Thank you for the clean bill of health! Just finished this in hours.
ENJOY! :D
Chapter Six
A Love Quarrel or What?
"It's just because you're a stupid brainless asshole who doesn't get what the statement 'back off' means." Harsh, Rose, very harsh. Well, the guy deserved it.
He closed his eyes as I spat more obscene things at him. I should give it to the guy, he was overly-tolerant of me and that just made my plan to go back to the academy a failure. I was hoping that he would send me back to the academy for the last three days that I have been here.
"— I don't even know what I'm doing here in this God-forsaken place —"
"Rose," there was a warning tone on his voice. He opened his eyes and I could see the faintest hint of irritation in them.
I stopped talking, deciding it was better off giving him a glare rather than talk. This guy did not deserve anything from me. He didn't find my glare intimidating. He, somehow, glared back at me and I raised my chin like a defiant little girl.
"You should understand that this—" he started but I cut him off.
"I don't want to hear it." Again, I wanted to add.
He gave me an inane look and he breathed in and out slowly like he was controlling his temper. I knew that I was acting like a bitch but I was not impressed by him. I refuse to acknowledge his advances on me— in courtesy of Abe or no.
"Rose, stop acting like an immature girl, you have to grow up." he said in a scary-calm way and my anger, kind of, flared up. What he said… hurt. Ouch. I didn't want him to know I was hurt so I just let out all of my anger.
I looked at him with fire in my eyes and he returned me with the same. I decided, again, that it was better to walk away rather than fight with him. Fighting with words never helped both of our accords. I glared at him one last time, turned away from him—making sure my hair swept his way—and stalked off to the palace's eastern side.
The palace, I know, was a wonderful place but there was something—or someone—in the place unnerving. I was being harsh to Maxim on purpose because he just reminded me of Dimitri so much. So, so much that it hurt. I just covered up that hurt with my attitude and made myself hate him. It was no use though; his patience reminded me of his.
From the short but dragging time I had been here in the palace, I acquired some information from either James or the chamber maids about the palace. The palace was more than seventy acres, believe it or not. Mostly, the surroundings were woods with a few dots of cottages, huts and gazebos when you look at their blue-print. There were no pools, unfortunately, but there was a river just a few minutes away by foot. The river was still inside the palace's wards so I had nothing to worry about.
Maxim surprised me by not following me to the woods. He usually followed me when I was in a foul mood or after we have some kind of argument. He always wanted to make things clear with me but now… I think I really pissed him off.
I found the river by myself when I was trying to calm myself down about two days ago. Every hour, Maxim and I always bicker and it really hasn't turned this serious before. I stomped my way to the river while I pulled my cardigan tighter to me. It still wasn't snowing in here but the temperature was telling me that it was already snowing in the mountains.
I sucked in my cheeks as I walked past the trees and some cawing birds on my way to the river. When I finally heard the soft whispers of water splashing with each other, a clear sigh of relief came out of my lips. My pace got faster and I found what I was looking for. It was the same when I had left it.
The fallen leaves were untouched on the ground and it cracked as with every step I take. The river was wide and it looked deep with its greenish-blue color. And the second I loved the most there was at the middle of the river. It was a wooden gazebo. The gazebo was floating on the water, peaceful and undisturbed. There were circular stone steps that led to the gazebo in the water too and I wondered why those stones floated like that. I tried knocking them out once but it felt like it was held down by something strong below the water. The place was better than heaven.
I looked at the river and saw my reflection staring back. She looked like a stranger to me now. She wasn't the Rose I used to see every day. Not the tough, unyielding Rose Hathaway but this one looked ridiculous and petty. Very petty. I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled. It was my only resort of calm.
I made my way to the floating gazebo and sat on the wooden swing attached on the middle of its ceiling. The soft padding on the swing was enough to calm down a few nerves and the air wasn't as cold as before. The trees slowly swayed and I pushed myself to rock the swing. I curled into a ball and leaned my chin on my knees. It felt nice to have a change of scenery nowadays.
"Rose, you are so screwed." I told myself. At this time, it was true. I just had a fight with a huge royal Moroi and just called him many bad things— what could be worse than that? Oh, and note that that royal Moroi was the owner of the place that I live in—anything could happen to me.
I sighed, a tad bit guilty for what I did to Maxim. I even considered about apologizing but my pride wouldn't step down from its throne. Stupid pride, I grumbled to myself and leaned back on the swing. As I had hoped, the place became my remedy and the whispers of the wind became my lullaby. I leaned my head back on the small bolster and closed my eyes until the wind lulled me to sleep.
~~****~~
The first thing I heard before slipping back into consciousness were the birds. Some were chirping and it sounded like they were having fun. Fun in the cold weather? That's nice… Wow, I was in a good mood now. Slowly, I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw were the trees. The place wasn't as gloomy now. I remembered why I was here—it was because of that frivolously shallow argument I started with Maxim. I turned a bit restless at that memory.
Noticing my stiff form, I straightened from it and rubbed my eyes. I dropped my feet back to the floor and blinked. Yes, blinked. Somebody was here—or rather Maxim was here—in the gazebo. He was sitting on the stall just in front of the gazebo's banister opening.
He didn't look up when I suddenly stood up from the swing, making it sway hard back and forth. Even it was the side of his face I could see, it still looked as gorgeous as ever. It was really the first time that I had made myself think that Maxim was gorgeous. I was still indecisive of what I was going to do—apologize or stick up to my pride?
Mustering all my will power, I swallowed my ridiculous pride and walked towards him. Uneasily, I might add. He still didn't look up to me so I sat on the stall next to his. My heart was beating hard and fast and my palms were a bit clammy when I did. My body was showing every sign of guilt—I hated it. I thought about what to say to Maxim but every time I suck in the breath to talk, I just stopped and thought about how bad it'll turn out. And how petty I'll sound.
Maxim's good, Rose, he'll understand you, I encouraged myself. I repeated that to myself over and over again but it was far to winning.
"Rose, can we start over?" he asked all of a sudden.
He shocked me with his words. I turned to look at him without gaping. "What do you mean?"
He gave me half a smile and it lit up his whole face. "Start over. Everything. I want to make things right with you." He explained with a condescending look on his face.
That just shocked me more. He wants to make things right with me? I was the one who started the fight… Well, I was not that stupid to refuse to start over with Maxim. It was even better than just apologizing. Considering how we first met… Yeah, we did need to start over.
I gave him a genuine smile. "I'd like that." I told him.
The grateful look he gave me nearly melted my bones. "Thanks," he breathed and sighed.
"So, what do people do when they start over?" I asked.
He gave me a look that said "anything."
I narrowed my eyes at him playfully and bounced up from the stall. "Come on, Romanov." I teased. "Show me what you got." I beckoned him to me and he stepped away from his stall and looked at me like a predator on hunt. Then it hit me.
Shit… I didn't remember that I was standing behind on water. He would probably push me there—which would likely end our new-found truce. He probably saw it in my eyes because he chuckled.
"Don't worry. You're not going in there." He told me in a reassuring way. "Alone."
With a motion too fast for me to anticipate, he ran too me and caught my waist by his left shoulder and the next thing I knew, I was airborne. I let out a girly scream and the cold took over my other senses. I could still feel Maxim's hands on my waist as we resurfaced for air. He was wet, of course, and his shaggy chestnut hair looked black. He was laughing loudly and his eyes were bright with exhilaration.
"You son of a bitch!" I screamed at him but I was laughing too. Really laughed. It was the first time I had really laughed since my life fell apart—it made me feel that I owed Maxim some gratitude. O f course I did. I pushed him away and splashed water on his face to drown out his laughter. It did and he went into fits of coughs. I laughed louder only to get my earlier doing backfired at me. My throat was a little raw from the water but I still laughed as we played "water-benders." And speaking of…
"You're cheating!" I accused him and swam as fast as I could to the boulder at one side of the river. He caught up with me easily.
"Why do you think of that?" he asked but he didn't bother hear my answer because he dove down the deep water. I stared at where he had been and the only thing I could see was the color of greenish-blue. The color reminded me of his eyes. I quickly scrambled up to the boulder for safety—I couldn't be sure if Maxim would pull my feet down to joining him in wherever he was.
I fought to catch my breath and I scanned the water for any shadows indicating a swimming guy. There was none. Not even a movement of the water. I felt a weird déjà vu from movies where huge crocodiles, sharks or anacondas were about to jump out of the water and chomp on your flesh. I shivered, not only from the gruesome recollection of a movie but from the air too. The weather was already cold when I had been dry but when in wet clothes? I think this temperature would possibly stop a human's heart from beating. Was there a temperature-driven ailment named cool stroke? If there is, that should be the one they're after when they were not dhampir while in this wet state. It's probably colder than Siberia now.
I kept looking at the water but there was no sign of Maxim. I started to worry. Maybe I drowned him? I was not sure. I kneeled on the boulder and leaned down to the river.
"Maxim?" calling seemed like the safest thing to do at the moment. What if there was something down there? Maybe he was just trying to prank me. "Nice one, Maxim. You can get out of the water now!" I called louder. "Don't you need air to survive?" I added and gave up. I sat on the boulder and rubbed my temples.
Jackass, I said to myself and I heard a leaf crack. I automatically turned around and saw that Maxim was there, standing—shirtless—and smirking. "Not really,"
My face scrunched up in confusion. "Huh?"
"You asked if I needed air to survive, I said 'not really.'"
"And why do you say that?"
"Because," —he crouched down to level his eyes with mine—"you're the only thing I need to keep me alive."
The sentiment caught me off guard. "And what do you mean by that?"
He threw back his head and laughed. The sound was musical and good to the ears. "Don't act so surprised, Rose." He told me, smirking in a way that reminded me of Dimitri… Damn you, Rose! Stop thinking about Dimitri!
"Why not?"
He frowned at me. "And don't play dumb either, it doesn't suit you."
"Is this what you call 'starting over'?"
He nodded slowly. "Yes, it actually is." I was half-aware that his face was only inches away from mine now. His eyes somehow landed on my lips. "Your lips are blue." He said and leaned in dangerously close. Normally, I should have pulled away or took a swing at him but the crackle of electricity that turned up from his lips brushed with mine was immobilizing. It was barely a kiss but it warmed my face up.
Oh my God, I was blushing!
This was darn unbelievable.
Just within a second, he pulled away and tossed me a small towel which I luckily caught. He stood up and held out one hand to help me up.
"Did you just—" I didn't finish it and it was like the whole world tilted into another thing.
He grinned at me and winked. "Get used to it."
No, I have no headache anymore and thank God for that (seriously, there's no sarcasm there). I rarely get sick so I'm not kinda not used to it…
Sooo… how's the chapter? Did you like it? Did you hate it?
Tell me what you think about the chapter. And ideas are more than welcome.
Love lots,
Kate :D
