Work Text:
‘I can’t really feel it…’
‘No… I can. I just don’t want to.’
“I want to stop hesitating.”
Uttered by a lady with sunken eyes, whose irises were void; though, her pair of irises were comparable to a star — a neutron star.
“Then, what made you hesitate?”
A voice accompanied by the gentleness, which cascaded down the echoes within the manor they very reside in.
The said manor, the room they sat within were only filled with none but piles of papers of vastly different subjects: paintings, equations, and essays. Some papers were neatly organized by the cupboard; customized by intricate details and somehow an ungodly number of drawers — organized by the subject both people adore.
On hand, there were only a mug of coffee that was freshly brewed by their brewer and with a jasmine tea. Her eyes dropped to the tea that was on his side, and her hand slithered its way through the tea with incertitude.
Yet, as she stared back at the eyes that reflected hers, she slotted her fingers into the holder and took his tea in her hand. In the reflection of the earthy tea — brimming its essence with a floral scent — was a sheepish smile that slipped.
“I’ve told you, so. Again.”
The man spoke once more, despite not hearing any replies from his former question. Despite his tea being gone from his side, he never complained — he did not need to, nor want to. The contentment that impersonated his voice could be felt through vibrations that travelled its way to her dear core of love.
“I just cannot believe you, Aurelio.”
Murmured she, under the veiling dark that slowly enveloped their surroundings into a comforting palace that ‘Aurelio’ deemed soothing. The latter man only swept the incredulous long pale hair that reflected the moonlight’s color and shine.
It took Aurelio a long moment to ever speak a word to the vulnerable woman whom he gazed at. Dearly.
After a brief pause, he cleared his throat and fixed his glasses. The unmentioned knife was long forgotten on the coffee table.
“Well, I tried to show you for the past… decades, Cynthia.”
‘Bullshit.’
“I mean, I found ways, like appearing in your dreams-”
‘You can’t be real.’
“And I tried to be as noticeable as possible whenever we saw each other.”
‘Then, why now?’
“I really tried my best. Please. Listen to me.”
‘It’s consuming me, Aurelio. ‘
“So stop looking so tense with your thoughts, Cynthia. Your thoughts are bad for you.”
A firm voice rang out from the vocal chords of the white-haired man that knelt in front of her. Cynthia’s gaze snapped at the latter’s eyes with pure surprise.
“But I just can’t find this possible.”
Gentle hands landed on the shoulders of the kneeling man, as the owner of the said hands expressed her disbelief in a pained tune of her voice. Color red painted his white blouse, yet he simply brushed her hands out of his shoulders and brought them to his — encaging them.
“I am real, okay?”
He tried to utter out in his most authentic voice — it did not fail. The moment her hand was retrieved from his and pinched herself awake, she only stayed awake.
Bits by bits, her resolve started to dilute in surrender as Aurelio’s appearance was fully
captured in her view. His lavender eyes that stared back at hers; his pale skin that is akin to the dead — yet alive; his hair that dropped to his hips, with its undeniable colour of a snow; and such.
It felt abnormal to the lady.
Everything had dawned on her: the disorganized notes, their shared drinks of two different types of drinks, and his very presence that was in front of her. Cynthia could not deny it anymore — everything felt too real.
And their shared stained clothing? That, it can wait. The impending shatterbound cannon finally imploded as it fired itself within the fields.
“I really have been dreaming of this day, Aurelio. For so long. This exact feeling- moment- whatever these humans call it. I want to succumb to this feeling.”
Cynthia, albeit her voice was shaky from the emotional impact of the current atmosphere, gave into the feeling that felt like a lost tale ever since her earliest memory.
“Well, it is not a dream anymore, Cynth- my dear. You have my ring, and I have your ring. You are dressed in your dream — and so am I.”
A pair of calloused hands brought themselves to caress the gentleness of the skin that felt a bit plumpy. Aurelio squeezed her plumpy cheeks and immediately squished it before Cynthia could even process it within her brain.
“Stupid Aurelio. Stupid manor. Stupid dreams. I am really happy that you are here. With me.”
Underneath their ecstasy was the glowing circle within the floorboards — though, forgotten. Underneath the piled papers, it slowly blended itself within the surroundings. The red puddle behind the bound lovers was seeped clean by the mechanical assistant that Cynthia deemed as her dog.
Truly, it felt bittersweet for her.
'I mean, as long as I can get it, as long as I can finally trust that it is real, then I would do everything for it.'
“... Your thoughts again, Cynthia. Stop being obsessed.”
Awakened from her trail of thought, Aurelio appeared there. The simplicity of his appearance that was embraced by the purity that felt like an abyss was only felt.
“No, because I am happy.”
A gleaming smile under the now risen moon reflected its brightness that traversed across the room, shining light to the dark path of his perspective.
“Happy to take my tasks or happy that I’m here…?”
The fellow’s resignation expression was felt within the defeated eyes — combined with knitted eyebrows. His eyes travelled from her face, back to the tea she held. He took the tea in his hand and sipped it, before placing it down.
“Happy to have this reality. Your tasks kill. Literally.”
The shining knife finally dulled down as the cascading moonlight sets perfectly at their shared angle, rather than at a large scope that envisions the sight for the entire room.
“You… Asked for it.”