OUR FOREST OF THORNS | tbosas ✔️

008 || Unintentional Confession

It was only normal for one to be cross with the origin of their restlessness, with the cause of their deepest frustrations and most destructive waves of thought, but even so, Coriolanus feared he may never be able of such a feat, no matter what happened, no matter what Daphne did to him — he feared he will always be a forgiving man for her and goodness, that was a weakness like the heel was to Achilles, unraveling before him now, plainer than day.

Daphne had raised her trembling cold hand to the left side of her face in futile hopes of diffusing that red stain, a hurtful proof that she wasn't nearly as important as she liked to pretend she was. In doing so, she had averted her eyes from looking at Coriolanus too — she didn't know if she was ready to look at him. There was a high chance she wouldn't be able to see something else other than the hatred she had harbored for Lucy Gray over the span of barely a day. All that bitterness choked her almost as much as her brother's hand had a moment ago and she was thus petrified by the possibility of simply bursting into tears.

"Are you alright?"

Something in Coriolanus' soft tone as he asked her that simple question however felt an awful lot like a flame, melting the ice statues created in her heart by her own jealousy. The way he had asked her that, so devastated by concern, so tender with his nuanced speech, it brought the flame close to her heart that even Daphne's insecurity had to be placed on the sideline — How could she ever believe her beloved Coryo would care for some district girl more than he cared about her?

She felt like a traitor, all of a sudden — a traitor to their alliance, to their friendship, to all they have build over the years.

As anyone in the wrong, Daphne felt the need to apologize as soon as he finished uttering his question, so there came his answer.

This was the first time Daphne had been this close to him.

From the moment her arms wrapped around him and he could feel the tip of her nose resting on his neck, Coriolanus Snow no longer had a say over the two most important instincts of the human body: neither his heartbeats nor his breath were operating as they should.

What little of his consciousness remained with him and had not scattered away the second he was met with such warmth told him to wrap his own arms around her, but try as he might, he was numb, left frozen into place and paralyzed by an emotion threatening now only to grow within his chest. Truth was, he's never let anyone this close to his heart before and all at once, he was provided proof that it had been one of the worst mistakes of his life to fear melting over another human, to let go of his distant strategies and his hard-as-ice tactics, even for just a second. One embrace was not going to turn him into a puddle forever, because this world was cold enough to freeze him in an instant anyhow; how stupid he had been to avoid melting!

Before he could even finish his thoughts, the embrace was over.

Daphne leant back with a chuckle forming on her lips. Coriolanus couldn't take his eyes off of her, and he knew that to see her leave their hug with a blush was working that same flustered shade onto his own cheeks. However, Daphne was flustered for a whole other reason than the one he would have expected.

"Shit," the curse was breathless leaving her lips and he had only just then noticed the slight smudge of her lipstick, drawing a faint streak to her chin. Daphne lifted her hand to grasp his collar and tugged on it ever so lightly — he should have enjoyed that far less than he actually did in order to be able to ever call himself a decent man again —, before grimacing. "Sorry about that," she looked up from the red stain she left on his blue collar briefly, before fumbling around to get to her purse. "Let me get it cleaned up for you."