OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

042. My Favorite Place

It's 3 a.m. when I knock on Rosaleen's door.

She answers it almost immediately. "Dex?"

I smile a bit. Tam and I talked for hours, mostly about how life was back at home, but I still don't feel like sleeping. "Are Glimmer and Jaelynn asleep?"

"Mhm." She closes the door and leads me to her room, where we both sit on her bed. "You couldn't sleep?"

I laugh. "I guess, but I also wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

"Oh. I'm okay, just annoyed. Because—first Zo, now Councillor Kenric?"

"Yeah..." It makes me—I don't know. It makes me angry, and confused. I saw a little bit of how it affected Rosaleen, and I'm...

It makes me want to hurt them back, but I know it's only Gisela and Vespera who did it.

I don't like the thoughts that go in my head.

She nudges me. "How about you? Are you okay?"

I should be used to this by now, but I'm still a little surprised that she asked. "I'm—yeah, I'm fine."

Rosaleen laughs a little. "Come on, I know you have a lot to say," she says, leaning back on her palms.

I bite my lip. "You sure? I don't want to... I don't want to annoy you."

I feel guilty just for saying that, because it's not Rosaleen's fault that I feel like this, and I don't want her to think she's been treating me wrong.

I just don't want to bother her.

"I'm sure." She smiles at me. "We have all the time in the world."

I take a deep breath. "I'm—I'm mad."

Rosaleen doesn't say anything; she waits.

"They're hurting so much people. They hurt you, and now they're going to hurt Kenric's family, and Councillor Oralie, and Sophie."

She waits again, as if knowing I have more.

"I don't want them to hurt more people, but if we hurt them, they'll... they have emotions? They're real. I just... I don't want to hurt anyone."

Rosaleen wraps me in a hug, still waiting, always waiting, waiting for me.

"Ruy showed me—today Ruy showed me what he looked like. He's—He's so real. He has a past, he has reasons, he has... he's..."

I stop, because I don't know what to finish that with. And she knows I'm done, she understands me.

But we're still silent for another minute; I feel like I overshared.

And maybe I did, but—it's Rosaleen. She's... surely, she's okay with it.

She leans back, holding my gaze.

Her eyes are as beautiful as always; cornflower blue, laced with gold. I think Rosaleen's my favorite place.

"You know what they say," she says, with a gentle, mischievous smile. "Emotions aren't black and white. What you're feeling is completely valid. Okay?"

I laugh, a little shaky. "I'm... yeah, okay. I'm sure that person's very smart."

"He is. I care about him very much."

I smile, the words filling me with warmth. "I..." My words aren't working, but hopefully she knows what I mean. "Me too?"

She softly laughs. "On a more serious note, I get where you're coming from. And... I agree. But we'll see how everything plays out, okay? We'll be okay, we have each other."

We have each other.

I've barely known her for a month, so why does she feel like home?

Maybe I knew her in a past life, because that's the only explanation I can think of.