four

her

"south, you did a

very good job! capturing

her eyes and simplicity was wonderful."

he beams, overwhelmed

with the attention directed towards him

and he looks at me and grins like a weirdo,

mouthing: thank you, beauty.

i roll my eyes and wait

for my turn to come,

but the teacher goes on

"what do you see,

when you look at her, south?

because we can all see the emotion

poured into this picture."

he gulps and says:

"i see beauty. the most breathtaking kind,

the haunting, magical kind. the one that

might be deadly, because it kills you of heartbreak."

she laughs:

"are you implying that she

broke your heart? or—the opposite?"

south gives me a solemn smile

and says: "it would be a miracle

just to have her make me fall in love with

her, honestly. but to have her be in love with

me as well, ah! it would be a dream come true."

i stiffen, feeling my veins stop

pumping blood, my arteries blocking up

no one has ever said anything so nice

to me, except for him.

he was a rhapsody,

a cup of expensive wine,

with whom i had the pleasure of

falling in love. blue eyes,

blonde curls—he was the opposite

of anything beautiful but gave off

a smell of chocolate cake that

i could never resist.

he was poison.

"you know, rose, you're really hot," he says.

i grin, "am i?" he hums against my neck,

"indeed. not beautiful, just really hot."

"but i want to be beautiful, not hot—"

he pulls away, eyes darkening with the

rage that created my nightmares.

he twists my wrist to a point where

i think it might be broken.

"you are whatever i want you to be,"

he whispers.

"ROSEMARY! wake up, please!"

i am shaken up by south, who is

dangerously close to me

i stare at him and he blubbers:

"you fainted and started breathing really

hard and i got so scared for you, rosemary!

so i brought you outside of the room because

people were staring and i know you hate that.

are you okay?"

lie after lie,

i say the same thing i said

when my friends questioned the bruises

on my arms and legs

"i'm fine."

-

him

she is not okay,

and my pulse is losing its control

because if anything happens to her,

i feel like all the roses in the world

would wilt and wither to nothingness

"don't lie to me, please." i mutter.

"i'm not," she says, "get your hands off me."

i pull my hand off her shoulder and she

is on the verge of tears, crumbling.

the sight of such strength,

looking so weak terrifies me.

because what do you do

when the warrior sobs?

"shit, fuck, shit."

i frown, "don't curse."

"don't tell me what to do."

she blinks, gulps and looks up

"please go away."

she wraps her hands

around her small knees

and looks at a stack of books

i pull out a crumpled tissue

and hand it to her.

"i'm never going away," i reassure.

she glances at me, "never?"

"never. ever. ever. ever."

rosemary puts her hand on mine

and says: "thank you."

those two words seem

beautiful coming out of her.

-

this takes place like  a month after they've met, so calm down guys.