𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐌

84| O T T A N T A-Q U A T T R O

ALESSANDRO'S POV

The room is blurry, light shimmering through windows as I feel a weight on top of me.

Hair falls on my face, blocking the blurry sight for a moment and when it removes, I blink and see normally once again.

"Good morning" her voice opens my senses, alerting me of all surroundings and elements. She grabs my chin with her hand and pulls me for a kiss.

I lean with her as she ends our touch and sits up. My eyelids feel heavy, dragged downwards to a clear force. I rub them and my throat dries. "What time is it?" My head falls back on the pillow, not in full strength for movement this early.

"It's five in the afternoon" I shot back up, glaring at her in shock. We've been asleep for almost an entire day.

"Did you sleep" the question trails off my tongue without consideration so I let it sink in and wait for her answer. "I guess" A hint of color creeps up her cheeks while my jaw drops.

I stutter, unsure where to start. She smiles and takes the wheel without my request. "I can only guess. The hours passed quickly yet slower seconds after another. It was like the world around me was moving, spinning rapidly while I stood alone in the middle, my body pinned where it was and if I attempted a stretch, it was slow, dead."

Listening to her speak softly about the sleep she had never experienced sent my guard down, got rid of any unease and concentrated attentively on her. "It felt real, too real for a dream and too fanciful for a truth" my mind calculates, taking notes in case I could help solve the mystery but it ends up in a blank space every time. "How do you feel"

With a deep inhale, she began exhaling along the words, "I feel absent, I'm not here, a part of me is missing, not present in this life as I breathe. And that piece is hiding, somewhere out of my reach, somewhere I'm not allowed to cross, to learn of, it's meant to be left unknown, it's better left unknown"

We push through the bed and make it to the shower. Tonight Akila and I are going on a date. Hell, I wished it was for us but no. We're going on separate ones, me with Georgiana and her with Darius.

We figured if he knows who we are then he must know our cover and follow us. Akila has told him her real name and now it's clear why she did. He would hunt, crave knowledge he doesn't have, the veracity stolen from him.

We're taking both dates to the same restaurant, quiet in the town but calm and decent for first dates. They start at the same time, eight on the dot and knowing Akila and myself, we hate being late so let's hope they show up in time and we don't end up having a date of our own as I deeply hope.

Akila leaves the shower before me, saving her time to dry her long hair which I'm still stunned by how it grew back in a matter of weeks. She hasn't cut it that short, only a few inches above her back muscles yet it grew back, falling on her lower back once again.

The sound of the air dryer breaks through the walls as I step out with a towel wrapped around my waist. Akila gives me one look past the mirror and focuses back onto her hair. She grabs the hot machine into her mouth and processes to fluff her wet strands.

I chuckle and walk up to her, my fingers drawn into her brown soft curls, shaking the water out of it gently. She grips the hair dryer and points it where my hands work the variety of shades in her locks I will never figure out.