Author's note:

I didn't do too much revising so sorry for any errors.

This chapter is dedicated to my friend, Aarohi Pahurkar. Thank you for the wonderful feedback! This chapter is for and because of you!

What would she say? What would he say? Elide was so confused. She was surprised she decided to come. Her original plan was to ignore Lorcan out of existence, and yet she found herself checking herself in the mirror multiple times. Even though it was just overalls with a white shirt and black leggings.

Elide tied her hair up in a bun (ponytails don't work with long hair) and slipped on her boots. She wasn't sure she could handle heels. That monstrosity that other girls could do with ease. Especially with her ankle.

Lorcan leaned against a counter in the lobby, freshly shaved and hot as hell. Wait, what? No no. He was leaning against a counter like the arrogant prick he was. Who did he think he was? Causing pain to innocent people and thinking he could make it up with a date? The thought made Elide's blood boil.

She doubted anything could make up for what he did.

But boy was he wrong.

They hadn't spoken a single word since they left and Lorcan was becoming fidgety. He was surprised she even came. Say something idiot. Compliment her. Say something interesting. Just say hello you moron.

"Uhhhh, I'm Lorcan."

Yup, he was a dead man. And not afraid to admit that he was kind of scared of what response this she-devil would give.

Elide smirked, "Oh really, I thought I was going on a date with Justin Bieber. I think I should go now."

She spun around and began swaggering away, but Lorcan wasn't ready to let her go this time.

He took hold of her waist and swung her over his shoulder. He whispered into her ear, "I'm not Justin Bieber, I'm much better. I'm Lorcan Salvaterre."

"Where are we going?" She tried moving out of Lorcan's grasp multiple times but damn, that guy was stronger than the hulk.

After some time they apparently arrived at the place. Elide looked around, a question lingering in her eyes.

Which made sense because they were in the midst of the woods. Not exactly the ideal place for a date.

Lorcan put her down and handed her a light pink piece of paper.

"I'm going to go, solve this riddle and you'll know where to find me."

"I could just follow you."

Lorcan winked, "Yes, but where is the fun in that. Plus, I'm going a different route with many loopholes. This is a test to learn more about each other."

Elide felt her lips quirk up, "Alright. Let the hunting begin."

Elide ground her teeth. Great - words. Lorcan probably did this to annoy her. It was his type of amusement.

Elide walked up to some random man having a smoke on a green bench. The man had an untamed beard. It was pretty windy yet the man wore tank and shorts. Strange.

She cleared her throat, and spoke in her innocent voice, "Um, excuse me, sir, can you read this for me?"

The man looked up, squinted, scanned her top to bottom and nodded to himself.

"Alright child."

Lorcan pulled his hoodie over his head and blended in with everyone else. On these busy streets, it was pretty easy to blend in with the bustling crowd. Maybe this was a bad idea. What would Elide say when she found the place? Was he ready to show someone? They hadn't even known each other for two months. Yet it felt like he had known Elide all his life. Would this make her dislike him even more? Maybe he should've gone with a more cliche approach. Like a fancy dinner, or a nice walk. It was too late to turn back now. She probably already read the paper. The paper - words. Oh god. He completely forgot she couldn't read. Great, now she wasn't going to think he didn't care. Elide was so clever it was hard to imagine she had weaknesses at all. Especially when it came to mental strength. Out of all his dumb mistakes, this could be his worst one yet.

But he was determined not to let that happen. Not this time. Not when it was for Elide.

Cursive. An interesting and unexpected choice of handwriting - even more for Lorcan. Neat, graceful cursive. Elide smirked at the thought of Lorcan with his big, scarred hands, writing this incredibly feminine way. Her amusement faded away when she remembered what was on those lines. She looked at the paper again.

All brutal and cruel

Where the streets are filled with diesel fuel

10 years here

Where I learned not to endear

Filled with dead life

Is where I reside

PS: This is my first time writing a poem, so it might suck.

I hope it isn't too obvious - Lorcan.

Elide appreciated that this wasn't a normal date. She didn't know how to act in one. This gave her the privilege of being herself. Not some cliche girl, because Lorcan wasn't a cliche guy.

And that made Elide happy.

Now, for solving this riddle so that she can finally get to this place. It was around 5:30 p.m. She better figure this out quickly, if she planned to get there before it got really dark and all the creeps came out.

Elide began dissecting the information and comparing to everything she knew about Lorcan.

She began with the first two lines

All brutal and cruel

Where the streets are filled with diesel fuel.

Well, around here, there was a lot of nature but…

Elide took out her phone and spoke into Siri.

"Nearest urban area."

Siri spoke, "Showing directions to nearest organ transplant hospital."

How in the world did it end up with that? Elide rolled her eyes. Using Siri was her only way of using her phone, she couldn't read after all. She grew a tolerance to its idiocy. Though she did feel like getting Siri some hearing aids.

Elide heard a honk, and she walked towards it. Elide walked for a few blocks and took a right. She sniffed the air and regretted it. She coughed and tried to get the odor of smoke out of her nose. She thought back to her sixth-grade health class when they lectured her about inhalants, drugs used to get high, gasoline is one of them. Elide shuddered.

She finished one line, but there was still another line.

All brutal and cruel

Elide strolled along the sidewalk, taking turns as she saw the streets go from wealthy, to run down.

Elide stopped at a dead end and turned around. She turned around and saw rows of houses on either side of her. The houses were boarded in various areas. Doors, windows, even roofs. The paint was peeling, fading, or both. There weren't any garbage cans, trash was littered everywhere. It was so polluted that Elide could barely breath. Elide smirked at Lorcan's idea of a date is dragging her to this sort of place. Brutal and cruel indeed.

Alright, Elide rubbed her hands against each other, she recalled the next two lines.

10 years here

Where I learned not to endear

Elide analyzed everything Lorcan had mentioned about his past.

His mother had died while conceiving him. He was placed in the foster cycle… Elide gasped, His foster care! He was there for 10 years!

Elide ran as much as she could with her burden of a leg.

Elide panted and put both hands on her knees. After a moment, she looked up.

"Mary's home for adoption." Elide jerked upward and saw Lorcan strolling alongside a sidewalk.

Elide spoke, "Is this where you stayed for adoption?"

Lorcan nodded, "I hated this place. I remember as a ten-year-old thinking I would have nothing after I was 18. I was so happy when someone finally took me in. But there were so many other children that had no future, no guidance if no one took them in after that dreadful age."

Elide nodded. She didn't have much to say. Oh, wait, of course, she did, "Is this your idea of a date?"

Lorcan fidgeted. Was it possible that Lorcan Salvaterre was nervous?

"Why did you bring me here?" Elide prodded.

"I really don't know. I'm not good at this emotional stuff. But I think it is important that you know who I really am. Because many people hate me just by looking at one thing I do without considering everything else. I don't want you to be one of those people. You can hate me after this if you want to, but I want you to at least know all of me. So I know that I have done everything in my power to get you to choose me over some criminal."

"Let's walk," Lorcan offered a hand and Elide refused. Lorcan made a sad face and Elide rolled her eyes and took his hand.

"Are you alright?" Lorcan asked concerningly. Elide hadn't said anything for two blocks and Lorcan was worried it was about him.

"It's not about you. I'm just thinking." There were still holding hands. Much to Lorcan's surprise. Elide didn't seem to mind his scars and roughness. A stark contrast Elide's soft, smooth skin.

Stop thinking about her skin Lorcan. Or this was going into a downward spiral.

Elide stepped in front of Lorcan, still holding his hand. Lorcan stopped and widened his eyes. Silently preparing himself.

"Tell me everything about you Lorcan. I want to know all your secrets. All of your sins. I know there is a lot of you I don't know-"

"Elide, you know more than anyone."

"But I want to know more. There must be a reason why you poisoned Rowan in the first place, other than serving Maeve."

Oh god. She was getting close. She knew him so well, it was strangely comforting.

"Why did you do that? Hmm?"

At least she wasn't screaming. That was a good sign. He took a deep breath, "I was afraid that if I didn't do it, I would lose who I am."

Elide waited for more, and that's what she got. "I was trying to convince myself that I wasn't disobeying my only mother's orders."

Elide whispered, "Falling in love?"

Lorcan nodded. "In love - with you."

Elide's heart was racing. She had nightmares of someone declaring their love. It was such a big statement. It was so overused. People didn't realize the power, the duty, the burden, and the freedom of it. Those three words - it was life itself. But she knew that Lorcan knew what it really meant. He knew the responsibility that came with saying it. He knew the price - that she had faith in.

She never thought Lorcan would be the one saying that. And she never imagined the happiness that ran through when she heard them. It wasn't a nightmare when it was Lorcan saying those magical words, it was a dream.

Elide smiled. "Now I understand."

Lorcan was relieved and scared, the entire purpose of this date was to get a chance to explain something. But his idiotic self-had to spill something else out. He tried not to give his feelings much thought, he tried to ignore the ever-present flutters in his stomach, he tried to ignore the free falling. But it just came out.

There, standing in front of her, he thought of her laughter. Her stubbornness. The wildfire that everyone ignored. This idealist, this dreamer, the diamond in the rough. This star that glowed brighter even if the depths of darkness. And you know what? He was happy it was out.

The tension was insane. It was driving Elide nuts. Wasn't the guy supposed to make the first move? Although it was very dark outside and the only light was the streetlight right above them, she didn't want to go home. Elide wanted to stay like this forever. Nothing else could be better. Wait - scratch that. Yes, this could better.

Elide was tired of waiting and she stepped forward and pressed her lips to his. Into a magical kiss. One Elide spent years dreaming about.

"I told you, Manon!" Aelin squealed from the bush they were hiding in.

What? Did you really think they would leave their Elide alone?

Author's note: Woah! Over 2,000 words. I'm so proud of myself.

Again, this chapter is dedicated to my friend, Aarohi Pahurkar. Thank you for the wonderful feedback! This chapter is for and because of you!

I'm sure you've heard this from other people, but I'm doing NaNoWriMo! Maybe that's why it's easier for me to write more words. So my chapters are probably going to be longer.

Nanowrimo is taking all of my writing time! But, I sacrificed today's words to do this. Now I have so much work tomorrow. Oh well.

Review! It's what keeps me going.

PS: I've created more ideas! Can't wait to share them with you!