

"what do you mean?"

"i mean, are you gonna file a police report, or--"

norah widens her eyes. "what? no. no way."

"wait, you aren't gonna report him? norah, you have to." the thought of the sick fuck going free for what he had done made marco clench his jaw.

she pulls away from him, removing the covers off her legs. "i don't wanna talk about, can you drop it? i don't want people to know," she pleads, searching the room for her phone.

he quickly gets up from the bed and follows her. "no, norah, no, i can't drop it." she grabs her jeans that was set on his desk chair, hoping to find her phone in the pockets. she exhales when she felt him approach her.

she sharply turns around. "i said i don't wanna talk about it. drop it, marco."

he grabs her waist, pulling her into the bathroom. he flips on the lights, turning her to face the mirror. "norah, look." he urges, gently uncovering the marks under her hair. "that bastard did that to you, and he can't get away with it." noticing her discomfort with the image staring back at her, he quickly puts her hair back in place.