After their short delve into Elijah's new mindset, a silence had settled between them. It had remained that way the entire walk back to the hotel.
Victoria had seen little of Elijah after that night. Occasionally, she would catch a glimpse of him flirting with a young pretty girl (someone new each time), but never actually stopped to converse with him.
She would be lying if she said she didn't miss him a little. It was odd – missing a man she barely knew, but there was something about him that allured her to him.
Was it his devilishly handsome looks? Or his irresistibly charming demeanour?
Perhaps she was simply drawn to him because he was so clearly damaged and she wanted nothing more than to fix him.
After a week or so of impatiently waiting for Elijah to reach out to her, Victoria had had enough. She grabbed her tan coat from the hook by the door and slipped it on.
With a determined look set on her pretty face, the young woman marched towards his room, her manicured fingers formed a tight fist as she knocked rapidly on the door.
The varnished wooden door swung open to reveal Elijah, his thick winter coat hanging over his arm as if he were on his way out.
"Victoria," he greeted after a moment or so.
"Sorry, were you going somewhere? I can come back another time," the brunette used her thumb to point behind her.
"I was on my way to see you, actually." Elijah cleared his throat awkwardly. "Shall we?"
She fought the urge to grin as the words slipped from his lips, "We shall."
Much like their trip back to the hotel several days ago, their walk through the streets of the busy city was quiet.
"Wait, stop," Victoria grabbed Elijah's arm to pull him to an abrupt halt.
"Something wrong?"
"No I just want coffee," a melodic laugh escaped her lips, pulling him towards the 24 hour Starbucks.
The warm aroma welcomed them as they entered. Victoria walked up to the counter, telling the barista her order while Elijah stood to the side and waited.
"That's a pretty name," he heard the barista say, "got a number to go with it?"
Before she could reply for herself, Elijah had cut in, a harsh glare on his face, "She doesn't own a phone."
The Original grabbed her coffee cup from the counter and led her out of the shop.
"What the hell was that about?!"
"He was flirting with you," came his simple response.
"And? I'm not your property, you can't do that," she rolled her big green eyes, taking the cup of hot coffee from his hands.
In all honesty, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't kind of into it.
"My sincere apologies," he awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Where are we going anyways?" Victoria changed the subject before things got too awkward between them, taking a sip of her coffee.
"I don't know, I was following you," he looked down at her, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
"Oh my god," she grabbed onto his arm for support as she laughed.
Elijah had spent the majority of his long life pretending. Pretending that he was happy, and pretending that he truly enjoyed the life he lived.
For over a thousand years, he had been living a lie.
But then her red lips would turn upwards into a contagious bright smile and a melodic laugh would escape, causing the walls surrounding his heart to crack open and let the light in.
It was in moments like those that the lie he had been living almost seemed worth it.
After all, what was a little pretending if it meant he got more moments like that?