✔𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐈𝐈: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈

Chapter 147: You and Promises

Promise.

A word representing a dimension of vows; a word of reliance.

Also a word that could be betrayed, and unfulfilled.

If I use this word once more, will I get hurt for the second time in my life?

“You're thinking about her again aren't you? You're wasting paper, Noah.”

“Oh. Sorry about that.”

Einar sighed and flashed him a comforting smile. Noah never really considered him as a writer's assistant. The brunette does his job thoroughly just like how he is supposed to, but all the author sees is a brotherly friend who had his forearms tattoed back in his younger days, and lived life every day mostly with a smile.

Not to mention the only soul who saw everything— The feeling of the redhead's arm around his shoulder as he struggled to walk because of the heavy liquor has become ghostly. Because just recently Einar doesn't find his foreman dealing with the booze issue anymore.

Maybe because of something? Or someone?

“You know, you've been visiting the castle quite often. Did a certain someone caught your interest?” Einar remarked with an impish twinkle in his grey eye, “A familiar client, perhaps?”

Noah skimmed through his desk's drawer as he shook his head dismissively. He's in denial and the poor guy doesn't realize it. Yet. He supposed.

“She's not a client,” Noah corrected nonchalantly, “She agreed to a collaboration and I simply wanted to be a gentleman.”

“While I find that very nice of you,” The assistant smirked, “I know the real thing behind all the odds and don't you contradict it.”

A concealed sigh was Noah's response.

“If you're still fooling yourself into thinking that you're about to hurt yourself again,” Einar placed a slightly inked hand on his shoulder, “Stop it, because all you're making is a lie. You hate lies.”

That childish promise she made, you mean?

“What she vowed was a lie,” The older man's voice broke a little, “Hell, everything she ever said to me could even be lies, too.”

Einar frowned sadly. “Not even those three?”

Not even ‘I love you?’

“There are words I cannot repeat because they're too sweet like candy,” Noah bitterly spoke, “And candy rots our teeth.”

“Even in the midst of resentment you can still be so poetic,” Einar chuckled light heartedly, “Oh Noah, I know someday you'll put an end to this. I have faith in you.”

The author didn't rebutt any further as he lost himself to a dozen of paragraphs. Einar had never won an argument, not a single debate against this redhead who always hold the upper hand. There are times when he had the capability to outwit the guy, but moments comprising that luxury are as scarce as diamonds.

The assistant quietly sat on a lone stool and desired to cut the queer silence.

“So, how skilled is this new gal, huh?” Einar asked out of pure interest, “She must've written something really nifty she managed to stun you.”

A small smile tugged on Noah's lips, “Helena showed me one of her poems, and I have to say, the content of each stanza of hers felt all too enchanting.”

“What's that poem about?”

“Regrets.”

“Ooh, you two share something in common now,” Damn it Einar, “Erm, I mean, she might be like you. You've told me before she's widowed.”