𝗜𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 | 𝐁𝗼𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲/𝗥𝗙𝗞

XX: "Finale (To Love)"

After the silence had passed, Bobby settled down on the edge of the roof, Evelyn hesitantly did so. It had been months since they sat there, confessing their love to one another, the magical moment lasted only for some time before the veil of being in love clandestinely was raised aloft.

"Bobby, do you still love me?" The air thickened, the sunset was no longer beautiful in Evelyn's eyes; it had turned grim, becoming metaphorical. "I told you I'll love you 'til my dying day." With the same smile glued on his face, Bobby was unable to catch a glimpse of the underlying implication. "I said that first. And I fully mean it." "So do I, Eve." Then slowly Bobby began to understand what was occurring, though doubtfully.

"Do you think we'd ever walk down the aisle together?" Evelyn continued with her series of peculiar questions, knowing well Bobby wouldn't protest. "I do. Someday." The boy admired Evelyn as Ted did; he gazed at the girl from her side, watching her eyes opening and closing. "When's that?" Evelyn's eyes met Bobby's as she turned to reply to the stare he'd given her. "Let's do it now. Let's get eloped as I've always said." The man's lips curled into a smile, too cheerful for his position. "Hah. Unfortunately, that's not in the options anymore." Evelyn had to keep her laugh in, she held her hand inside the other, the back of her neck drenched with sweat. "Why not? Come, let's do it now." Bobby abruptly rose, his body straightened in a blink of an eye.

"Sit down, honey," Evelyn muttered, no longer smiling. She watched the skies blackening, as her heart was clouded by the man's lies. "Eve?" Bobby bent his legs, squatting on the roof. His expression shifted. "Why are you doing this to me? What's with the lies, Robert?" Evelyn did not dare to look the man in the eyes, she knew she'd only drown again in his sea. She remembered when she could float, how she could swim in the ocean effortlessly, Evelyn had no anticipation of how she'd forget how to swim quickly. "Oh, again? With this?" A look of disbelief was given to the girl, Bobby's eyes added insult to injury.

"Again, Robert?" Evelyn began sniffling again, she faced Bobby with her quivering lips, shaky voice, and empty, lachrymose eyes. "Again with the 'not telling me you're getting married to a woman you hated'?"  A loud confrontation commenced. The aghast look Bobby had instantly dropped once the truth was naked in the open. "Ted told you." He looked away. Looking away from the woman he once loved — might've still loved, if there was an ounce of truth in his utterances. "Damn right, he did." Evelyn scolded. Her legs dangled faster on the edge when Bobby walked away from their favorite spot. "Tell me the truth, Robert." With a heart shattering like glass, Evelyn preserved her voice to be stern and confrontational.

"It was my father—" "No, it wasn't." "Yes. It was." Cutting off each other's words; they had too much to say in too little time. "He's been in contact with George, Ethel's dad. They're trying to create a bridge for their businesses with this wedding." Bobby went on with his explanation, his hands gesturing as he spoke with a stressful head. "And you made no refusal whatsoever?" Evelyn sat in the hurt alone. Her fingertips grazing against the harsh texture of the roof tile. "What could I possibly say, Eve? My father is a dictator." Bobby's voice rang through the girl's ears, deafening her with his reckless words. The silent stares they exchanged only heightened the tension — Evelyn blinked and it ended.

"I can't believe you." Shaking her head like it was the worst thing anyone had ever done to her, Evelyn was ashamed of herself. "Eve, please— you know him! It's not even definite, a lot can happen in two years." Bobby gently reached for his lover's shoulder, he flinched when she turned with an indignant expression painting her exterior. "I can't believe you'd lie to me," Evelyn said begrudgingly. "What?" Bobby's eyebrows furrowed, he pushed his bright hair back. "You don't know how much I love you, do you? You take it all so lightly and carelessly." Evelyn's fingertips gradually turned rosy as she kept touching the roof tile, and soon started having little cuts resembling a paper cut on them.