1.2 | Je T'aime Encore ✓

07 | eros

07

e r o s

Anita stood outside Leon's familiar apartment, drinking in her surroundings. It was the same place that they spent the summers when they were dating, the same place Anita had missed. She cringed at this thought, and was about to knock, but then saw the door was already slightly open, so she just pushed it open.

"Leon?" she called out hesitantly, taking a step in. "I'm here!"

She didn't hear a response, so she walked in deeper into the luxury apartment Leon had spent his savings on. She still didn't see him, but she heard Beethoven playing from his studio, so she hesitantly walked in, not wanting to disturb Leon while he was painting.

Sure enough, Leon was sitting on his stool, his face screwed up in concentration as he added the finishing touches to his painting. Anita leaned against the wall, watching him paint for a moment, not thinking about how creepy it must look.

She forgot how good of an artist Leon was, and could see the details of the painting so well, it was almost as if she could tell the story of the whole painting and the emotions from just looking at it.

For a second, Anita felt jealous; Leon was so good at painting people, but Anita could only draw scenery or still lifes. She knew Leon couldn't draw anything unless it came out of his imagination, which made her feel better sometimes, but at times like this it didn't.

She didn't even realize how intently she was staring at the painting until Leon finished and smiled nervously. "Hey, Anita. I didn't hear you come in, sorry."

"You know, your door was open. I just pushed open the door and came in. So, hypothetically, a murderer could come into your house and kill you, but you wouldn't even notice until you got hurt because you were so absorbed in your painting." Anita said, still looking at the painting.

Leon laughed, his eyes crinkling, and Anita wished she didn't say anything because now she could feel her heart aching. "So, what do you think of the painting? Is the theme weird?"

Anita tilted her head and stared at it. "It's beautiful, but I have no idea what it is." She said, not wanting to lie if it was about art.

"Well, in this picture, it's Eros and Psyche. And the theme is Greek mythology, because..." He noticed Anita's look and stopped talking. "I'm going to stop geeking out, now."

Anita's lips curved into a small smile, before she let it fall. Of course Leon was doing Greek mythology. That was one of the many topics Leon could talk about all day, and never get bored of.

Wanting to give Leon another chance while still knowing she would regret it, Anita sat down on the couch in the studio. "We still have 15 minutes before we have to go. Do you want to talk about the story?"

Leon's eyes brightened and he grinned. "Absolutely!" He started talking, but Anita wasn't listening. She was watching him walk around the room in excitement as he talked, his eyes brightening even more as he geeked out about his favorite topic. Anita remembered when they were still together, they would spend a whole day with Leon trying to tell her about Greek myths, while Anita just laughed at how excited this topic made him.

She was feeling the same way as she did then, and smiled at him, and he grinned back as he continued to talk. He finished talking about 10 minutes later, and flopped down on the couch next to Anita.

"You know, I really missed you, Anita." Leon said, looking into her eyes.

"I know," Anita said, and then softer, "I missed you, too." Slowly, they started to lean into each other, about to kiss, when Anita's phone rang, making her fall back, realizing what she was about to do.

"Hello?" Anita asked, turning away from Leon to hide her red cheeks.

"Anita?" Ms. Laurent's voice came out from the other end. "When are you guys coming to the shop?"

"Um, we're coming right now," Anita said. "See you in a minute, Ms. Laurent!"

She turned towards Leon who was trying to hold back his grin. "Shut up, Leon," She said, also smiling, before grabbing her purse.

"I didn't say anything!" He complained, following her out of his studio.

"I don't care," Anita said, trying to hide her smile.

And once again, they were back to their normal, playful banter that had stopped a year ago. And Anita didn't want it to stop again.