" Meeting you was fate,
Becoming your friend was a choice,
But falling in love was beyond my control. "

The two had wandered back to the girl's home, she held a secret between her teeth that begged to be let loose. The words squirmed around in her stomach while the blissful boy and her walked.

"Cain?" Another test of waters for fear of many things coming, perhaps rejection, perhaps acceptance. The near future was entirely blurry to her, how volatile this boy was really hit her then. He answered her with soft words that had the words swelling, his eyes meeting her own, "yes, Kvet?"

Lost was her breath and she, for a moment, hesitated. And in that moment of hesitation Cain took advantage and said his words first.

"I'm leaving soon," he says monotonously, "I just need to get away, there are too many memories here, you know?" He exhales softly, eyes taken to the inky blue sky, "maybe that's what I need."

She wanted to scream out that no, that wasn't what he needed. What he needed was her. But it was apparent now, to her hazy head, that she needed him far more than he needed her. And that hurt.

"That's lovely," she manages a weak grin, feverish cheeks burning with humiliation.

❁

The two wandered a bit before home, somehow ending up at the garden where they lay beneath the peach orchard. The moon high in the sky, its light glistened, illuminating a dim spark within her. Her bravery wanted to overpower her cowardice but would she let it?

Sprawled across the earth were they, somehow their hands entwined and their breathing soft. His eyes were closed, blissful boy. Perhaps he was asleep, perhaps he was only enjoying her presence, either way she wanted it to last forever.

He had informed her he would leave tomorrow, somewhere far away, he was considering the city. Her eyes reached his face under the moonlit glow, how beautiful he was really.

His skin reminding her of raw cinnamon, a supposed spice that was far too sweet. Unruly curls the color of the shadows, hidden from the sun. His hand, the one she held, bruised and discolored, knuckles swollen from a fight she presumed.

His crescent lashes long, hiding the eyes that reminded her of the thing she loved most; nature. Mild weather creating a layer of sweater to tame the tiniest of curls.

His lanky but lean figure caught her eye, his chest rising and falling with light breath, dark scars across his bare collar bones that lay open to her eyes.

And then his lips, swollen and full, rounded and slightly parted for breath while he slumbered.

"Cain?" She shook his shoulder lightly. A fear deep within her chest momentarily suppressed.

His lashes opened and there were the eyes she loved, the eyes that were reminiscent of nature, of ivy, of the fresh dew grass, of moss and pine. She held her breath with the words finally bursting.

"I love you," came her whisper, lips tremulous and chaste.