"Going out?" Caroline Forbes stood at the top of the long stairs, looking down at her husband indifferently. She was still dressed in her sleepwear, but as a matter of fact, she didn't get any sleep last night, or, to be more exact, for the last two weeks.
The original stopped his pace when her hoarse voice sounded. He slowly pulled his hands out of the pockets, somehow waited for a few seconds before turning around to meet her eyes.
It was the first time for the last two weeks that they deeply looked at each other.
And something was wrong.
Caroline squeezed her left hand around the handrails tightly. Now, when she finally got to meet those dark blue eyes, she actually wished things could go back to the moment when she hadn't stopped him yet.
His love for her was gone. She could see it.
She suddenly felt suffocated under his gaze, like he had pushed his hand down her throat then kept squeezing her heart until it broke into million pieces. A dark void found its way inside her, but surprisingly, it wasn't even because of the man standing meters away. She was just feeling sorry for herself, and perhaps their fragile, faded love as well.
"Yeah. I um… I've made plans with the guys."
Caroline gave him a broken smile. Why was she being so sentimental? She should felt happy that her friends were starting to accept him, right? Oh, actually, no. It wouldn't even matter if they liked him or not when the two of them probably wouldn't be together any more.
She slightly nodded as a response, then silently took a deep breath. "You guys got pretty close recently, huh?" She nervously rubbed her hand back and forth on the handrails, hoping her affected vigorousness could start a little conversation.
The original looked back at her with a weird, complicated stare. Caroline was kind of hoping he could either step up the staircase, or invite her downstairs. But neither of those wishes came true, and the two of them were still both standing in an uncomfortable posture, sharing the same awkward atmosphere in a distance.
"Isn't that what you always wanted?" Caroline's hand stopped itself from moving when she noticed the slight trembling in his voice. She opened her eyes wider, trying to take a closer look at the faint sadness in his eyes. But he already turned around towards the front door, leaving her no chance to examine more.
"I should get going. It's already late." He seemed quite eager to leave the mansion, or, leave her.
"Nik!"
The name that came out of her lips made him stop again.
Caroline stared at his stiffened back, feeling tears slowly swelling in her eyes. "Do you still love me?"
She waited almost a century long to finally get his answer. "I will never, stop loving you."
Without even looking back at her, the original stepped out of the house.
He would never stop loving me?
Recalling what he had said to her earlier, Caroline couldn't help but snorted, shaking her head gently. If he really loved her, he wouldn't have treated her as if they weren't in the same room; If he really loved her, he wouldn't have looked at her as if she was some pathetic loser who just got dumped. But if he didn't love her anymore, why would he even bother to lie to her? He thought she couldn't take it?
Caroline plumped down on their bed, where he hadn't been sleeping in for two weeks, caressing the bracelet he had given her, with tears impending. The night when she first wore it was still vivid like a dream.
"I'm glad you came." Klaus looked down at the blue dress she was wearing and took a quick glimpse at the bracelet on her wrist, with great satisfaction.
Caroline avoided his gaze, secretly hoping he could stop staring at her like a hungry wolf, but apparently, that was too much to ask. " I'm just quite curious about how boring the party can be, since it's held by someone who's too old to know about the trends these days."
There they were, again. Why did this bastard keep showing her those dimples? Like she would be impressed? Like she didn't have those herself?
"Now you're staring at me, sweetheart." Klaus slid his hand slowly down her back, stopped when it reached her waist, keenly aware that the beauty in front of him was out of breath for a moment when he pulled her closer.
Caroline couldn't be more thankful that her heart wasn't beating anymore. She'd rather stake herself than let the bastard know how nervous she actually was at the moment.
"Do you give every girl you 'fancy' expensive jewelries?" She purposely said with special emphasis in case he wasn't clever enough to find the sarcasm in her words.
Klaus's blood-red lips opened in a big grin. "Wow. My lady sounds a little jealous here."
Caroline rolled her eyes, gave a heavy sigh. "Oh, please. Don't flatter yourself. I will never, stop hating you." She quickly looked up at his smiling eyes, then quickly looked away. "And, I'm not your 'lady'."
"Did you miss out the fact that we're both immortal?" Klaus lowered his head in order to whisper beside her ear. His breath was hot upon her neck, making her trembling slightly with itches. "I can wait another thousand years for you, love."
Caroline took a step backwards, meet his eyes with the bravest look she could put on. "Yes, you're immortal, before we find the way to kill you."