"I don't want you to leave me..."
"I won't let you go..."
Odette jolted awake. Her room, it was raining outside. The fragments of last night puzzled into one memory and her heart throbbed. Her first kiss. Stolen by Nathaniel. Her second kiss too-
"Mama ?" Gideon waited because he always knew his mother would wake up and hug him first before anything else. Today she did not even know he was there.
Shaken by the voice, Odette found her son sitting at the side of the bed and drew him close. Her heart sprang up and down loudly, her lips tingling.
"Mama are you okay ?" At that question of concern she nodded emptily.
"Mama....is okay baby."
The night was long and it was dark. A few buildings away, in the most luxurious bedroom, he stood facing a window.
Every second of it...every part of hers that his lips touched. Every part of hers that his hands roamed. They were flooding his heart and his eyes gazed far off into the sky.
"Master." Toby entered the room to see Caius sitting near a window. Upper body bare ; a black pant shrouded beneath.
Restless eyes shifted. "What is it, Toby?"
"Young master Romano wishes to speak to you."
The butler sensed a shift of emotion. He watched as his master scrunched his eyebrows and looked towards the sky, almost as if he was angry. However, within a few seconds, as if a thought dawned upon him, a smile krept into his lips. What was he mocking? Who was he mocking through that smirk?
"Let him in."
Before the butler returned, the doors banged open and in came Nathaniel. Eyes filled with anger and grief. He ushered the butler out and hastily walked towards Caius,
"You lied to me." He spoke. "Last night, my men and I travelled for nothing."
Caius nodded and turned to face the younger. "The minor families that revolve around me are bound to obey any order I give."
At this, Nathaniel shot forward and pointed at the other. "YOU KNEW I WAS GOING TO SPEAK WITH ETTE AFTER THE PARTY!"
Caius did not show any mercy. Showing emotions or any sense of reaction to this young boy in his eyes deemed a waste of time. He simply stepped forward pushing Nathaniels's finger into his chest.
"I also know that you frequently see her." He calmly replied. "She makes those pastries for you, huh?" A flicker of fire lit up in his chest. "She would listen to you speak, and you would listen to her laugh and smile." The fire grew larger and his heart pounded faster, imagining all the words exchanged by them.
Nathaniel laughed almost in anger. His eyes could not believe the way this man stood unscathed after deceiving him. Why was the world so unfair? How on earth was he born inferior to him?!
"Of course she did." He smiled and looked Caius straight in his eyes. "She loves listening to the things I say about the world you took away from her."
At thi, Caius shot up and grabbed the other by his collar. Nathaniel did not stop.
"You want he, don't you?" He laughed, " You want her all to yourself when you can't even treat her sincerely."
Caius fumed within. His body burned in shame and humiliation because he knew it was true. No one had taught him how to love.
"What I want to do with her life is not your concern." Voice as low as a resonating sword, he enunciated every word carefully. " I brought her here... I will decide."
"Set her free." Natnaniel clicked his tongue. "You're hurting the person I value the most."
Holding him by his collar, having control over the things that he did felt great for the master of Constantine. He reminisced the few minutes he spent with Odette under the dark blanket of the night
The way her hands latched onto his finding the way to walk. Her soft hands holding him for support. When he drew her close to him and her eyes looked up in wonder and shock. He could not resist how her lips parting in surprise. He could not distance himself in that moment, and it was redeeming to dive in and kiss her.
He reminisced the way his senses dimmed and her voice gasped. The touch of her lips pulled out nails within his heart, which kept on torturing him. To feel belonged before anyone would take it away from him. He knew it was wrong, but her warmth was addictive.
"Nathaniel." Caius smiled eerily, " I decide what is precious to you." His words cut like a blade through the youngsters heart. The smile of victory disappeared, and he viciously tug himself free.
"She won't love you." Before he walked away, Nathaniel spat. "You break people just like you did to the two people you killed."
At this, Caius watched him walk out in anger and in defeat. A fragment of his past clung to him when those words reached his ears. The woman he was supposed to marry the woman he loved. The man he came from. They all made him who he was today.
He feared himself. Would he hurt her like he did to all of them in his past ?
She was in a daze but she had to move on to the little work she had in this place. Her only helping distraction was baking and reading. Gideon was asleep and it was daytime, soon reaching the lunch hours. After a hearty meal now he was asleep.
A few distance away from her rooming area was a building where no one resided. The hallways were painted a beautiful rose-white, and they did not look scary or too big. The carpets all weaved and simple. When her heart was anxious about Caius, she would show up at the library she would read in this place. There was a large panel of glass separating a backyard green and lush. Her habit of using this place as a stress relief started recently.
Today, she needed to be here. Her lips still tingled.
In her hands she held a book compiled of poems. She specifically wanted to ponder upon the poem titled Crimson Rain sought flower. A young city master falling in awe of a flower under the blood rain, extending his paper umbrella to shelter its beauty.
When she returned back from her place of rest, she saw a tall figure stand inside her room. For a momen, her heart stopped beatin, thinking it was Nathaniel.
"Caius?"
There was a feeling of guilt within him. He desperately wanted forgiveness. He waited and waited for her to return and finally his eyes smiled as he heard her voice.
"Odette." She was wearing a big T - shirt one would wear indoors. Paired with shorts and slippers. Hair loosened up into a braid.
She saw him stare at him all over and felt self aware. "I'm sorry I woke up and just wore whatever was there cause I had to cook for-"
"That's fine." He smiled lightly. "I'm sure my brother is quite an active child." He nodded, feeling a sense of ice piercing tickle in his chest.
What was this new way of being nice to me? Her eyes searched his face. But she laughed dryly. "I mean...hahaha I am his legal mom now, so yeah... kids, you know."
She watched as he looked away and chuckle. "You are his legal mom, that's right. I don't blame you or hate you for that."
A moment of silence and could not stand the tension.
"Listen... I want to-"
"You were right..."Odette jumped in. Her eyes directed at Caius. "I should've been careful."