Love Again ✔

5. One Secret

Rose (Ella):

He stares at me for a minute, his eyes reflecting the inner conflict he seems to be going through. I hope I didn't ask too much of him, because he seems really uncomfortable, conflicted, and a little worried.

After another minute of me impatiently waiting for an answer, he finally nods his agreement. I'm about to beam at him when he speaks. "But."

"There's a b-but?" I frown, my heart skipping a beat. My alarm bells are going off in my mind, warning me that this looks like the beginning of another mind game. One I don't have anything left in me to play.

"I promise to do everything you just said. I'll be as honest as humanly possible. I'll always be open with you for as long as we're acquainted with each other and I'll keep the assumptions to a minimum. However, there's one secret that I can't share just yet." My heart drops. "One secret that I can't confess now, but I promise you when the time comes I'll tell you all about it."

"A-are you a secret assassin or s-something?" I'm only half joking as I wipe my sweaty palms over my jeans.

Chuckling, he shakes his head, the midnight black locks of hair above his head reminding me of a raven. "Certainly not. I'll put your mind at ease. It's about the girl I'm in love with. I wanna keep her identity a secret."

That's it?

"That's the secret you w-want to keep from me?" I ask skeptically, because this seems a little too easy. I mean, why would someone agree to be utterly honest and transparent with a complete stranger just because she has trust issues. I thought he'd run for the hills, honestly.

He doesn't even know that it's not him I don't trust. It's me. I don't trust myself with people anymore. I don't trust my judgment. I don't trust myself to understand what they mean correctly if they're not talking completely clearly. I don't trust to have a hold over my stupid emotions and know when to come back from fairytale land and live in reality.

"Yes. I can't tell you who she is. One day I will, I promise. But not now. Not before I make sure she's ready for me first. I'll be as honest with you as you are with me regarding everything else. But please don't ask me who she is, because I can't tell you that just yet. Is that okay?" He asks nervously and I want to laugh at how ridiculous he sounds.

"Of course it's o-okay." I beam at him, a whole hell of a lot more comfortable now.

"Then you have yourself a deal." Theo grins back at me and I almost sigh at how cute he looks. "Oh, and since we're on the topic of being honest, you should know that today wasn't the first time we met."

I tense at that. Searching my brain for any memory of this dashingly handsome man before today, I come up empty. "How c-come?"

"We met around a year ago, right before you started taking your classes online." He admits and my heart beats faster.

"How do y-you know about that?" Biting the inside of my cheek, I try to remain calm.

If Theo notices how nervous I am, he doesn't show it. "We used to take three classes together. One day I came up to talk to you and introduce myself but before we could have a decent conversation my friends and yours pulled us apart. I never saw you again before today. When you suddenly disappeared, I asked our professors about you, and they said that you decided to finish school online. I never thought I'd see you again." He looks at me with so much affection, his soft eyes somehow caressing my fears away and I feel the heat rise to my cheeks as I stare back at his eyes. So I immediately look down to my plate instead.

I don't remember ever seeing him before, to be honest. But if what he's saying is true then it must have been right before Jaxon left for LA. I never thought someone would care enough to ask around about me. Even my so called friends disappeared from my life as soon as I crumbled.