Kisses after midnight (WICKED #0) | ✓

48

SAHAR'S HOME WAS WARM. Her driver had brought them there, the whole ride full of fussing and complaints. Mateo had expected Bas to have been the same as him, to have sought the silence only fists on bone brought, but apparently today had been the first night he had gotten himself in a fight. He wouldn't tell the reason just yet, but Sahar seemed glad enough that his injuries were minor.

Alina had been gone when Sahar and Gabriela had appeared, but Mateo wasn't surprised. She never had been one to stick around for long and he knew she'd never come with them anyway. That didn't mean he wasn't going to go back later for her though, when he was in the right mindset to help someone other than himself. He leaned closer to Gabriela on the couch they were sitting on, Sahar tending to Bas' wounds opposite them. They were in the wide living room, the rest of Sahar's family all over the place, from watching television on the other side of the room to the kitchen, where some of her siblings were cooking up a late night snack.

"It didn't work out?" Sahar asked, though it sounded like she already knew the answer.

"No," Bas said quietly.

When he noticed their eyes on him he turned towards Mateo, expression undecipherable.

"I disappeared for a reason," he said," immediately after. I thought I'd be able to take that man down, to take revenge, to let him get what was coming to him -" He swallowed. "I tried to find evidence of what he did, to do anything, but there's nothing. I'm as powerless as ever."

"I tried looking as well," Sahar told them, voice tinged with sadness as she placed a flower band-aid on Bas' cheek," I hired a private investigator, but the ambassador really cleaned his tracks. There's nothing left to accuse him with, except perhaps if Bas was to attack him personally."

"But even that would be on an empty basis," Bas said with a shake of his head, a certain defeat settling in him," who would believe the disowned, screw-up son above the perfect ambassador?" It sounded like he was talking more to himself than them, like he was finally allowing the realization to dawn on him, no matter how heartbreaking it was. "Somewhere I had thought I could make him pay, but unfortunately reality isn't always that kind. In the end I'm a powerless kid with nothing to my name and he's one of the most influential men in the country."

"When did having power mean you're above the law?" Gabriela said, the injustice of it all clear in her clenched fists," this system is rigged."

"It is," Bas murmured.

Sahar's eyes welled up with tears as she pulled Bas into a hug, that gentleness she carried around herself enveloping Bas as well. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if allowing himself to be vulnerable, words hesitant.

"I'm sorry for letting you worry," he murmured," I shouldn't have left that suddenly, but I was just so fed up - I had to get out, to lose this scalding anger somehow."

"Don't apologize," she said simply, her tears glittering on her cheeks like morning dew on roses," you know I'm here for you, always." She chuckled then, pulling back to look at him. "Besides, you still have your location shared with me from the time we went to that protest together and you were sure you'd lose me in the crowd and die."

"Some of those people there gave off very weird vibes," Bas exclaimed," and one tried to get me to sign something I'm pretty sure was a pyramid scheme. We both know I'd be the first to die if I end up in a cult or something, I'm annoying as fuck."

"I think you're lovely," Mateo chipped in.

"So you're not going to say I'm not annoying?" Bas frowned.

"I'm sorry," Mateo said," I have been taught not to lie."

"I'm not even going to reply to that," Bas huffed.

It all felt so natural, like his grasp on normalcy was returning. Gabriela could sense it too, her expression warm as she rolled her eyes at their conversation. Once she noticed his gaze on she looked back at him, eyebrow raised in a silent question. He didn't say anything though, a smile on his lips before he could stop himself as he placed his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.

She leaned in to his hug, usual clear voice softly amused when she spoke. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he said," I just missed you."

"You're too cheesy," Gabriela chuckled," but I'll let it go because it's you."

Bas had been right. He was done being sad, being guilty and though he knew he wouldn't be able to change his emotions immediately, that didn't mean he wouldn't try. His eyes wandered across Gabriela's hands, smudged with ink and calloused from the hours of studying he knew she put in. Next to her perfect GPA his looked like a joke, but he was so happy that she was so close to achieving everything she wanted. She always had been this good for this town, this world.

"I have something to say," Bas said then, interrupting Mateo's thoughts and pulling his attention back to him.

"Really?" Sahar whispered, sadness tinging her voice as she squeezed his hand," I can't change your mind?"

His eyes were soft as morning dew when he looked at her, but he still shook his head. "I'm sorry, I have to do this."

Mateo immediately felt on edge, Gabriela speaking first, eyes confused.

"What is it?" she said.

Bas cleared his throat, awkwardly rubbing his neck as he turned to them, before finally breaking the silence.

"I'm leaving."

Mateo almost jumped up, Gabriela's hand on his arm tugging him down before he could. The news hit him like lightning, electricity still coursing in his veins as he watched his best friend continue.

"I have to," Bas said, his voice clear despite it all," I have no family here anymore outside of my older brother and he's still in boarding school. Besides, I would never ask him to choose between that man or me." He looked warmly at Sahar. "And I know I could stay with some of you, but it really doesn't feel right. I'd feel like a freeloader, but more importantly, I'd be scared my presence will put a target on your backs as well."

Mateo wanted to speak, but Gabriela gently shook her head at him, causing him to close his mouth again.

"I've thought about this from the moment..." Bas began, swallowing before he continued," well, you know what moment. His wife told me she was leaving to Europe, to stay with her parents in Germany for a while, and asked me to come with. I've been delaying it by trying to tell myself I could somehow manage to get revenge on my father, but I've had the sour aftertaste of reality in my mouth a long time now." He breathed out. "Anyway, I was going to find you after blowing off all my steam tonight, so I could tell you. The flight leaves next week."

Mateo had a lot he wanted to say, but knew Bas hadn't made this decision lightly. He had heard the ambassador speak, had seen the anger that had consumed him this whole school year. It would be selfish to ask him to stay when he had finally become gentler, selfish to hold him back knowing that he'd never be able to fully let go here. So instead he let the words he had wanted to say dissolve in his throat and nodded, a smile on his lips.

"I'll throw you a farewell party," Mateo said," full-on St Joseph style. I won't let you go out without a blast."

Bas looked surprised by his response, but that emotion was quickly concealed by a smile, faintly melancholic somehow.

"Alright," he said," I'm looking forward to it."