Are you okay?

20:40PM

"I think I'm getting a little sick of facing the truth all the time," I muttered, finally raising my eyes as Romeo's lips tugged up ever so slightly and a soft sigh flitted through his lips. "How about you face the truth for a while?"

Romeo's eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he sent me a challenging grin, shaking his head as he leaned forward and used his free hand to wipe the tears from my cheeks. "I'd rather just listen to you speak, Cass," he shrugged off my suggestion, dropping his touch from the side of my face as he glanced down to look at my hand held in his.

"What if I still have some questions that haven't been answered?" I countered, watching his eyebrows furrow in confusion. We had only spoken briefly about my newfound realisation of his actual identity, but there were still a couple of pieces I hadn't managed to fit together. I still didn't see how it was completely possible for him to have been Will despite being with me throughout the night.

"Then ask away, Cass."

Despite most things being out in the open, there was still one query toying with my subconscious, and I didn't think I could let go of it until I heard an explanation. "During the night whenever I asked to know something about you, you wouldn't tell me because you said you didn't want to lie to me," I reminded him, watching as he nodded slowly, not seeing what I was leading up to. "But you did sort of lie, because I- well, you pretended not to know Theo."

Romeo glanced down immediately, sighing in slight embarrassment. "It's stupid, but I- I wanted to know how you would talk about him. That's why I pretended to think he was your boyfriend at first, because I wanted to know how you, uh... felt about him."

After a beat of silence, I couldn't help bursting out into laughter at how nervous Romeo looked, his sheepish expression as his gaze flicked back up to meet mine easing into a small smile upon realising I wasn't upset. "How did you manage to text him throughout the night though?" I questioned, genuinely intrigued, "I never once saw you on your phone."

"When you were writing poems," he explained, his answer sounding obvious once I thought about it, "Or whenever you went to call or text him. Any moments when I knew you wouldn't notice, really."

"At least now I know you aren't a stalker," I teased, recalling my reaction when I had first realised he knew information about me and wasn't as much of a stranger as I had thought. "All along I knew you, but I didn't."

"Same, actually," Romeo responded, elaborating after seeing my expression. "I knew things about you, but I didn't actually know you. You're all Theo ever talks about, but he made you seem so... happy. I never thought anything different until I first met you, so all along I thought I knew you, but I didn't."

Sat together in the dark, it was odd how someone who I once called a stranger was now someone I felt so deeply for. Like my namesake, I allowed myself to fall blindly into the arms of another, but maybe all of that was okay if it got to lead us up to this moment. "Thinking about earlier today feels like it all happened a lifetime ago," I mused, my gaze trailing around the room as I lingered over the streaks of moonlight across the walls, soaking in the palpable darkness that felt comforting.

"Part of me is relieved that you know now though," Romeo admitted, his tone relaxed. "There's not really anymore truth for me to face now, is there?"

I couldn't help but shoot him an incredulous look, doing a double take as I brushed my fingers over his arm. Tentatively, I traced over the area surrounding the tube-looking thing still in his arm and the blossoming bruises darting up his pale skin, while maintaining a baffled expression at his question. "That was sarcastic, right?"

Romeo rolled his eyes at my rebuttal, following my gaze down to his arm and letting out a quiet sigh. "It's a cannula, Cass. I need it for when I have IV drips. It's how I get whatever fluids I need into my body."