"Lara Hall can you hear me?" A voice echoes through, taking a few seconds to register in my brain. I flutter my eyes open, before immediately closing them. I forgot how bright the white is.

"Lara Hall is responsive" the figure says. My eyes regain their clear vision and I trace my eyes around the room. Bed, needles and a clone are my only company and frankly I prefer the former two. He’s dressed in the typical white Leto suit, with only a surgical mask for an accessory.

"Where am I?" I ask groggily as I hold my head.

"Lara Hall is currently located upon the Palatio ship within the hominine ward of the Leto infirmary" 

"How long have I been...here?"

"You have been unconscious for 6 hours, 21 minutes and 19 seconds Lara Hall" The Leto doctor swans over towards the back of the room. 

"Only 6 hours?" I inquire, completely and utterly baffled. Normally my blackouts last days and in the rare cases, months.

"Yes Lara Hall. We used the Vial" The Leto doctor holds up a bottle of the medicine.

What I would have given to have a bottle of that. My mother kept a small amount of Vial underneath the tiles of our kitchen. With the power to wake the unconscious and dead, the medicine was a luxury the majority of the population could not afford. Only the rich could afford it. We were lucky; my mother inherited it.

"How did you get that?" My eyes bore into the Leto’s.

"The Leto are in possession of an unlimited supply of Vial. Re-creation was a simple process for the Leto." The Doctor replies calmly.

"When may I return to my room?" I enquire curiously. Although my room is just incommodious as the infirmary, I have guranteed privacy there. I wonder if anyone would've realised I've elapsed? 

"Whenever you wish Lara Hall. You have been discharged" 

The doctor leaves the room and I lie back against the plush pillows. As I try to think of anything other than my mother, my memory circles around one thought. I have 90 days to try to love a man I already dislike. 

With a sigh I climb out of the bed. I’m in a white gown, with a slit down my backside. I roll my eyes. These things never change. I catch sight of my dress spread out on a chair. Stripping off the gown, I’m left in my underwear.

Someone clears their voice behind me and I turn around. Jared smirks trailing his eyes up and down my body. I lunge for my dress and tug it on. My cheeks flame scarlet. He smiles suddenly and I’m blown away by its sheer beauty. He almost looks happy as his mouth forms the perfect grin. 

"Don’t be embarrassed" Jared smirks.

"What are you doing here?" I hiss. I adjust my dress and pull my hair out of the collar.

"The Rex" He scowls. "Ordered me to to check up on you. They must have telepathic communication because I did not hear any announcement and I've been in his company since you left"

"You've seen I'm fine. You can go" I say abruptly, brushing past him. For a fleeting moment, I feel empathy for Jared considering his prolonged aggregation with the Rex.

"Lara, wait". He grabs my arm.

His touch is cold, making my skin feel blistering in comparison. "I need you to know something". I hesitate waiting for him to speak.

There’s no point trying to continue walking. He already towers over me and I will never be able to escape this vice grip.

"What is it?" My voice comes out more shaky than expected.

"Lara, I know you’re a Caritas but that doesn’t mean I can or want to love you". He declares, confidently and steadily. He releases my arm. I roll my eyes, trying desperately to shrug off the pain of his rejection.

"Thanks Jared" I reply sarcastically. I urge my feet onwards attempting to not convey my hurt. I shouldn't care but I do; it's inevitable. I've walked a few paces before he catches my arm.

"You won't want to be involved with me either". Jared shrugs.

"Why?" I roll my eyes. My curiousity gets the better of me and burns with the desire to know; to feast off the knowledge of Jared's enigma. He shakes his head and doesn’t answer. He starts to walk down the corridor. I stand still for a few seconds before chasing after him. I have to skip to keep up with his long strides.

"Does the Rex know?"

"Know what?" Jared's frowns.

"This secret of yours" I reply. I turn my head to see his reaction. He says nothing but his lip curls like he's tongue-tied. After a few seconds of deliberation, his answer comes.

"Yes" he speaks cautiously.

"What if I ask him?" I ask, not able to keep the mischievous glint from my eyes.

"He won’t tell you" Jared states calmly. There's no hesistation with his reply. "I negotiated that as a term into the conditions. It gives me a chance"

"A chance for what?"

"It's irrelevant but I'm positive the Rex will not tell you anything" Jared shrugs.

"I can't believe you 'negotiated' with the Leto that controls the fate of Humanity. What if it went wrong?" I shake my head in disbelief.

"Yes but it didn't". He says proudly. 

"But what if it did?" I persist. 

"But it didn't" Jared smirks. I roll my eyes and shake my head. I won't win this pointless argument and I simply don't have the patience to argue it out. 

We pace down the hallway. I already have no idea where we are. All the hallways look the same. After a few moments, a puzzling thought pops into my head.

"Well if you can’t love me, what do you propose we do? Even though you can’t love me, I will be unable to not love you in some way" I state. My pride is greeted with an unwelcome blow and my cheeks flame scarlet. I detest admitting something this personal to an arrogant narcissist.

"Control it." He says firmly.

"It's not something I can control Jared" I sigh.

"Well you're going to have to" He says, clenching his palms into bleached white balls.

"You're not a normal breed are you?" I ask. My curiousity is spiked by his harsh and commanding tone. 

"Excuse me?"

"You're not an ordinary human" I say. Jared's eyes cast down towards the floor as he scratches his neck. He seems awkward.

"I'm special" He says slowly. I raise my eyebrows with scepticism.

"In what way?"

"I'm not a regular human I suppose; I'm a Statiano" He shrugs. My eyebrows furrow in confusion. I have never met a Statiano. Rumours claim them to be as inhumane and ruthless as a Torpen only with a soul and a sense of right and wrong. Something doesn't seem quite right however.

"You don'-"

"It's my turn to ask questions" Jared interjects. He sounds agitated. "Are you in love with me?"

I scoff. "Excuse me?"

"I asked if you loved me" Jared replies impassively.

"Of course not." I exclaim. His lips part to exhale loudly. 

"Good - make sure it stays that way"

"Touching" I reply with mock sarcasm. Quickening my pace, my lengthened strides attempt to achieve a reprieve from the chauvinistic man behind me. I glide by an adjoining passage.

"Lara wait." Jared calls. A fleeting second of naivety has me hoping he'll ask me to wait so that he can apologise for his ignorance. Of course I would like that to happen just as much as the next person but the so-called 'jerk' in this situation never changes.

"What?"

"This is your corridor" He says indicating at the hallway I've just bypassed. I sigh heavily. 

Walking in silence, I trail behind him like a lost puppy. My eyes fall to my clumsy feet that cannot stop tripping over one another.

"Why do you not love me? I thought you loved everything?" Jared suddenly asks. He doesn't turn around or even halt for me to catch up. Instead I find myself speaking to the broad shoulders and the back of his torso.

"I thought you didn't want me to love you?"

"I don't" He says bluntly. "Love is for fools"

"Life is a game made for fools." I shrug. "Why are you asking this?"

"Just answer my question Lara" He says slowly. I note that his shoulders tense and his begins to walk uncomfortably.

"It varies; some do, some do not" I shrug, attempting to sound casual. "I have two enmity's" 

I sigh to myself. I'm a terrible Caritas. I'm not supposed to have intense detestation for any being or animals, no normal Caritas does. I've done so many things I'm ashamed of; so many things happened that shouldn't. 

 "Only two?" He breathes.

 "Is that odd?" I ask, my brow furrowing. How many hatred's can a person have? I thought I was abominable with two.

"Yes". He chuckles. It’s a delicious sound like music to my ears. Who would’ve thought it would come from the obnoxious man I bumped into.

"Most people have quite a few aversions Lara. For example I hate dishonesty"

I roll my eyes and smile. His mouth forms a tight-lipped grin before he chuckles lowly.

"Are you always honest?"

"I endeavor to be" He responds, faltering for a moment before continuing. "What are the two things you dislike?"

I take a deep breath "The two things I can’t love are the Leto and the Torpens"  I stammer.

My pulse picks up as the horrid memory invades my mind. I moan as the images spring enter the unprepared solitude of my brain. My bottom lip trembles as I attempt to hold back the whimpers yet sorrowful tears form in my eyes. 

"Lara, are you okay?"

I grip onto the wall for support as my body begins to quiver like a leaf on a windy day. My head blurs with thoughts as I yank at the ends of my hair. Perhaps trying to replace my mental anguish with some form of physical pain may pull me out of the haze. 

"Lara"

"Jared, please take me back to the infirmary" I manage to falter out. He begins to move towards me and I focus in on his dark eyes. My own eyes leak my grief and sorrow and his face soon morphs into blackness.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

"You must tell her Jared Miller"

"I can't tell her. I'll lose the one chance I have, the one chance" A voice whispers furiously back. Jared.

My brain awakens woozily and I can barely make sense of what they are saying.

"Lara Hall, you are awake" the other voice says. I let out a groan, not bothering to open my eyes. I don’t want to see the light.

"How long was it this time?" I sigh. 

"No need for hello’s then. You’ve been out for a week" Jared replies.

I already have his voice memorized. The first stage is completed. Should I be happy about this? Though the first two stages are entirely executed by myself, the final phase is Jared's decision. It ensures willingness of either partner.

Though in this situation, neither of us have freedom to decide for ourselves.

"Why didn’t you use the medicine?"

"Jared Miller would not permit the use of the Homo Excito medicine" The Rex replies. I groan to myself. Why does he relate everything to Jared?

"Why does the decision belong to Jared?" I snap.

"As your future lover, decisions concerning Lara Hall's' welfare when she is unconcious are Jared Miller's responsibility. The body of either character evidence belongs to their partner" The Rex states.

"‘What the hell Jared?" I spit at him. My eyes snap open and I wince at the bright light. Jared and the Rex stand either side of my bed. The anger boils within me as I turn to face the Rex.

"That’s not his decision, I don’t belong to him. I don’t want to miss a week of my life. I have precious time remember" I glower at Jared, gritting my teeth in the process. 

Neither of them look guilty. One can’t and the other just stares straight through me.  His mouth set in a hard grimace.

Before they stop me, I jump out of the bed and scamper down the hall. I stare down and scowl with annoyance. I’ve got the butt crack robe on again.

"Lara, hold up" Jared calls.

I pick up speed despite my shaky legs. I was always a good runner. I was state champion for the 1500m back in the day. I was pretty handy with a knife too. That’s how I survived but she-. All my thoughts are knocked out of my mind when I’m tackled to the ground. As I brace myself for the blow of the cold granite floor, I’m flipped in the air so I land on a slightly softer ground.

Jared groans as he takes the full impact of both our weights.

"Are you okay?" I panic. He nods and smiles, glancing up and down at our current position.

"You’re still not forgiven" I murmur as I climb up and take off down the hall. I skid around a corner.

"Lara, I’m sorry ok?" He pleas. My footsteps stop and I wait there. ‘I shouldn’t have made that decision. I was thinking what was best for me. I needed some time to work through something. Please, don’t run anymore, we have to try and make this work.’ He trails off. My heart softens at his apology and taking a deep breath I walk back around the corner.

"How are we supposed to make this work Jared? We're incompatible" 

I hear him mutter from around the corner; his words are too quick and too quiet for me to hear. I lean my head back against the cool white wall and sink to my knees. Jared doesn't reply. He must think the same thing; the thought hurts me. 

"Lara" Jared's voice breaks through the void. "We may be incompatible but we've got a little less than three months to try and figure all of this out. I'm sorry about earlier, I was wrong"

"Okay" I sigh. "We can try but you shouldn’t have made that decision’ I say calmly.

When I reach him, I give him a small hug. He returns my embrace and I breath in his scent. We're on to phase 2; I have memorized his scent of lemongrass and cinnamon. The thought makes my heart rate spike in excitement. Jared doesn't need to know though, it may scare him off.

"Can we just start over?" he asks softly.

"Sure"

Jared pulls away from the embrace and I have to hold in a whimper. I scold myself for being so pathetic. The coldness of his skin lingers on mine; I feel almost as if my skin is glowing wherever he touches me. 

"Hi, I’m Jared Miller"

"Really?" I chuckle, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Yes 'really'" Jared grins. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't quite catch your name"

"You're an idiot" I roll my eyes.

Jared's eyes darken a fraction and I cower back at their change. His eyes glaze over as I feel my back connect with the wall. I stare at him, waiting for any kind of movement. His hand suddenly slams against the wall, a mere few inches from my head. I can feel the impact vibrate through the solid walls; surely that must have done his fist some damage. My breathing falters as my eyes widen in horror. His black eyes glint menacingly as I try and slip out of his gaze. My attempts are short lived as his other hand blocks my exit from the other side of my head.

"Jared?" I whisper, my mouth begins to dry up. Jared's eyes are fixed on my face; he looks to be in deep mental conflict with himself. 

His hands are suddenly removed from either side of my head. He scowls, though it doesn't seem to be directed at me. A wave of relief washes over me and I exhale loudly. 

"Sorry" Jared mutters. I smile nervously at him but his frown doesn't lift.

"Are you alright?" 

Jared doesn't answer. I feel my own body tense as I see his fists clench into tight balls; his knuckles bleach white in the process.

"There's a Leto dinner tonight" My voice is strained, it sounds alien. "What should we do?"

Jared's head snaps up to attention. My lips separate in shock as our eyes meet; no longer are the pitch black orbs that glared so alarmingly just a few moments ago, instead they have been replaced with the normal hazel hue.

"Act" He shrugs. My eyes don't leave his. How did they change colours?

"You want us to fake being in love?" 

"Yes" Jared says impassively; I frown. This is unlike him. "Judging from earlier though, you seem unwillinging to co-operate"

I glare at him. "That was a stupid joke"

"Just go with it Lara" He spits before turning away and striding down the corridor.

I'm stand, watching his intimidating figure march away; he doesn't look back once. Instead I'm left with a confused mind and an indented wall with the marks of fists.

 What the hell just happened?