"I needed you to stay..

..but I let you drift away."

"My love where are you?"

"Where's he?" I leaned on the door of the beach house as my aunt let me in.

The house was wooden styled, not as small as I expected and not as big as I hoped it would be. Though, it fitted us just fine, considering the huge luggages my aunt brought them with her.

So I wouldn't say I didn't like it. On the contrary, the house was very beautiful.

Just if it had me and Mikhail only.

"He's in his bedroom," aunt scratched the back of her neck, she was wearing an apron that had yellow and red tulips. "He has been sleeping too heavily, we tried to wake him up but-"

"What happened?" I nervously questioned.

"Oh, you have no idea, Evelyn." My aunt shook her head with astonishment. "He had that sudden energy boost where he started to clean the whole house, organize the wardrobes and shelves, he even helped us unpack all the stuff, we didn't get to do anything-"

I sighed, reaching for his bedroom. Again, typical dedicated Mikhail had to make it difficult for me and himself and couldn't take one moment of self care just to exhaust himself with too much effort that he had no need to be involved with.

That moment had me realizing that it was just the way he was, productive to the extent. I couldn't just stop him from what made him feel functional the most.

As I opened the door, I found him exhaustingly laying on an orange couch, his hair was kind of a mess and his cheeks possessed the color of rose.

"Make sure if he's breathing." Mom whispered behind the door, causing me to flinch backwards. While my aunt watched us from afar, curiosity was killing her.

"Privacy please." I frowned my eyebrows, proceeding to close the door.

I didn't need to have them seeking in to see how depleted Mikhail seemed to be.

Obviously they were the ones who had him worn out in the first place.

"Okay, okay!" Mom hissed with widened eyes as she stepped backwards.

I closed the door and then rushed to him, kneeling on my knees.

I slowly stroked his hair, cupping his cheek. He hummed in satisfaction.

"Mikhail?" I whispered, "Are you okay?"

He wearily opened his eyes, the moment he acknowledged my presence, a whole jovial smile extended to his rosy cheeks.

"I'm fine." he closed his eyes again, silent for another moment. "I just worked my ass off a little bit too much today." he mumbled, digging his face in the pillow.

I let out a chuckle, grabbing his chin back to me. "You really didn't have to do any of this, Mikhail." I smiled.

He slowly blinked twice, smiling with unspoken words. He really was that much exhausted.

I placed my palm on his forehead, finding it way warmer than normal.

"Mikhail you're sick!" I sprang up, feeling the hotness of his cheek from the back of my hand. "We need to get you some compresses."

Before I was about to reach the door, he grabbed my hand, digging his face into the pillow once again. "I'm seriously fine." He murmured.

God, he's so stubborn.

...

I've been checking on Mikhail every now and then. Thankfully, my aunt brought some medical compresses to use on him from a neighbor next to us.

Mom decided to delay dinner for some more hours since Mikhail was empty of appetite and couldn't get out of the couch.

I've covered him with a blanket, made him drink some soup, and I let him rest for some time. I never would have thought he could get sick just from being drained by some house work, his physical health seemed to be stronger than that, but I guessed it couldn't stop him from getting sick like a normal human being.

The door rang, and I assumed it was the neighbor who offered us the compresses. My aunt told me she'd step by to offer us some chocolate cookies, too. I didn't know why she cared for us that much, but I guessed that there were still kind hearted people out there.

I opened the door and found a girl near my age, but I guessed much older, a beautiful wide smile was covering her mouth. Her hair had shades of orange with touches of brown. She had olive green doe eyes and I assumed she was a perfectionist at drawing her eyeliner.

She was completely stunning.

"Hi! I'm Rayna! The neighbor next door!" she grinned with excitement, holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies. "I heard someone was sick in the house, I came here to make sure everything's okay!"

"Yeah sure!" I smiled, still impressed by how gorgeous she looked. "Please get in." I gestured her to come inside, then I closed the door behind us.

She exhaled, still grinning. "I brought cookies!" she offered me the plate.

"Oh, you really didn't have to." I pursed my lips, shaking my head. Then I took the plate from her. "Thank you, though."

I gave the cookies to my aunt, and then she reached to the kitchen.

"So who's sick?" she asked with concern, her brows knitted. She smiled a little bit, sighing. "Don't tell me...is it Mikhail?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, not realizing that she knew who he was in general. "Yeah actually." I nodded, still wondering if she seriously knew him. But I guessed he had a great bond with all the neighborhood since they were unusually pleasant and friendly.

She nodded with pursed lips, "Should've known." her eyes wandered the house, looking for Mikhail's bedroom. "Can I see him?"

I didn't know how close their relationship was for her to ask me that, but I assumed it was with good intention, she seemed to actually care about him.

Which made me a little bit jealous.

"Uhm- yeah sure." I nodded with much hospitality. Reaching for his bedroom as she followed my lead.

"It's been a long time since we met, I was hoping if I could talk to him, you know." She mentioned, as I opened the door, finding Mikhail very much asleep. In a deep dream actually.

She pouted, smiling awkwardly. "Guess it's not my lucky day." she scoffed, and I laughed at that.

"How do you guys know each other?" I questioned, not because I was jealous or anything, I was just genuinely curious. Can't I be?

"He was once a blind date Marcus had set up for me." she chuckled, and I was speechless for a moment. "Ended up in a very tragic way, however."

I bit the inside of my cheeks, trying to hide my laughter. Yes, it was very expected from Marcus to set Mikhail up from a blind date even though Mikhail cautioned him about not wanting anything to deal with women. How ironic that was.

And how ironic that must've ended up like. I wouldn't even want to imagine.

"Wait..." She blankly stared at Mikhail for a second, then she narrowed her eyes at me, suspiciously I might add. "So who are you to Mikhail exactly?"

I couldn't help but giggle, covering my wide smile. "I'm his girlfriend." I tilted my head, biting the bottom of my lips.

"Well, shit. That's awkward." she widened her eyes, scratching the back of her neck with embarrassment. "I had no idea he had a girlfriend. I'm so sorry, I should probably go."

As she was about to walk away, I reached for her arm. She looked back at me. "No, it's completely fine." I assured her with ease. She had nothing to say, she only felt uncomfortable for a moment. "How about we drink some coffee?"

...

Me and Rayna were chilling in the terrace in Mikhail's bedroom.

Although it was a little bit tiny, it had a miraculous view. A wide fresh field, extremely dark, but absolutely soothing to gaze at. I could count the stars shining above the sky.

We held our own cup of coffee, warming us from the cold breeze of air. Rayna seemed to be feel disgruntled at first, so I decided to start the conversation.

"So are you and Marcus friends?" I asked, grabbing her attention back to me.

"We use to hang out every time he comes to Venice." She sipped from the cup of coffee to warm her up. "So yeah, you could say we are."

I nodded, sipping from my coffee as well.

It was silent for a moment, until she finally proceeded to interact with me. "What about you and Mikhail? Were you guys friends the first time you met?"

I chuckled, not knowing how to explain that. "It was a lot more complicated than just friends.."

"Oohh, I like complicated." she leaned on the terrace's railing, narrowing her eyes with curiosity. "Spill, sis."

I inhaled a breath, running my fingers through her hair. "Nothing much," I shook my head, blankly staring at the view. "I ran away with him."

She gasped a little, mouth wide opened. "No way." she whispered.

"No actually.." I raised my finger, proceeding to remember how it all started. "I stole his cap."

"What?!!" Her mouth widened even more.

"Don't blame me." I rolled my eyes, sipping from my cup of coffee. "It was raining heavily."

"Tell more." Her eyes widened this time.

"And he was a total dickhead! You know?" I aggressively mentioned, apparently that whole conversation let out some deep emotions I couldn't express for anyone. "The first time he saw me, disgusting facial expressions were shown all over his face. Like he had seen a ghost!"

She raised her eyebrows, very much invested with everything I said. "Really?" she slowly nodded.

"And then he had the audacity to ask me.." I again mentioned with aggressiveness, pointing a finger to my chest. "..to be his fake date to a party, so that he can deceive his boss."

"Wow!" she sarcastically reacted, laughing at my words.

"Yeah, and then I decided to run away with him, a complete stranger, so that I didn't have to deal with my parent's strictness." I ran my fingers through my hair, sighing. "And the next thing I know, I'm in love with him."

"That was complicated more than I even expected." she raised her cup with a chuckle, then took another sip of the coffee.

"That was just a summary." I slowly shook my head, gazing at the view as I was amazed by how much adventures our love story went through.

Mikhail really was the only exciting thing that has ever happened to my life. Other than that, was just extreme mundane. A spiritless life. I wouldn't want to imagine my life without him, ever. Even if I had to deal with the reality of his current disappearance.

I'm not imagining my life without him.

"You beat me at the complicated part," she pursed her lips. "Turns out our story wasn't that tragic after all."

"What happened?" I curiously tilted my head.

"We weren't getting along." She shook her head, and curled her lips with sarcasm. "He got seriously annoyed by Marcus's set up."

"Tell me about it." I waved away her words, sipping from my coffee.

"I won't lie to you, it was going well at first.." she thought about it in a moment of silence. "Seriously, I got excited. But then-" she twitched her mouth with embarrassemnt.

"But then what?" I was already too curious to know.

"He elegantly asked me to stop babbling about myself, he said he only accepted to be there with me so that Marcus wouldn't get pissed." She chuckled, "Apparently, he didn't want anything to do with women. He said they 'stress him' a bit too much."

I burst out laughing, sighting at Mikhail with the corner of my eyes. I realized he was very much awake this whole time. He was just pretending to fall asleep so that he wouldn't have to deal with that. I understood him.

He was trying to hide his smile, the moment he caught me looking at him, he immediately squeezed his eyes shut.

God, I love him.

"And I thought I pulled the guy." she face palmed in defeat. "But I admit, you suit him much better than I do."

"I consider it luck." I shrug, taking the last sip of coffee.

"You're indeed a hell of a lucky girl, Evelyn." she glanced at Mikhail, then leaned closer and whispered. "I bet he's driving you crazy."

I couldn't help but smile widely, that conversation with the girl I just met hour and a half ago and realized was one of my boyfriend's dates was a lot healthier than my whole friendship with Olivia and Emma. They really couldn't even get there yet, the definition of healthy and stable that we should've had as close friends.

"I really like you, Rayna." I pocked her shoulder, playfully. "We should be friends!"

"We sure will." she winked at me with a grin.

"Evelyn, come help us prepare the table!" Mom yelled from outside.

"It's dinner time. Come on," I waved my hand, gesturing her to follow me to the table. "Have dinner with us."

"I don't think I should-"

"It's fine really!"

I was then interrupted with my little cousin, who was eating one of the cookies Rayna brought with her. "Auntie said to come help her quickly or she will-" I rushed to cover her mouth that was full of crumbs, I did not have to get insulted by my mother in front of a new guest.

"Yeah, yeah. Got it." I pursed my lips at my cousin, while Rayna let out a chuckle. I turned to look at her. "I'll be right back."

I reached for the table, helped with placing the forks and plates. My cousin kept eating the cookies and they were about to finish it so I hid the plate until they help us prepare the table as well.

Mom secretly reached for me, glancing at Mikhail's bedroom. "Isn't she going to leave?" Mom whispered.

"No." I denied, focusing on preparing the table. "I invited her to dinner."

"Evelyn are you nuts?!" Mom aggressively argued, "You did not just invite your boyfriend's ex girlfriend to have dinner with us!"

"What?!" I knitted my brows with confusion. "How did you know that?"

"I heard both of you an hour ago." mom claimed, and I sighed, sick of how irritatingly she always sneaked on me. "She said she went on a blind date with Mikhail once."

"So what, mom?!" I aggressively argued back, as I stopped preparing the table.

"She got her eyes on your boyfriend." she muttered, pointing her thumb on Mikhail's bedroom.

I crossed my arms at her, "My relationship with my boyfriend is healthy enough to make me trust that he wouldn't have his eyes on anyone but me," I leaned back, giving her a reassuring yet irritated smile. "So thanks for the tip, mom." my smile then disappeared as I headed to the bedroom.

Rayna suddenly opened the door, a little bit uncomfortable. "I really need to go."

"You can have dinner with us and then you can leave after!" I insisted, as mom forced a fake smile at Rayna.

"It's getting very late already." she shook her head, "I don't want my mother to be worried."

"Alright then." I sighed.

She pulled me in for a hug. "Thank you, Evelyn. For everything."

"Thank you for the compresses and the cookies." I winked, poking her shoulder once again.

She giggled, opening the house's door. "I'll catch you later!" she left as I waved her a goodbye.

God I really hoped she didn't hear what my mom said, I hoped that wasn't the reason she got suddenly uncomfortable.

I disappointedly looked at mom, and sighed. "You happy now?"

"What?!" she innocently shrugged, "Go wake your boyfriend."

...

We've finally prepared for dinner. The table had a variety of delicious dishes, as though it was a Thanksgiving party.

Mikhail got out of his bedroom, he seemed worn out, even though he was resting for almost five hours.

I reached for him, placing my hand on his forehead to check on his temperature.

He suddenly pulled me by the waist, wrapping his arms tightly around me as he breathed into my soft skin. I felt fragile by his touch. I always did.

Mikhail placed a long craving kiss on my cheek, he then pulled away with an exhale, desperately glancing at my lips.

"What was that for?" I glanced at his lips as well, heart pounding a million times.

"Nothing, I just missed you a lot." He leaned closer to me, whispering. "And thanks for what you did with Rayna. Any other girl would have only been jealous and impatient with her."

"I just did the right thing." I shyly tilted my head, both my fingers interlaced behind my back.

"You two!" Catalina pointed two fingers at us, holding a huge tray of Turkey. "Stop flirting and have a seat already. We're dying of hunger."

I sighed, looking back at Mikhail who gazed me with a warm smile.

We both had a seat next to each other. I still found my cousins eating the cookies Rayna brought. "How did they find the cookies?"

"They didn't." Catalina took a sip of the chicken soup, "I gave it back to them. They were hungry, I couldn't just let you hide them!"

"But these cookies were for after dinner!" I frowned, "What are we supposed to have for dessert now?!"

"We can bake brownies together." Mikhail offered, wrapping the blanket tightly around him, he appeared to be a little bit cold.

Mom scoffed, waving away his words. "Cookies?! Evelyn can't even cook an omelette!" Mom chuckled, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You should probably then try the breakfast she makes-" Mikhail blurted out, realizing what he just confessed as I choked on my bread.

"Breakfast?!" Mom confusedly knitted her eyebrows at me.

"Yes!" I placed down my spoon, stuttering. "When I was, you know, at my.. friends house. I cooked breakfast for Mikhail and gave it to him in a plastic box on his way to work."

"Yeah, yeah." Mikhail nodded with raised eyebrows, staring at Mom. "And it wasn't that bad-" he coughed, "At all."

Mom nodded, and I glanced at Mikhail who barely held in laughter.

I pursed my lips, proceeding to shove a spoon of the chicken soup in his mouth. "Try this to recover faster."

"Thanks, love." he softly murmured.

Catalina sighed, resting her chin on her palm. "Wished my husband would have been thoughtful like your boyfriend."

"What's wrong with Daniel?" Mom curled her lips, offended because as I remembered correctly she was the one who got my aunt to meet with Daniel at the first place.

And Catalina unfortunately accepted.

"Everything!" she rolled her eyes, sipping on her glass of wine.

I ironically chuckled.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't keep my promise and spend the whole day with you." He muttered with a tone of frustration, "And now the day is over, and I have nothing but lots of work tomorrow-"

I pressed a finger to his lips, smiling. "It wasn't your fault. And anyway, I really had fun today, thanks to you."

He forced a smile, then sorrowfully looked down. "I always ruin everything."

"No you don't." I cupped his cheek with my hand, and pouted. "You already said we got all the time in the world. And I'm willing to explore that time with you, no matter how dull it would be."

_______

[Pâro] (n.) : the feeling that no matter what you do is always somehow wrong.

...

You guys really thought they were gonna spend a fun time this vacation, huh? Well my bad xD

This chapter was actually a dream I had while sleeping about a year ago.

It was a really interesting one and I made sure to include it in the story!

So I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Don't forget to vote and comment!

xoxo <33