24

I woke up from his embrace.

I want to make this moment last longer than it should. He is the first person I'd wanted to be with forever.

I propped myself up to stare at him. Soft curls of brown locks of hair covered his eyes. I swatted them away. It was the double lids that made him even more handsome. His eyes, even when closed reminds me of starless sky.

"You intoxicate me. " My lips quivered as I kissed his rosy-white cheeks.

His chest rose high and dipped low. A pattern I grew accustomed to.

"Why did you have to save me? " I left his warm embrace and tread to the my closet.

My eyes blurred from tears as I opened the lid. My knees gave way, my arms failed to catch the contents as they fell with a soft thud on the carpeted floor.

I felt helpless.

It haunts me, each nightmare much more frightening than ever. Each night is filled with uncertainty, tomorrow may never come, and the future...

The future is always bleak.

And just like what I always do.

I cried.

I haven't noticed how long I laid down. I couldn't look at it the blood-stained letters, much more dare to open them.

I couldn't breathe.






Next thing I knew I was crying hard all the while keeping the letters back to the old box that touched through the expanse of time.

"Penny for your thoughts? " I took the time to tame the frenzied butterflies in my stomach. The atmosphere was beyond awkward I could tell. With his right hand resting on my thighs while, his left gently massaging my shoulders.

It was just seconds after I kept my things away when I heard a shuffling of sheet.

His dimples delve deeper everytime he smiles at me.

" Not this time." I whispered-yelled.

I woke up in the middle of the night with beads of sweat and laboured breaths. I never want to disturb him so I got out of bed and decided to sleep on the couch but I found him following my trail with a blanket on one hand and a glass of water on one hand.

" Is it grayscale or black night canvas? " He tucked an errant hair behind my ear, all the while massaging my temples.

" White. " I brought my hand to cradle my head. It felt like someone's incessantly drilling holes on my head. I closed my eyes to contain the dizziness I felt. I bit my lip to stop myself from gagging.

He led me to the balcony. The cool breeze of dawn helped, trivial maybe but better nonetheless.

"You should go back to sleep. I just think I'm nervous for tomorrow. Don't mind me."

" What? I know you're not here for air but for me. Spill. "

"Oh I didn't! It was you who brought me here."

"Just quenched your unmistakable thirst."

"How bold of you to assume I'm thinking of you." I giggled

" Oh please the amount of confidence I have might drown you. You need a life saver, you need me. I can be your life boat. Ride the tide baby. "

" You sound like an old man trying to flirt with an eighteen year old. "

" You looked like a fifty year old widower. So bitter and bland. "

" How mature. " I stuck my tongue out.

" The million things I'd love to do to you. "

" Nada, weightless words." I flicked his nose.

" I can flirt all day long but that's just that, flirting. We're too old for that. I want something that's real.

" Don't go there. It's a dark winding road of uncertainty." I looked at the vast nothingness.

" I told you to never fall for me. " I hugged myself.

" I'm not falling for you. I trying to seduce you.

" Well it's not working. "

" Not yet."

Then he kissed me.