₁𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞... 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐

𝒊. 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐

𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨.

****

Determination was wrought through each shifting shade in her eyes. Her gaze was fixated on the war field in front of her, with an impeccable poker face hiding what she really felt as she looked at the battle she was to win, at any cost.

The black and white checkered boxes were imprinted in a fire in front of her eyes as Lorelle stared at the board of power in front of her, thinking of what power move she'd use to defeat her opponent.

A pair of sea-green eyes scanned the chessboard in front of her, two slender fingers lifting up to move her queen to safety.

She looked up from the chessboard and into a pair of blue eyes. They stared back at her with shocking intensity, and Lorelle felt her lips curling upward as she saw the impish grin on light pink lips turn into a worried frown as he un-steepled his fingers to stare at the chessboard in front of him.

The face he possessed was hued with the light of the dusk that was filtering in through the spaces in the blinds, casting shadows across his sculpted features. Long eyelashes brushed against his cheeks as he blinked, his eyelids adorned with a light gold sheen as always. 

Lorelle let out a slight chuckle, devoid of any true emotion, and the frown on Apollo's face became more prominent as it deepened. His gaze on the chessboard was unwavering as he figured out what his next move would be.

Lorelle's gaze, however, was trained on the mop of golden hair that grew on the bent head of her best friend as he looked down upon his pieces that were scattered across the chessboard. A strand of hair had fallen into his eyes, but he took no note of it, probably too used to being there to be bothered by it.

His expression became even more troubled as he looked up at Lorelle with a pleading look on his face.

She smirked. Serves him right for trying to take my queen away.

He looked back down at the chessboard as she cocked an eyebrow at him, the smirk fixed onto her lips. Amusement danced in her eyes as she seemed to say to him, What happened to the guy who tried to steal my queen?

He looked helpless as he moved his pawn forward, clearing the path for Lorelle's queen as he failed to see it there.

Lorelle's smirk morphed into a grin as she moved her queen vertically across the board, bringing it to rest next to the king as she exclaimed, "Checkmate!"

Apollo's eyes seemed to plead with her as he asked her, "You couldn't go easy on me? I'm your best friend!"

Lorelle's gaze hardened as she looked at him, "This is war, Apollo. Friends and family don't matter here."

Trust and friendship.

Lorelle had come to learn that these two could never be permanent. They would forever be like bridges made of paper, ripped to shreds with such ease and force that could be compared to lifting one's arm.