Akali's eyes begrudgingly fluttered open, and she found herself staring at the familiar sight of her green bedroom ceiling. The encounter with Syndra had seemed so surreal that Akali had grown physically exhausted from just trying to decipher whether it was a dream or not, prompting her to take a nap.
Some nap, she thought as her mind juggled between the choices of returning to her attempts of sleeping and getting out of bed to make dinner for Zevach and herself.
"Well I certainly can't leave him to starve," she debated to herself. Finally deciding to get out of bed, Akali gently lifted the blanket off of her, walked to the door, and opened it, only to hear the banging of pots and pans from the kitchen.
"Zevach?!" Her voice travelled down the stairwell, until another voice answered back with an urgent "Yes?!"
Akali raced down the steps careful not to trip over her own feet. She braced herself for a chaotic scene, but absolutely nothing could prepare her for the spectacle in front of her.
The sight of Zevach cooking in a pink frilly apron tied around his waist was enough to make Akali drop to the ground and laugh until her lungs burned for oxygen. Zevach, who towered over the stove cooking some unknown food, stared wordlessly at her guffawing self.
"W-what are you doing?" she said between hearty chuckles, grabbing a nearby chair for support.
His eyes grew big as he innocently explained his actions. "Earlier today I was thinking how you've been so kind to me as of late and I wanted to repay you for your generous heart." He glanced at Akali, who was currently staggering backward from laughter. "I saw the cookbook on your counter and I decided it was worth a try..." he trailed off and looked back to the simmering pot, giving it a strong stir. It relinquished a new puff of steam.
Akali reached up to brush away a lingering tear and had the honest intention to recompose herself, but one glance at Zevach and she was done for.
"Zevach," Akali said once she had calmed down, "you have already brightened my life considerably. Before I found you, all I did was work every day. But you've shown me what fun is. That is enough payment already." Zevach stopped stirring and gave her a warm smile. Truthfully, Akali's words had stunned herself to the core as she tried to remember what it was exactly she said.
"Let me take over," she said, eager to break the silence. Her hands brushed over Zevach's fingers to take the wooden ladle from him and the contact created shocks that made Akali gasp quietly.
"What are you trying to make?" Akali began to ask, but the question answered itself as she peered into the pot and saw heavily overcooked spaghetti.
"Spaghetti?" she scoffed and stared at Zevach. He sheepishly shrugged and looked back at the pot, as if asking for instruction. For the next hour, Akali showed Zevach the ways of al dente spaghetti.
"And remember: don't overcook spaghetti!" Akali reminded, bringing both plates of overcooked spaghetti over to the dining table. "The key is al dente! Nothing more, nothing less!"
She twirled a strand of spaghetti around her fork, not exactly eager to taste the finished product on her plate. Akali quickly scooped it into her mouth, feeling the unusual texture of the spaghetti, which to her surprise, wasn't all that horrendous.
"Thank you for taking me in, Akali," Zevach politely thanked from across the table, but the large mouthful of spaghetti in her mouth prevented Akali from replying back.
"It's my pleasure, Zevach," she answered a few seconds later, unable to keep eye contact with his burning stare.
Before she could shovel in another spoonful of the soggy spaghetti, Zevach once again spoke, permanently interrupting the upbeat and peaceful ambience of the night.
"What shall I do?" The strands of noodles on her fork slipped from the tines and back into a massless pile on Akali's plate.
Akali's mind couldn't grasp his words. "What do you mean, Zevach?" she asked, stomach churning in fear for his answer. She delicately placed her fork on her plate, appetite gone.
"What shall I do in the future? You can't seriously intend to care for me for the rest of your life. You have a life, contrary to me. I can't even remember my legitimate name!" He slammed down the fork roughly against the table, voice on the verge of shouting. He strategically stared down at his plate of spaghetti. "Akali, I sincerely apologize for wasting your time, but I cannot stay here any long-"
Her reply was stone cold, enough to make Zevach calcify. "Shut up." Her heart palpitated rapidly from anger and betrayal. How could he just give up and abandon her like that? Was this all Akali could ever hope to experience, being abandoned and betrayed? Why couldn't the universe just let her be happy for once?! Was one fucking time too much to ask for?
Zevach looked up to meet her furious eyes. "Remembering an entire life does not take less than a week, Zevach." A look of shame flowed through his guilty crimson eyes, a shade of red that Akali daresay she came to love.
Love?
"After giving me what was probably the best week of my life, how can you look me in the eye and say that you're leaving?! Even after all we've done for each other, how can you forsake me without a second thought?!" There was not a sound in the dining room, and the tension could be pierced with a needle.
How had a night of cooking spaghetti ultimately ended in such pandemonium?
I've already abandoned my past and my future before, but why can't I let him go?! Akali mentally shrieked, hoping that her mind would magically conjure an answer.
A droplet of something dripped onto her arm, catching her attention. Akali lazily gazed down. A tear? The droplet eventually slid down her arm, leaving a shiny trail remained in its wake. Her eyes travelled back up to glance at Zevach, as if she needed permission to cry in front of him. He sat in the same chair, with the same remorseful expression. Sorrow swirled in his irises, perhaps pity too.
She didn't need his pity.
"I'm sorry," she cried out bitterly, pushing herself away from the table dramatically. The air seemed to smother her. "I have to leave." The chair screeched against the tiled floor as Akali ran with the full intention of running from the present once again. All Akali knew how to do was run. Run, to escape the world, just like she did all those years ago.
She didn't get very far before she was pulled backwards by an incredible force and into the warm arms of Zevach. Despite her thrashes and squirms, his arms encircled her tighter, making her sobs grow louder. Instead of shouting for him to let her go, Akali let him hold her protectively from behind because she knew this would be her closure for his departure.
"I'm sorry." His words rang clear into Akali's ears, but she was too drained from everything to care. Zevach turned her body around to glimpse into her eyes, but she stubbornly kept her stare planted on the floor, that was until his hands caressed her face and forced her to look at him. Bright, teary jade eyes clashed against the lucid carmine ones pupils of Zevach.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, studying Akali's face for any emotion. A new wave of tears cascaded down Akali's pink cheeks. It was only a matter of seconds before she placed her own trembling hands over Zevach's for any semblance of comfort.
"I promise you that I will never leave you," he said, clutching her tightly as if to keep his sanity. All Akali could do at that moment was sob into his strong chest and hope to God that he spoke the truth.
"I will never leave you," he reiterated, "because I never want to see you cry because of me again." To Akali's astonishment, Zevach leaned towards her face and kissed her.
The tears that fell down Akali's face froze midway. Zevach's lips were pleasantly warm, and molded splendidly well against her own. Though she had been kissed before, she hadn't remembered a kiss being this amazing. Akali didn't kiss him back because her mind was so overwhelmed by the passion that Zevach poured into the kiss. It seemed to dissipate her energy, and her knees buckled from the intensity. Zevach, a man with purpose, instantaneously moved his hands to her butt and placed her on the dining table without breaking the hungry kiss. Akali's ankles instinctively locked behind Zevach as she felt an increasing need in her core. Her fingers dug into his shirt roughly to deepen the hot kiss, which Zevach happily obliged.
Akali absolutely died when Zevach's tongue erotically licked her lips. She didn't need to be signaled twice as her lips separated by his command. Tasting his tongue was tasting heaven, and Akali was sure she would never be able to get enough of it.
Unfortunately, Akali was forced to end the kiss. Her chest rose and fell dramatically, as did Zevach's, and upon opening her eyes, she realized the very unladylike and compromising position she was in. Embarrassed, Akali quickly unhooked her legs to release him but he didn't budge. She peered into his eyes as if to question why he wasn't leaving, but the look she received made her insides melt. The expression of desire that Zevach wore, the pink hue that dusted the apples of Zevach's cheeks from the kiss, and his sheepish smile was enough to make Akali faint. Not a word was said, but it was the silence that made the moment perfect.
What just...happened? Akali couldn't think straight, and she didn't want to. She didn't want to shatter her temporary perfect fantasy by thinking. Thinking always made moments like these worse.
Her eyes couldn't help but wander around the room awkwardly until they fell upon the plates of sodden spaghetti.
"We should probably finish our dinner," Akali said, pointing to the already cold food.
"That is a splendid idea," Zevach said breathlessly, promptly helping Akali off the table and into her seat. The two resumed masticating the cold, overcooked spaghetti.
The next morning after that swoon-inducing kiss that made Akali's world halt, the two exchanged brief and awkward pleasantries, both unsure of what to do.
What do people do after kissing?
So, the silence continued all the way into lunch, where Zevach was inhaling his Nutella and Akali her ramen. Each second in reality seemed like a minute to Akali, who quietly chomped on her ramen, trying to plan a way to break the silence. Apparently, Zevach had the same thought, because both of them spoke simultaneously.
"You may speak fir-" they continued to say in unison. Throaty chuckles and light giggles filled the dining room, the awkwardness officially disintegrating.
"What were you about to say?" Akali giggled, shoving another strand of ramen into her mouth.
The noodle firmly lodged itself onto her esophagus after he answered with lust, "You look absolutely ravishing today."
A strand of her ramen decided that that moment was the perfect time to lodge itself firmly in Akali's throat, so It took Akali an entire humiliating minute to finally swallow the persistent strand. "Still think you're beautiful," he joked, causing Akali to erupt into giggles.
Once they had both finished their snacks, they started to clear the table. Akali threw out her ramen bowl and Zevach followed by sealing the jar of Nutella. Noticing the heap of dirty dishes in the sink, Akali unwillingly set out to wash the dishes. One by one, the pile lessened until the sink was completely bereft of dishes.
A job well done, Akali thought triumphantly as she dried her hands on a nearby towel.
Suddenly, a hand brushed her hair to the side, and a pair of warm lips kissed the back of her neck. Despite her earnest attempts to suppress her moans, a mewl tickled her throat.
"Again so soon?" Akali just barely managed to grit out as Zevach continued to nip, suck, and mark the nape of her neck. The familiar weakness in her knees returned, prompting her to grip the edge of the counter for support until her knuckles turned white. His magic-working fingers slid ever so slightly down to her hips, which he massaged slowly to tease Akali.
Oh god.
A string of crashes from another room stopped Zevach and his ministrations, much to Akali's displeasure.
Zevach exhaled right above Akali's neck, creating shivers down her spine. "I'll get it," he said. With that, he pushed off from the counter, every source of his warmth abandoning Akali. She let out a heavy sigh.
Zevach re-entered the room with a distraught expression. "Are you okay?" Akali couldn't help but ask. It took her a few seconds to realize he was staring down at something in his hands, an object that looked like a newspaper. As Zevach inched closer to her, Akali's eyes opened wide with horror as she recognized the article about Zed.
Shit. I thought I threw that out to rot somewhere.
She watched as Zevach's red eyes darted across the headlines and with each passing second, his face grew more sallow. A disconcerting feeling settled in the bottomless pit of Akali's gut.
Why is he acting like this?
"Are you okay?" Akali couldn't help but ask, twiddling her fingers with apprehension
"What is this?" Zevach said quietly, leaving Akali's question unanswered. His voice, although quiet, seemed to scream at her.
"It's nothing important," she replied immediately, trying to avoid the topic of Zed. Zevach's nervous red eyes left the newspaper to meet Akali's for a second, but trailed back to the paper to read more.
"This is..." he struggled for words. "This is interesting." Silence ensued as Akali tried to shut out Zed from her mind. Never again would she let him betray her again; now that she was older and wiser, she would never give him the upper hand.
Akali walked to Zevach, slowly grabbing the paper and gently forcing it out of his fingers, and hurled it into a trashcan. Zevach still stared blankly to where the newspaper used to be, so Akali used her fingers to snap noisily in his face.
"Zevach?" He must've finally registered her voice, because he looked up with a lost look in his eye.
Unexpectedly, he stepped forward to tightly lock Akali in a tight hug, burying his face into her hair. Her arms immediately wrapped around his waist protectively, confused as to why he was hugging her like his life depended on it. If she tried to break the hug, Zevach would respond by clinging to her even tighter. It scared Akali to see Zevach like this, because she had never seen him so scared and vulnerable before, so she let him stay in her embrace until he finally released her.
"Sorry," was all he could say.
"It's alright," Akali responded, giving him a quick peck on his forehead.
They resumed their daily activities, but Akali couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling that something formidable was approaching.
"It seems like he's starting to remember," an unknown voice says from the shadows. "It's time to initiate chaos."
"Let them try to stop me."
Akali shot up from her bed for the fifth time that night, sweating nervously even though it was freezing outside.
She didn't know why she kept waking up, but she knew that somewhere out in the darkness, someone was watching her every move.
Yeee. It was about time I uploaded a new chapter, but the moments where I can just sit down and write for hours are scarce.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are appreciated.
Have a great apple and sandwich!