Alfendi had seemed to have been crying recently. There were tear stains on his cheeks and he had red eyes.
"Is everythin' a'right Prof?"
His shoulders slumped as he got over the sudden shock. He hadn't expected Lucy to be back so soon. There was a long silence as he wiped his face along the sleeve of his coat, sniffling.
"Lucy…"
She hadn't noticed until he spoke that his hair was mixed with streaks of bright red and dark maroon and his voice was strange, a mix of fear, loneliness and sadness, within the voices of both Potty and Placid.
Alfendi stared at her for the longest moment, then he reached out for her hands and pulled her into the room. Returning back to his normal placid side he turned to look away from her, biting his lower lip. He gathered his strength and said "Forgive me, I didn't mean to upset you…" Placid spoke in a soft but just audible voice, almost choking on his words. His heart was beating in his ears as he fought back his other side… He was losing.
She was watching him holding his temples with one hand and still clutching her hands with the other. Alfendi looked at Lucy and she noticed he was no longer Placid Prof.
"Potty Prof… what's goin' on?"
Lucy stared into his bright amber coloured eyes. Potty put his hand against her cheek with a delicate touch, slowly he leaned in to kiss her and to his surprise, she didn't move away. Potty kissed her softly, she could feel his cold, smooth lips move against hers. He was gentle, Lucy could taste sweet strawberries on his warm breath and at that moment, he smelled like honey.
They broke away after what seemed like an eternity and Alfendi looked towards the window on the opposite side of the room.
"It's getting late. Will you be alright going home?" he asked Lucy with a hint of concern in his voice.
"It's only a short walk t' my apartment. I'll be fine."
"Oh. Well-… if you don't mind would you like me to drive you home?"
"I couldn't possibly-"
"No Lucy! I-I insist. Uh… sorry. Please?"
Lucy smiled and followed him walking out the door. She blushed at his stubbornness as Alfendi locked the door and waited for Lucy to start walking alongside him.
"What happened, with Blaine…" Lucy started.
"Don't worry… I know. If you hadn't kissed me back I would have been 91.1% certain that there was something going on between you two."
"Oh." She subconsciously reached out to hold his hand. She hadn't noticed the pink wrapped box he held in his other arm until they reached the parking lot but decided not to say anything about it.
"Oh, by the way. Where do you live…"
(TBC)
