BEHIND CLOSED DOORS | D.M

036 | the wedding pt.2 - confessions

Yes. So many times. Because she knows her fate has already been written down upon the stars. Knows that Draco is destined to be a part of her life—wether she likes it or not.

Kallista sucks in a breath. Whilst his hand has fallen to his side, her skin tingles with the warmth of his lingering caress. "I don't want to be the woman you end up leaving because you have found someone else, someone better. I don't want to be the wife you hide behind closed doors whose only purpose is to satisfy you in bed and cooks for you. I just don't want to endure what you did to Astoria."

The sound of the water flowing from the watercourse ripples through their cosmos of heartache, trying to bring a small moment of peace through this war of hearts.

"No one is like you, Kallista." His chest heaves, his breaths sharpening. "I didn't agree to make you mine for no reason."

Her breath gets stuck in the back of her throat as she flickers her eyes between his. "...What?"

"Astoria isn't you," he voices gruffly. "Astoria was a great person, and she didn't deserve the way I treated her. But no one is you, Howard." He takes a hold of her chin, thumb placed beneath her lower lip, forcing her to hold his gaze as he notices the glossy veil appearing in her ocean eyes. "I couldn't be more proud to have you by my side and call you my wife. You are more than a fuck, and you know it. You are so much more than that."

Teary sapphire eyes stare into his starlit ones. Listen to him, a small voice in her head whispers. Listen to his words. How are you still afraid to get hurt?

"I am not your enemy," he mumbles, caressing her cheekbone with the pad of his calloused thumb. Chills course down her spine, and as she observes stars gleaming in his eyes whilst he scans her features, she feels a sudden warmth exploding inside her chest. "I am not going to hurt you, Kallista. Not now, not ever."

"What changed?"

A beat passes. His shoulders fall, and his eyes are so raw that she wonders if he has given her permission to read his mind. "You know what."

Kallista doesn't respond. Doesn't know what to say, how to react. All of those feelings are so foreign.

From the youngest age, her mother had taught her to be a strong, independent person. She learned how to be fierce on her own. Learned how to guard her heart by observing in silence her classmates get heartbroken, over and over. She didn't want that. Didn't want that pain and that heartbreak. Didn't want to depend on someone else.

She doesn't remember the exact moment she has let Draco in, but deep down, she is glad he has found her.

Because she now understands that she isn't alone. Draco is as terrified, but now they have got each other.

When Kallista only lets a soft sigh escape through her nose, Draco scoffs. He backs away, running a hand over his face that gets coated into a light tint of cerise.

"You don't get it, do you?" A crack in his voice is heard. "The things I would do for you. The way I would drop everything to go look for you. The fact I would kill and die for you." When the muscle in his jaw ticks, she understands he is refraining himself from shattering. His voice is thick with tears, hoarse with a sensibility he has never shown before today. "If you asked me to rip my heart out with my bare hands for you to hold onto, I wouldn't even hesitate to do it. If you asked for the moon, I wouldn't waste a heartbeat to fetch it. If you called from the other side of the world, from another realm, I would come and find you. But if another man dared to touch or hurt you—"

"Let me guess," she chuckles dryly, eyes glazed, heart thumping ferociously like tidal waves. "You'd kill him?"

His gaze burns so intensely that she feels it pierce right through her soul. His breath fans on top of her lips, but he maintains the fiery eye contact. "I would hand you the dagger and stand by your side whilst you kill them. Because that's the woman you are, Kallista. You don't need anyone. You're bold and fearless and cunning. You hold so much power and you can't even see it yourself. And what I need is for you to accept yourself as my equal. And I need you to understand that I want you. Everything about you."