Forget me not

Chapter 8 - Know your place

"Aria had always treasured me from the start, she might not remember but she always chose me."

Shin was confident. That no matter what happened Aria would have chosen him in the end, his conclusion came from the countless days they spent and the trust he began slowly building so that he would finally have her in his palm with no forms of escape. Ace could not believe that such a twisted person ever existed before, one that would not hesitate to erase any means of Aria escaping. Shin walked past Ace turning only to mutter...

'Know your place."

His arrogant voice with his sad expression only made Ace want to know more. More about what happened between them, what occurred that made Shin this twisted or perhaps...he was always like this. Ace had no way of knowing but what he was certain of was that he wanted to save both of them. Sure Shin might have been a pain in the ass but he truly cared for Aria and maybe cared even more than what a normal lover should. What was different about true love and Shin's love was that Shin showed it but a more violent means and that he himself did not know what it meant to be in love and he himself also did not know what it meant to be and feel alive.

It has half an hour later that Aria awoke and noticed Ace at her bedside reading a novel, to her disappointment as she turned to quickly scan the room, the one she truly wanted to talk to was not there. She had thought of asking Ace but for some reason a nagging feeling in her told her to just wait and so she sat in silence eating apples that Ace had sliced up for her before she awoke. Every 10 minutes Aria would look at the clock wondering if Shin would stop by and Ace noticed this.

"Waiting for Shin to visit you?"

Aria was taken aback from that question but there was no use in denying it so she swept her head downwards and nodded blushing at the same time. She had remembered everything and yet from these past few weeks she had just wanted to see Shin again and she wanted to confirm her feelings for him. The ones she had then and the ones she had now. When she lost her memory it was true that she felt this hatred for Shin, a fear for him to put it in a lighter light. But now...She felt something extremely different. Something new and something that she could no longer explain as she was now. That's why she had to see him. She had to re-confirm her feelings once more, that way she could give him a true answer.

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Shin stared at the girl sitting on his lap.

He did not exactly want her there but he never denied letting her on. He just didn't care, girls like that could not take anything to the next level and he particularly didn't like the types that expected him to be here to see her. He hated those girls but he felt drained so he let her sit there feeling like she had won him over.

It was a few hours ago that he wondered into the back alley of where he first bullied Aria, he sat around in an empty spot and a blond girl waltzed over and sat on his lap. She didn't say anything and Shin took the consideration that maybe she just wanted comfort and if his lap could do something he would just leave it but it was now that she started getting annoying with the swooning of her body and holding onto his shoulders. Did he ever say that she was allowed to do that? She didn't even look that pretty, not as pretty as Aria. Not as soft as she was...

How he missed her and wanted to be by her side but at the moment Ace was with her and he knew that it would only take 5 minutes to be in the same room to start a fight and the noise would do Aria no good, especially when she's recovering from her new trauma of remembering.

Speaking of remembering...

Aria remembered everything, what he did, what made them tear apart. Her hatred would continue and she maybe didn't want to see him anymore. What he did was all for nothing if she didn't fall for him by now. Maybe she was with Ace right now holding hands. Maybe she was kissing him just like they were a few days ago...

Shin couldn't bear it anymore, the frustration of this woman on his lap, the thought of Aria with someone else and the fact that the sun was setting and he needed to get Aria a change of clothes for when she left was all he needed to lightly push the woman off and head home picking up a chicken for dinner on the way.

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"Ace, you can go home now." Aria spoke softly urging the young male to go home and rest.

"It's fine, besides you'll be alone. It doesn't look like Shin's coming back anyway."

"..."

Aria was hoping all day that Shin would come to visit, maybe bringing her a change of clothes or her favourite book but to her dismay he never ended up coming and all she had was a teddy bear that she had presumed Shin had left for her.

It made her sad that he didn't take the time to see her but he was busy with student council work so it was understandable that he couldn't come. 

It had taken some time but now she wanted to tell Shin that she forgave him and that she still loved him and she did probably all this time. Through the hate and sorrow she still believed in him and held her feelings for deep inside. Now it was ready to burst out like a party popper or a bag of lollies filled at the seam.

It was later that night that she finally convinced Ace to go home and it was a few seconds later that Shin walked through with a bag and a bouquet of roses. His face was a shocked face and he stood there at the doorway letting the petals from the roses fall to the ground in an elegant pace, making Aria think of the petals as blood slowly dripping from Shin's arm.