Author's note: Sorry for the super-short chapter this time, the next one will be much longer! Oh, and happy december :)
If someone had told me a couple of months ago that I would be working as a secretary in italy, as well as meeting someone like Aro – I would probably have laughed.
The days following the ball, I had felt something between us growing. I know he said that he wanted friendship, but we both knew that it was about more than that. And for some really mad reason, I had said yes. But if that was a smart decision, I did not yet know. But he was so different from any man that I had ever met. He made me feel good about a lot of things I hadn't been able to manage before. Despite his many eccentric habits, and his strange apperance – he never made me feel afraid.
And he was so gentle, so kind that it made all my butterflies go away – it kept all the bad thoughts at bay. A few days later on a normal weekday I approached him once again in the library, giving him back the book. I thought that he would inspect its condition, since it was a first edition and probably considered priceless – but he just tossed it aside on one of the many tables, his eyes never leaving my face – his unblinking gaze almost unnerving but not like before. Now it made me nervous for entirely different reasons as I swallowed and looked down at my hands.
"You read it?" he asked raptly, and I nodded, smiling. My head didn't hurt when I smiled these days – probably because it wasnt faked.
"Yes, and I really liked it actually. Took me awhile to get into it though." I said, my voice thoughtful. Aro blinked, some of the intensity dissappearing as he got up from the chair he had been sitting in by the table to put a book back in the shelf behind him.
"You're young, you have all the time in the world to read." he said. I looked down at the floor, not really knowing how to phrase what I was going to say. I didn't want him to think I was slow. His opinion of me was becoming increasingly important.
"No, i mean I do but – I never really read much – before. "
Instead of offering comforting words, there was a few minutes of silence as I heard the shuffling of papers, a book being pulled from one of the shelves, a slight cough from him before he launched into a recital of – well, one of the strangest poems I had ever heard.
"All that doth flow we cannot liquid name
Or else would fire and water be the same;
But that is liquid which is moist and wet
Fire that property can never get.
Then 'tis not cold that doth the fire put out
But 'tis the wet that makes it die, no doubt."
He shut the book with one hand elegantly, as it closed with a quick snap.
"So, what do you think of that?" he asked as I frowned in thought.
"It's….not very good." I said finally, and he nodded to himself.
"You're right. And yet, she is a published author. People have read it and liked it. It is true that it never harms to read a book, but it all depends on just what book it is. What part of the book I borrowed you did you like?"
I moved closer to the table and sat down in the chair opposite from his. The surface of the table was so neatly polished, it was looking down into a mirror.
"It confused me at first – but when he went on his journey, things got really interesting. I could picture it clearly in my mind."
Aro moved around the table as I talked, books being gently placed on his side of the table with quiet thuds. He disappeared behind a shelf, but his voice was still clear when he spoke.
"And what could you see?" he asked. I sighed, as the familiar feeling I had when I had first read the book came back to me. Despite the fact that I had never read any books about a dystopian future, the whole scenario felt familiar to me. But that's not what I said.
"The world he describes – its kind of sad, in many ways. And yet he falls in love with someone." I say, thinking back on the wilted flowers the time traveller took back with him, the only memory of his brief time with the girl.
"And is that what it is? Love?" Aro asks, his voice laced with malice and distain. It startles me, as not but a few minutes ago he sounded quite different.
"Well, it certainly sounded like it. "
"And I suppose you speak from experience?"
Sometimes he will do this. His mood will simply turn on a dime, and the nice Aro is replaced by this taunting and enigmatic stranger. My nose wrinkles like a rabbits and I cross my arms on the table.
"No. I have never been in love before. But that does not mean that I can't recognize it in others. " I say, and Aro emerges behind me with yet another nameless book in his hand. He looks down on me thoughtfully, his black hair falling freely across his shoulders like a curtain.
"You are right, it is sad. An intelligent being falling in love with someone with the mental capability of a vegetable."
I slouch back in my chair, my mind made up on the matter.
"But that does not make it less real." I say, not really looking at anything.
"Why not?" he asks infuriatingly, and I don't know how to answer him – I just know.
"I don't know, it just doesn't. "
He shakes his head at me, then sits down again in his chair.
"Youth and their emotions ruling every decision – yes, I forgot about that. Is that why the story is so dear to you?"
For a few moments, I just glare at him as he looks back – unblinking. I scoff and looked away.
"If you are just going to continue dismissing my opinion, I won't give it at all." I say, aware that I probably shouldn't smartmouth to my superior but he did insult me and my temper has never been particularly controlled. But instead of looking snubbed, Aro looked quite the opposite. I hadn't been looking at him for the last couple of minutes, and now that I did I noticed that he was looking at me again like that - like I was someone worth knowing, worth breathing for. Like I was some sort of miracle brought down from the sky. The red in his eyes was poignant, almost violet and bruised. For a second, I almost expect him to do something - instead he smirks, the cruel smile at odds with the emotion in his eyes.
"You are wrong. I value your opinion most highly."
I am going to tell him something smart in reply, instead of the truth – what he wants to know. Thats what I was going to do, but something – in the way he sits so close, his hands on the table nearly touching mine, his face so close but not in a leery, creepy way, just curious – it makes me act and say things on impulse. I can't control myself around him, it seems.
"Actually ah, its familiar to me. Somehow."
"Hmm. Interesting. How do you mean?"
Reluctantly at first, I tell him about that feeling I had when I read it – a feeling that at once was comforting, but also frightening. I tell him about the monument I saw in Florence, and about the cell. I tell him about the strange dreams I've been having. I tell him that I think that all of it is somehow...connected.
Meanwhile, Aro is still like a statue. His expression unreadable.
"That sounds really strange, doesn't it?" I ask and laugh somewhat awkwardly after awhile when he doesn't say anything. A frisson of something flickers in his eyes, before he smiles shakily, a strange laugh bubbling out of him.
"Well, not the strangest thing I've heard. No, not at all. "
I don't know if this is the smartest thing. Confiding in him like this but...I feel like I can't say any of this to anyone else. I don't have anyone like that. I mean, people have other people – families, friends. I may have both of those on the surface, but that's all just a facade – I know that, but I dont like thinking about it. I don't like telling the truth to myself. And its been so long since I said something to anyone that was real – given a part of me that hurts to expose.
Aro is that person now, somehow. It hurt to tell the truth sometimes, but telling the truth to him is okay. It must mean that I am starting to trust him, despite trying not to.
"Do you think that it is something...bad?" I ask, my voice small. I dont dare to look at him when I ask this.
I almost flinch when his cold hands cover mine on the table.
"No matter, agnellino.We all go a little mad sometimes."