𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄

ᴇɴᴛʀʏ #45 | ᴀᴄʜᴇ

045 | Ache

"Are we going to eat lunch together?" Jess asked sweetly as she clutched onto Valen's arm, her brown eyes and smile as warm as the sun outside, however the look only making his expression chill.

"Actually... we can't," he let out a small sigh as he slid his arm from her grasp.

"Huh? Why?"

"I have a... prior engagement with Mr. Ryder about one of the projects we are doing in class," he said with a small shrug as he slid his hands into his pockets, the lies sliding easily off of his tongue as if he were actually speaking the truth. "Sorry I can't eat lunch with you, babe. Maybe some other time, though?"

"Sure," she nodded, not suspecting a thing. "I'll see you later, then. Good luck with your project thing!"

Then, she was gone.

Finally.

Letting out a small sigh as he briefly fluttered his eyes close, Valen then decided to search in the one spot that he hadn't tried yet: the roof. Not many people he knew of frequented that location, but if he couldn't find (Y/N) in the cafeteria or with her friends outside, that was the one place where people went to be alone.

It seems like she needs that time.

After everything that's happened to her... I believe it's only natural.

But it's also perfect for me.

Trying to suppress the grin that threatened to cross his lips, Valen walked down the halls towards the rather secluded staircase up to the roof, glancing around to make that sure no one was around before ascending and opening the door to the outside. What he found was rather unexpected: (Y/N), alone, her head buried in her arms while she hugged her knees close to her chest. While he was a bit further away from her, he was still able to hear her silent crying.

He hesitated.

She's... crying.

For some reason, I honestly didn't expect that.

Someone with such a strong will like yours... I expected you to be forlorn, but never to cry.

How interesting.

Closing the door behind him, he slowly approached (Y/N) and mentally chided himself when she looked up, knowing that his footsteps weren't as quiet as he wanted them to be. Just like he expected, she was quick to wipe away her tears before scowling at him, her hackles raised along with her suspicions. However, she didn't say anything to him, instead looking away so he could no longer look upon her face and see her tear streaked cheeks. Not deterred, Valen approached her and sat down beside her.

"What do you want?" She muttered.

"Nothing."

"Then why are you here?"

"I came to the roof to be alone," he lied once more, not wanting her to know that he had been looking for her. "I didn't expect you to be here. Nor did I expect for you to be crying."

"What can I say?" She mumbled with a rather dry laugh. "When you get kidnapped by someone, you get fucking emotional."

"Then... you can cry. I won't judge."

"I'm not going to cry in front of the likes of you."

"The likes of me?" Valen smirked as he propped his arms up on his knees, watching as she shot him a glare that clearly told him to shut up—it was a warning he was clearly going to ignore, as he so usually did. "When you say it so harshly like that, I can't help but get the feeling that you don't like me."

"Wow, I wonder why?"

He merely hummed at (Y/N)'s rather dry and sarcastic reply, looking out down towards where the field lay that sparkled with freshly watered grass, the majestic statue of Florens' founder standing proudly in the middle of it all. He couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy when he sat there with (Y/N) looking down on everything, but he couldn't put a finger on why. He also couldn't help but feel something else as he sat there with her, wondering why she wasn't trying to leave or push him as usual, and finding that he felt good at the fact that she wasn't. As they sat there in silence, the wind blowing their hair softly, he cautiously wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

At first, (Y/N) resisted.

Gradually, though, she eased up.

He could tell.

She needs someone.

She needed someone who wouldn't constantly ask her if she was okay, who wouldn't constantly look at her in pity, and who wouldn't constantly try and smother her.

She needed normalcy.

She wanted normalcy.

And Valen had been giving her exactly that.

As he felt the way she leaned against him, trying to memorize everything about it, he pressed his other hand to his chest when feeling how rapidly his heart was starting to beat. He didn't necessarily dislike the feeling, but combined with the rather light way his stomach seemed to be, he felt fidgety and on edge. However, he didn't want to move. In fact, all he wanted to do was become even closer to her.

He wanted to hold her tighter.

He wanted to run his fingers through her hair.

He wanted to feel the warmth of her skin when she was blushing.

Really, he wanted to kiss her again.

Trying to ignore these urges—these strange fixations that kept taking a hold over him—he just sat there rigidly.

"What do you want from me, Valen?" (Y/N) suddenly asked, Valen finding it incredulous that he was still able to hear her over the pounding of his heart. "You have this... act that you put up. One that likes to act like you care for Jess while hurting me. But then, there's this other side of you. One that's caring, one that's... kind. Which one is real? I want to know... because the side that I'm seeing right now is the side that I want to believe is real."

His eyes searched hers as she pulled away, seeing nothing but a cold (E/C) that burned into his very being, wanting to know everything.

"I... don't know," he started slowly and softly. "I just... want you."

As he spoke those words, knowing them to be true, he and (Y/N) didn't realize that a frigid gaze was staring at them, nor that the owner of such a stare looked about ready to kill.

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To be continued...