A/N: This chapter again contains quotes from the VA movie. Enjoy reading the next chapter. I don't know how many are going to be left, about 2-3 I guess. As always, please read, review and stay safe.

Chapter 17

The next day was Friday and school was better after Lissa and I had that talk. We sat together at the table with our friends and enjoyed the lunch break.

"Glad to see the two of you getting along again." Eddie said and we rolled our eyes. "Amen to that. Rose is always difficult but when you had a fight, she was even worse." Adrian chimed in.

I smacked the back of his head and Sydney gave him a look as well. "No, but really, it' good to have the whole gang back together again." Sydney said.

School went by in an instance. Before I realized it, it were just two classes and then I would be able to go spend time Dimitri. Lissa and I chatted about our plans for the weekend. She would be having a date with Christian and was excited about what he planned for them. When we rounded the corner, we ran into Avery. The moment she realized who she ran into, she gave us a dark look and started talking.

"If that isn't the liar and the puppy with no character." I noticed how the puppy comment hit Lissa and I was immediately at high alert. "What do you want, Avery? We don't need you to spread your venom. So if you could leave us alone, that would be wonderful." But when I tied to walk pass her, she grabbed my arm. "You lying skank won't go anywhere. Not until I'm finished with you and you're willing to end your pathetic life. No one wants you here yo-" not waiting for her to end the sentence, I pulled my arm back and hit her square in the face. Before she even hit the ground a teacher was beside me.

"Hathaway." It was Alto, my least favorite teacher here. He always disliked me for as long as I remembered. "Detention. Today." Was all he said and before I could utter a single word he helped Avery up to bring her to the school's infirmary.

How could it be that Avery assaulted me verbally, but I was the one to get detention? I was shocked but thought better of it than to run after Alto and scream at him.

"Sorry about this." Lissa brought me out of my trance. "It's fine. Nothing any of us could do something about. Avery is just evil. At least I heard a satisfying crack when I hit her nose." I tried to get my happy mood from before back.

"About what she said-" But I didn't let Lissa finish. "Liss, it's alright. She is just a cranky, insecure little girl in desperate need of attention." I didn't want Lissa to know how bad her words hurt me, especially after the razor incident two wees ago. We made our way to our next class and while we walked through the halls I texted Dimitri to let him know I would finish school later than anticipated.

Hay Comrade, sorry, but I won't be able to make it on time. Detention. Tell you more later. I finish an hour later. See you then, R x

Seconds later my phone buzzed and I checked the message before the lesson would start.

Why am I not surprised? Okay, I'll pick you up an hour later then. See you D x

I couldn't help but laugh at this. Lissa gave me a look, but our teacher just started so I couldn't tell her. I wouldn't want to get in to even more trouble than I already had. Alto might have said nothing further, other than detention, but I was sure there was more to come for punching Avery.

After the Avery incident time passed by painfully slow. "You're not coming with us?" Mason asked and I could hear the disappointment in his voice. My friends would be heading to the diner in the city to have milkshakes together but I couldn't come with them. "No. Got detention." With that they just shrugged and wished me a nice weekend. Just as Dimitri, none of them were surprised that I got myself into trouble at school. How could they when it happened so frequently.

Detention was the same as usual. We sat in a classroom, today's teacher was sitting on her chair, reading, not caring what we were doing, as long as we were quiet. So I started on my homework. If I could get them out of the way now, I wouldn't have to do them at the weekend. 50 minutes later I was finished and checked my Facebook for the remaining minutes. Nothing special, just some photos of my friends having milkshakes, a fan post about a tv show I loved to watch, about an American family at the south side of Chicago with a troubled family history. When the school bell finally rang we headed out and I walked towards where I told Dimitri to pick me up.

It's not like we were in a forbidden relationship anymore, not since my parents found out about us, but nevertheless, I wasn't too keen for my friends to find out about us this way. Someone could see us and tell my friends, but I wanted to be the one to tell them about Dimitri and me, especially after things turned out the way they did when Lisa found out through my parents. The second I saw Dimitri, I ran towards him and jumped into his arms.

"Hello, Roza." He greeted me and kissed me. He tasted so amazing, I wanted to continue kissing him, but was aware that we were in public so I walked towards the passenger side when he let me down again. "How was your day?" He asked as he started driving.

The whole way to his house I told him about my talk with Lissa and about school today, but I let out the detention part and the incident that let to me having to stay at school longer in the first place.

The more time I spent in his company, the better my mood got. How could it not when I was in the presence of this amazing man. Every time I looked at him, my whole body lit up with love. A love that burned deep for this man. I don't know if he realized this, but I was head over heels in love with him. After I finished telling him about my day he told me about his. It sounded pretty boring. A business meeting with my father and Pavel, then lunch with some potential sponsors. Even though it sounded uneventful, I still enjoyed listening to him talking about his day. Arriving at his house he let us in and we went into the living room. It was one of these combinations where the living room and the kitchen were in the same room.

I had been here a couple of times by now. It was cozy and screamed Dimitri. It was clear to see that he lived here, which made me love this place even more. To be able to see a place that was so obviously his, created by his personality made me feel closer to him.

"Care to tell me why you got detention?" He asked when we walked toward his kitchen counter. Avery's words immediately ringed in my ears and I shrugged my shoulders. "When do I not get into detention. Alto just loves to punish me." I hoped that this was enough for Dimitri to drop the subject but I should have known better.

"Roza. Look at me." When I ignored him, he walked towards me and lifted my chin with his fingers. "What happened?" his deep voice made me feel so safe and before I realized it I told him everything.

"You remember Avery?" Not waiting for a reaction I continued and started walking back and forth. "Lissa and I ran into her when we were about to head to class and she wouldn't let us go. To her I am a lying bitch and Lissa is a 'puppy without a personality' which hit Lissa and how could I be calm after that. But I tried to ignore her and walk pass her, but she grabbed me and then she attacked me. She said that I should kill myself because no one wants me and that she is going to make me commit suicide." At this my voice broke but I continued talking. Dimitri, who was leaning at the bar, straightening up and tensed, his hands balled into fists. "After that I saw red and punched her, probably breaking her nose. It's not like I wouldn't agree to what she said, I mean I even cut myself not that long ago. Rationally I know she is not right, but hearing her say something so close to what I did in my darkest moments, I don't know, it just makes sense. How could I not agree to that?" I rambled off everything that came into my mind. Deep in the back of my conciseness I realized Dimitri tried to talk to me, but I wasn't registering it and kept talking.

In an instance he was behind me, embracing me, pressing my back into his chest. It was just then that I realized I started to hyperventilate. "Roza, shh, calm down." His soothing voice got through my frantic state. "I need you to calm down. She is not right." He softly rocked us back and forth, all the while reassuring me Avery was just messing with my head. "You are loved by so many people and none of us wants to see you hurt or even worse, dead." With that his voice broke a little and that was the last straw I needed to come back to reality.

When he realized I was calmer again he loosened his arms around me and I turned around. Looking into his loving eyes I leaned in and kissed him. It was the most heated and love filled kiss we ever shared. Walking backwards he opened a door behind him and we stumbled into what seemed to be his bedroom. Entangled in each other, we fell onto the nearest object, his bed. Without any words we simply looked at each other, staring into the others soul and kissed, all the while undressing. Both of us knew where this was leading to. "You're sure?" was his only question and when I nodded eagerly we continued and it felt amazing.

Being with Dimitri intimately was the best thing I've ever experienced. He made me feel so desired, not just for my body, but also for my personality. This being my first time it hurt, but not as much as it felt perfect. We became one and it was in that moment that I was sure that I could never be with someone else but him. He was my soulmate, my other half. Without him I could never be happy. This was something I was pretty sure of when he broke up with me, but now there was no doubt in my mind. Even if for some reason we wouldn't work out, I knew that I would survive this, but never be able to be with someone else.

Getting down from our highs, we both snuggled closer to each other which seemed impossible.

Thinking back to when I helped Dimitri prepare the cabin for my parents birthday party and remembering how strange it felt to be alone with him back then, I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me.

He tilted his head and looked at me from the side.

"What's so funny, milaya?" he asked, rolling over completely so that he could embrace me from behind.

Snuggling against his warm, rock hard chest, I inhaled his heavenly scent.

"Mmmh?" he asked, when I still haven't answered, enveloped by his strong muscular arms, I had trouble concentrating.

"Nothing, Comrade. Was just thinking about the week before the party."

"And what did you thought of?" he gave me a kiss on the head.

"Just about how I thought it was weird, this silence while we were here alone. Not being used to have you around all alone, not sure what to say and unsure of how you thought about me." Starting to ramble I shut my mouth.

"Why would you be wondering about how I thought about you?" his brows furrowed.

My cheeks turned red. Even though we've been together for some time now, including our break up and we've also been as close as possible intimately, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed when I remembered our early days.

"You know why, comrade. I always had a crush on you and… I don't know it was just different that time. I started to really develop feelings for you and then we were alone and you were just so stoic and sexy and…" this time he cut me off and kissed me deeply.

"You are cute when you're shy, Roza. You wanna know a secret?"

Looking into his deep brown eyes, I tried to raise one brow, but failed so instead raised both of them.

"The only reason I seemed so stoic, as you put it, was because I freaked out internally. Spending time with you alone was something I felt uncapable of doing. Not when I could say or do something about the way I felt. I thought it was wrong to be attracted to you. And I'm not just talking about your extraordinary body, but your even more beautiful personality. You were so different from the little 10 year old girl I saw from time to time."

Kissing him again I turned in his arms so he wasn't hugging me from behind anymore and laid my head on his chest. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"For everything. And for telling me this. You don't know how good it was to hear this." I said quietly, suddenly almost shy.

"Always happy to tell you. Even though I have already told you about this before. But why do I feel like there is more behind this than what you said, milaya?" he almost whispered into my ear, nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck.

When I didn't answer he intended to sit up to turn me around, but I hold onto his chest, wanting him to keep lying under me. It would be easier to confess this now, when he couldn't see directly into my face, so I hesitantly started to speak again.

"Please don't get this wrong, but I felt like I might have forced myself on you in a way:" he said nothing so I hurried to explain further. "I mean I felt like you might not have wanted all of this and I pushed you. Not into the physical aspect of things, I know that my body is kind of great and that guys think I'm attractive, but the emotional part. You're always so closed up about your emotions. I know you are so much more open to me than to anyone else but somehow I still doubted the way you're feeling. Even though you showed me time and time again. I know it's silly. Please forgive me." At some point I must have started crying, because I felt how wet my cheeks and by extend his chest got.

"Milaya." Simple and with just this one word he made me start cry more, feeling like the biggest douchebag.

"Turn towards me, milaya." I did as he asked, but refused to look up into his, for sure, disappointed face. "You don't ever have to apologize for your feelings. I'm sorry you carried all of this doubt and that I never knew about it. To the outside you show the world how strong you are, so I sometimes seem to forget that despite everything you're still relatively young and insecure, even though you have no reason for any insecurities. Especially when it comes to me and my feelings for you."

Without saying much we laid there for some minutes. He held me in his arms and I evened my breath.

"Sorry for ruining this perfect moment" I apologized after what felt like forever.

"Nothing to say sorry for. I love you, and I should have told you a lot sooner." He said while looking deeply into my eyes.

My breath caught in my throat and I felt like dying, but at the same time I felt like floating on air. This was the first time he'd told me he loves me.

"Thanks." This answer made him chuckle deeply.

"You're welcome, Roza." Smiling at me, he stroked my cheek.

"I-I love you too." I whispered, but he must have heard me anyways, because his eyes lit up. "As if this would have surprised you after my little outburst, Comrade." I laughed and laid my head onto his chest again.

"No, but it's still nice to hear." He repeated what I've said before.

"I love you." I said again and I felt how I drifted into sleep.