Cassandra shook her hair free of its tight confines, looking at herself in the mirror. There. That was better. She finally looked like herself again.
She was turning from side to side, admiring herself, when a knock came at the door. Immediately, she knew who it was. Mixed emotions flew through her mind: she wanted to see him, wanted to thank him. But at the same time, she hated him, she wanted nothing to do with him.
Before she could decide once and for all, though, the door opened and Varian poked his head inside. Once he had determined that he wasn't going to get killed- not right away, at least- he entered the room.
"Hey, Cassie."
She kept a straight face, viewing him only through the mirror. "Who said it was okay for you to come in just now? For all you know, I could've been nowhere near decent."
He smiled a little. "I know you, Cass. First, if you weren't decent, you would've said right away."
Cass opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came. He was right; she did have standards to live up to, a reputation to uphold.
"And it's been about an hour," he continued, "and, knowing you, you probably wanted out of that dress and into your regular clothes as soon as you possibly could."
She didn't respond. His smile fell a little.
"Look, I know you don't want to talk to me," he said softly, taking a seat, "and you don't have to. Just... Hear me out, okay?"
She gave a grunt and shrug, which Varian took as an invitation to continue.
"I know that... That I have no place in your life. Especially not a place that justifies what I just did. But... You have a place in mine. You have enough of a place in my life that... Well, let's just say it'd be unbearable for me to see you make such a big mistake, to have to live with it for the rest of your life..."
He shook his head, unbelieving. "I care for you, Cassandra. I care for you A LOT. Enough so where... I just couldn't let you do this to yourself, okay?"
Cassandra frowned, moving to look out the window- the very window that Varian had entered through earlier. She had no idea about what to think, say, or do.
"I... I only did that- I only objected- because I care for you," Varian said, his voice barely above a whisper, "that's... That's all that I wanted to say."
He stood up, starting to make his way to the door. Cass decided to speak, not turning around.
"Varian?"
He stopped. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly upwards. "Anytime... Milady."
