Hi... You have probably forgotten the story by now but HI! I am so so so so so sorry for the huge delay and I cannot apologize enough for that! My inspiration suddenly went on a long holiday and didn't come back for ages. It took me three weeks to write this single chapter and it probably sucks anyway.
But, I hope you are still keeping an eye on this story and...well...enjoy this new chapter (:
A/N: English is not my native language so please ignore my grammar mistakes if there are any. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but this fanfiction. All credit goes to Suzanne Collins.
I started beliving that everything was gonna get better. Finally, I had hope. Because right now, Peeta was sleeping in his hospital bed with a steady breathing. The doctors said that, slowly but eventually he would wake up with less than a few scars. The doctors were doing their best to heal him because they knew he meant a lot to me, to Mockingjay. And if I wanted something, I'd eventually get it. That's why right now, I felt happy. Plus, Gale was also with me the whole time so that also helped a lot. I finally had hope for everything to get better around here. Somehow, Peeta's slow but rhytmic breathing became my strength in the past few days and it felt good to feel strong after a long time of constantly feeling weak.
I excused myself from the hospital room for a while to take a walk. I needed some fresh air and the weather was really good today. It was sunny and there was a breeze that felt like someone was breathing on me. I looked up at the sky and felt—even for a second—free. Then I saw him approaching me from the corner of my eye. After that night in my house I never saw him again. He avoided me at all costs and I avoided him likewise. I knew I acted like a complete bitch that day but I had to. I didn't want to get closer to him. It was a selfish thought, to sacrifice a human life—which was Annie's in this case—not to get close to a man I dislike. Or like. Or hate.
Okay, I had no idea about how I felt towards Finnick Odair and that was annoying me. There was something inside me that I couldn't name towards him but I knew it wasn't love. Well... not that I knew a lot about love... Still, I didn't trust or like him enough to help him. I also didn't know Annie so she wasn't my priority.
Although, none of these made me feel less guilty. All in all, we were talking about a human life here, for God's sake. And I was being totally stupid about it. This wasn't me. No matter what, I always protected people with all costs even if I knew them or not. I wasn't a merciless person and I wasn't going to become one just because I didn't know what I felt about a guy. So the right thing to do was to save Annie, I knew it. Well, maybe because Peeta was going to wake up or maybe because I now had Gale by my side, I started thinking in more positive ways. To be honest, I had a lot of alone time to myself while waiting for Peeta to wake up. I stayed in his hospital room day and night and sometimes I even talked to him, knowing he didn't hear me. I asked him whether I was doing the right thing or not, even though I knew I wouldn't get an answer.
In the end, I decided I would help Annie but I didn't know how to tell Finnick about this. He was probably really mad at me and the tension between us wasn't helping whatsoever.
So when I saw Finnick coming my way, I knew I had to take the first step. "Hi." I said with a small smile on my face. It wasn't a fake one but the smile didn't reach my eyes either.
"Hi." Was all he said before walking past me. I was surprised because I thought he was approaching me but appearently he was just going to the hospital—which I had no idea why. He couldn't be going there to visit Peeta, right?
So I walked after him and caught him by the arm. "How are you?" I blurted out, as if nothing was wrong between us.
He cocked an eyebrow at me and stayed still, appearently expecting me to continue. So I did. "Finnick, I'm... sorry about earlier." When he kept staring at me, I continued. "I will help Annie. I promise."
He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity and finally sighed in relief. "Thank you." He took my hand in his and squeezed it for a second before letting it go immediately. It was a simple gesture so I smiled in return.
"I see Peeta's getting better." He said and smiled genuinely.
I nodded. "Yeah, that's what the doctors say."
"I'm happy for you." He said and looked over my shoulder, eyeing someone with a strange look on his face. I turned around and saw Gale standing there, frowning.
"I should get going. See you around." I heard Finnick say from behind me and I turned around to say something back but saw him already walking on the same path he came from. I was confused to see him leave just like that but then again, what was left there to be said? I apologised him, he thanked me, he told me he was happy for me... End of conversation.
"Why were you talking to him?" Gale approached me as soon as Finnick was out of our sights.
My eyebrows furrowed. "Do I have a reason not to?"
Gale looked surprised by my respond but said nothing in return and just shrugged. "I don't know. It just looked... weird."
"I'm going to help him save Annie from the Capitol."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Annie—the crazy victor, right? Why are you even helping him?"
Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes. "I don't like your tone, Gale. She is being held by the Capitol and she is a human, just like us. She deserves to be saved."
Then he rolled his eyes and waved a hand at me. "Do whatever you want Catnip." Then he approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. I suddenly remembered him kissing me before the games and felt my cheeks burn. They were probably a visibly red already and I hated myself for acting like such a teenage girl. Well, basically I was a teenage girl but not in my case. Plus, I didn't even see Gale in that kind of way. He was just a dear friend and absolutely nothing more.
"Just...be careful, okay?" he whispered as he stared at me with a meaningful look in his eyes. He didn't want me to just be careful, no. He wanted me to be careful towards Finnick. He wanted me to not fall for his charms. He wanted me to be suspicious about him all the time. I knew all these from just a look from him because I knew him too well.
The thing was, I was a little late to that. Because deep down inside I knew, I had fallen for Finnick's charms a really long time ago.
Stupid me.
Next chapter will be the last chapter unfortunately. But I promise I will update it much faster than this chapter. And again, I am sorry for the huge delay...
Xoxo louvreangel
