Remember the good times?
Ha.
Of course he’d say something like that. Always sweet and kind even when his life collapsed right in front of his eyes, unable to patch up the fragmentshedidn’t break.
My foolishly pure Aoi. The world never deserved him.
Neither did I.
But I won’t let it take him from me. I don’t care that I haven’t earned his love, it was always a blessing I didn’t deserve, but I still want it.
I want him.Need him.
My love. My Paradise.
Hold on to the thread for me.
I’m coming.
56
Aoi
My eyes flutter open and faded paint looks back at me.
My body feels too heavy to move but I’m wrapped in warmth and soft cotton. The frost in my bones has evaporated and a familiar yet haunting scent tickles my nose.
“Why did you save me?” I ask, staring at the ceiling. “I didn’t want that. You should have let me drown.”
“I couldn’t let you end your life so stupidly,” Jason responds casually, threading his fingers through my hair.
I glance at him and am met with bloodshot hazel irises. “Did you cry?”
“Do I look like I cried?” He smiles crookedly at me and grabs my hand. “Would you comfort me if I had?”
“You don’t need my comfort.” I sit up and wince at the sudden ache in my temple. “How long was I out?”
“Not long. A couple of hours.”
“Where are we?”
He gets off the bed and dusts off his clothes. “Are you hungry?”
I blink at him, waiting for an answer to my question but instead, he walks over to his vest discarded on the back of a chair in a corner of the room. Pulling out his phone, he types something in it before turning to me.
“I can order some food if you want.”
I frown and scramble out from beneath the sheets. “You’re avoiding my question. Why? Where are we?”
Jason sighs and stuffs his phone back into the pocket of his vest before meeting me halfway across the room and cupping my face. “Why are you getting so agitated, my dear? You have nothing to worry about. Rest more. After what you went through, you need to regain your strength.”
The tension in my shoulders doesn’t ease, but I’m fully aware of the exhaustion weighing down on me. I can’t shake the feeling that if I lay down in that bed something bad will happen.
“I’m fine.”
“That word holds no meaning coming from you.”
“Why are you pretending to be so caring and understanding all of a sudden?” I eye him attentively and notice the twitch in his jaw. “There’s no way you’re okay with what I did, but here you are, acting like it’s nothing.”
