It was a beautiful day for two special people. The morning sun was peeking over the horizon ever so slowly. It had been a few months since this 'relationship' took root. They didn't know what to call it yet, but they knew one fundamental thing.
'I belong to you, you belong to me.'
Ever since then, Joseph would sneak into the girl's castle, somehow keep evading the guards, and wake up with her. Like what they are doing right now.
"Good morning love." The man spoke with his deep voice that was comparable to the soft rumblings of the earth. Chloe never understood how he was able to look so immaculate every morning. Not a single hair was out of place and you would never know that the adonis just woke up if he didn't speak.
"Morning Jos~" she feels his hands run through the mess of hair, that currently resembled a bird's nest, like it was a smooth flowing stream. She hears him laugh. "did you have a good dream love? You were drooling." He comments, his hands trace around her lips feeling the drool marks.
It's somewhat disgusting yes but he couldn't help but find it extremely endearing when it came to her. "Maybe I did." Vera slowly wrapped her arms around Joseph's waist. Resting her head at his chest saying, "I think I still am dreaming."
She could feel his chuckle vibrate like drums. "You aren't love, you can feel my heart can't you?" The steady beats of his heart was proof of that.
He watched as Vera giggled, attempting to fix her messy hair. It was an adorable sight. "Come one love." He beckons her to stand. "Time to get ready." "Only if you bathe me!" Vera cheekily replied. Joseph feigned thinking about it, his answer was already decided from the start.
"Okay." "Just joking— wait what? Wo-woah!" The maiden exclaimed as her Adonis abruptly carried her without warning. Vera would playfully push Joseph while he in returned would dip her.
When they finally arrived to the place where she usually bathed. Joseph left her briefly so she could removed her nightly attire. Even though it had been a few months into their relationship, she was still shy of showing skin.
"You know, I still don't know why you don't like me seeing you undress!" Joseph yelled, muffled from being at another room. "Sheesh! Privacy Joseph! Privacy!" She yelled back, clothes already scattered beneath her. "That's just normal etiquette." She mumbles, eying her body's reflection on the water.
"But how can I do that when I'm already familiar with your body?"
Shivers run down her skin as Joseph whispered ever so softly over her skin. His hands trail over her naked arms, pulling it into a hug. His breathe created a pleasurable ripple that wracked through her then. "S-still." She insists, but she crumbles further into the hug. Feeling his heart beat yet again but through her bare back.
Joseph slowly manuovered her inside the bath. The water was warm on her skin, she sighed the further she sinked in. Joseph smiled watching her feel relief even with such a simple gesture. She opened her eyes to look at him. With a somewhat shy smiled she asked, "Joseph? Wash my hair for me will you?"
She saw him smile as he answered "Of course my beloved!"
It was a beautiful scene really, Chloe settled into the water. A small smile graced her face as Joseph carefully threads his fingers through her hair. The smell of flowers slowly radiated the room. Soapy like substance covered the delicate parts.
Now now, Joseph really like this scenery he's seeing. He is shameless enough that he would commision a painting to preserve this moment. However, he felt cheeky today.
"H-hey! That tickles Joseph! Stop it stop it!" Chloe pleaded as Joseph attacked her neck and sides. Her laughter echoed around so did the splashes of water. Joseph's clothes were getting wet at this point, but he didn't care. He wanted to hear more. As he tickled his love he said, "Ah! But didn't you tell me to wash your hair for you Vera?"
The maiden suddenly stopped. She seemed upset. She is upset. She didn't know why she was upset at first but then she knew why.
"Vera?"
There it was again. That name. That name wasn't hers, but he couldn't blame him for using that name. That was the name she gave him after all, but she couldn't help but be saddened by it.
"Are you okay my love?" Thoughts ran wild inside of Joseph's mind. Was she angry with his ticklefest? Did it get in her eyes? Was it something he'd done? Or something he'd said?
Chloe shook her head, placating the worry that seemed to seep off of her lover. "I just remembered that my father wanted to see me today, something important I suppose." That was a lie but she needed an excuse anyway to finish up.
"Is that so.." Joseph could see the lie, but maybe she needed some time. He needed to tell her about something too, but maybe later when she was more.. accepting.
The moment Joseph left, Chloe let out a heavy sigh and sunk further into the water. As she washed her hair, her mind went everywhere. Should I tell Joseph who I really am? Can I tell him the real me? If my Father knew, would he even approve? Would Vera understand my situation?
Maybe I should talk to Vera.
It took a while but when she finished, Joseph was no where to be seen. Her simple beige colored dress fluttered with every move. "Joseph?" She walked around the room, worried to where could he be. She turned to a corner and saw an opened hatch, "he must've escaped somewhere again.. he'll come back." The sun's ray seemed to glimmer at that place, intensely too, but she gave it no thought.
Chloe rummaged around to look for parchment and a vial of ink. She wrote him a letter.
My dearest Joseph,
If you ever come back and I am not here. You'll find me in the garden after my talk with my father, I hope you understand. Tell me about your adventures!
With love...
Chloe hesitated, she stared down at her fidgeting hand. The ink was slowly dripping at this point, she closed her eyes and wrote the name that did not belong to her. She placed the parchment beside the growing flower Joseph had given her months prior. The flower was unlike any flower from the field. It wasn't bright, it wasn't colorful, nor was it eye catching in anyway. It was a small but beautiful white rose.
Most would give their lovers a colorful, vibrant and big bouquet of flowers, but Joseph only gave her a tiny still blooming white flower then. It was simple, but she loved it because in a way it reminded her of herself. She wasn't by any means vibrant in every day life. She didn't find colorful garbs to be fitting of her. She wasn't eye catching either, even to this day she doesn't understand how she managed to befriend and find a lover in someone like Joseph, an adonis and a true one in a million.
And a God at that.
Another lie she hid aside from her name. She never really forgot that day, the day she saw his skin become that of porcelain. His hair weaved from golden threads that came from the way the sun's rays bounced off of clouds. His eyes were made of molten gold sea. She could tell him, perhaps the same day she tells him the full truth, but until then she won't. She regrets acting the way she did, doubtful. Even though he did as she asked, being truthful, she was the one that couldn't comply.
To this day, she feels guilty keeping up this facade.
The day went on quietly. She ate alone and did what she usually did, wander. Walking around her home was quite lonely. To be always confined inside the same placed you've always wandered to no end is a painful punishment to endure, but Chloe has grown used to it, eerily so. No one could provide her company anymore, her father was always busy, only to be seen by the end of the day. Vera, although tried to provide her time, was required to interact with potential 'suitors' as they call it.
She used to have someone to accompany her, but that person is long gone after all, she married a wealthier man who could take her away from being a mere helper.
It was a sad day for her then, yet at the same time, she was thankful. After all,
Had that not happened, she'd never meet Joseph.
She didn't realize it, but she had wandered far enough to enter the heart of the house, their own small Garden.
It was really small in size, no bigger than a small chapel. There were an abundance of red flowers, they seemed to grow instead of weeds. And in the middle was a single tree that never grew taller than it should have been, only making up thick leaves to make up for height. It was short but had very think branches that appeared at the lower body. It was strange, it looked like arms or similar to it. Despite this, no one had the heart to cut it even if it didn't match it's scenery.
Because her Mother was buried there.
Chloe took off her sandals, feeling the soft grass tickling her feet as she walked. When she reached the middle, she smiled. "Good Afternoon Mother, I hope you are well today." The tree was warmth to her touch. "I for one feel conflicted." She sighed, sinking down. She sat by the thick branch, her feet tracing the roots of the tree. "You know Mother, I've been lucky, I've met someone who is very special to me, you know him. Joseph." She chuckled, leaning into the tree. "I love him Mother, I really do."
"But I'm being someone else to be with him."
The air was Quiet, but she knew her Mother understands. Chloe spaced out until the sounds of thumping came to her attention.
"Hey!" She turned her back to see A girl like her. She wore robes the color of rare violet, a color taken from a dye that you'd have to travel to get. Despite the extravagant clothes, she wore her hair in a simple braid, a thin roped tied it together. This girl, if she were to wear simple robes and wore her hair down, would be her exact same image.
"Good afternoon Vera!" Chloe yelled, a smile graced her thin lips. Vera grinned and yelled back, "You aren't suppose to walk in the garden without sandals you know! Father doesn't like that!" Chloe waved it off, with a sly expression she said "but father isn't here now is he?"
The playful girl feigned a thoughtful expression before hurriedly removing her own sandals and rushing towards the tree. "He isn't!" She said as she crashed her body by Chloe's. "So~ hows life my dearest sister!" Vera looked on caringly.
"It's fine sister." Chloe Drily responded, making Vera pout. "Ayish ayish ayish! Why must you talk to me this way Chlo~" Vera huffed looking at her sister with sad puppy eyes. "Can I not when you only properly visit once every few weeks?" The maiden was petty in a sense, but she likes it that way. Vera grinned, wailing "wahhh forgive meeee."
They laughed at eachother's antics under the old tree, but after it died down—
"But seriously," Vera looked down at her hands as Chloe sat beside her. "I'm sorry I can't visit you as much as I used to. You know father, he—" "He wants you to find a suitor I know I know." Chloe sighed, her eyes flitted away to gaze at the tall pedestals. "It's just unfair." Vera looked at her sister quietly and could only comfort her so. They have grown, but even now they still have no idea as to why their father forbids Chloe's existence to be known. Their Mother never revelead it either before her untimely death, but all they knew is—
It is her fate to be hidden.
"If I accepted," Vera hesitated before saying "if I accepted the proposal of Jose, I'm not sure if I'll be happy, but if I did we would not be seperated." Chloe's eyes widened, "but! You don't love him!" She rebukes "don't accept if you don't feel like you're gonna be hapy with him bear!"
Vera suddenly bursted out laughing, leaving Chloe confused. "W-what?!" "N-no-nothing Haha! It's just.." her smiles became brighter, "you used the nickname. The nickname you gave me when we were kids. The days when we played with mama." This left chloe reminiscing at her past, when the days were much more easier to live through.
Chloe hummed, "you called me clover then." "Hehe yup yup! And Mama called you clover because you're our lucky charm!" The wind blew, making some of the leaves. As some of it fell, it grazed the two sisters' faces. Vera giggled as she caught one of the leaves, "looks like mama agrees!" "I don't know why I would be lucky." Chloe mumbled to herself, but Vera heard her. "Awww but Chloe, we're lucky to even be with youu~" "stop being sappy!"
The two bickered under the shade provided by the tree, until Chloed asked "Do you still need to leave? After this?". This made Vera stop to think, "who knows." She ultimately concludes. "How about you? Has anything happened the past months?" That's where the maiden went into deep thought, should I tell her? About me leaving? About Joseph? The relationship?
"I-I do actually."
"And what's that?" Vera smiled.
"I have a lover."
"Oh okay wait wHAT?!" Her voice echoed around the garden. Chloe panicked and frantically swished her thin arms around, "q-quiet! It's not a big deal." "Not a big deal you say! How did you even get a lover? Did you escape??" Vera bombarded her with questions with a hushed but still loud voice. "I.. I did, after Martha left I didn't know what to do anymore." Chloe confessed, she felt Vera pat her back "I heard, Martha finally married the man of her dreams." "That man is lucky to have her." Chloe sighed, "feeling bitter? You have a lover though!" "I may have Joseph but that doesn't mean it doesn't sting."
"Makes sense, she was your first crush after all. And—" Vera beamed "his name is Joseph huh!" His name brought color to her cheeks, "uhuh, Imet him after that day and well, that became a really common occurance." Chloe explained, "he took me to the most beautiful place in this world, the biggest flower field! I'd take you there but—" "it's your special place, I won't need to." Vera interrupted, "the question is, do you love him."
"Wha- of course I do." Chloe looked at Vera accusingly "but are you willing to love him enough to give him everything and be true? Is he someone you see your future with?" Vera continued to ask, connecting with her similar mirroring eyes. Chloe didn't respond as Vera continued with—
"If you want a relationship to work, you need trust, never hide secrets. Talk about it, don't hide it."
Scene 3 Act 1
End
rAIne Notes
AHHHHH sorryyyy in the end, hindi ko natiiiss sorry ate huhu. So I decided to stick to 2.5 k words even tho was suppose to be extra long. I'm posting this a day before exams so I won't be muddled as much. This is just Acto 1 Act 2 will arrive when I'm a year older—
Btw if you have an amino or insta, hit me up 😂😂 i need IDV friends to fangirl with. IG is rainedropme and amino is.. i forgot. Same as IG prolly or just rAIne
Good bye for noww