The moment the chain fell, all my fears were somewhere dissolved into the thick air in this deep night.
This time, I pulled him in for a kiss to finish what he started.
Without missing a second, Aesterope's mouth was on mine, and the only thing that helped me not explode with heat was the winds that caressed me.
Aesterope pulled my waist and turned me so my back was on the tree. My hands run through his hair just as his tongue explores every inch of mine.
His left hand slowly and devilishly slips inside my sweater on my waist grazing my skin with his strong hands, leaving an electric sensation through my body on my bare skin, not helping me when the heat of his body can be felt by every fiber of me. I am trapped by him at this point. Not like I want to leave. His right hand is behind my neck, like a missing piece from a puzzle he completes me. I hope I complete him too. His hand soon shifts to the back of my head to protect it from the rough tree. I fall for him more with every move he makes.
He tastes like wine, he must have drunk the wine Amelia forced, the sweet, tender yet strong and dense taste will never leave my mind. This is my favorite wine.
My heart has long gone on a journey of flying inside the ocean.
I try to take as much as I can of him, hoping that it will fix the parts of me that were never really broken but left unfixed. Pieces of me that needed healing, but I never knew because I never felt them broken. Broken parts can be mended with time. You feel them every second of your life. But sometimes there are parts of you that are just hurt and you don't know how to fix them. These parts leave the feeling of emptiness. You know you are not broken, but you don't feel healed.
Aesterope heals the parts of me that were never meant to be fixed by me.
Aesterope pulls my head closer, letting his tongue slide with better ease and the flames licking my skin are now embracing me like growing vines. Slow and pleasant. His heartbeat races with mine as I place my hand on his chest.

"Aestrope," I whisper while pulling back to catch my breath and give my heart time to take all these emotions at once. I want his name to be engraved in my heart and this moment captured so it forever stays in my mind reminding me of the moment when I started living and not just existing.

"Fuck" Aesterope whispers in my ear, it's as deadly as a sweet poison to my ears. And I am not sure if it's his fragrance or the surroundings or the cologne he wears but it cleanses every part of me.
"Never have I loved my name so much before." He again whispers, but this time his lips brush my ears, and I swear my heart is loud enough to be heard by him right now.

I laugh with my head on his chest. I wrap my arms around his neck and let my laugh fill all the empty holes I created in my heart. Aesterope's hands hold my waist so firmly yet so softly. I laugh without anything in my mind, just this beautiful moment.
Aesterope joins me with a soft laugh. This close I can see his dimples clearly and a bit of wrinkles that form when he laughs.
The moonlight does nothing to hide the love in the air. I look at the moon thinking of the most obvious line.
"Isn't the moon lovely?"

"It is." Aesterope slides a strand of my hair and tugs it behind my ear "I can die happy"

I look at him with a questioning gaze. He just smiles. His eyes are better in the moonlight.  Like a calm sea during a gloomy night, you would want to drown in it with no regrets.

Another type of drowning that will not kill me, but rather save me.

.................................................................................................................

"I knew it, wine does magic," Amelia says sipping her drink at the bar.
Loud music banging in my ear but all I can hear is Aesterope's whisper roaming lethally around me.
When I told Amelia about my kiss she instantly planned a celebration at one of the bars she owns.
Amelia never told me about her background but I am pretty sure she belongs to a rich family.
She has four bars and two restaurants that she owns. Usually packed with customers. The only reason for event management is because she enjoys the work.

"How does he look though?" Amelia looks at me with mischievous eyes.

"He is hot. He is tall and he has ocean-blue eyes, Dark hair, a sharp jawline, and a body, I think he works out well" I might as well be drooling at the moment. 

"What about his lips?" Amelia winks at me and I slap her shoulder a bit too hard.

"Shut up" I let the alcohol burn all these butterflies having a disco night inside my stomach.
Amelia burst out laughing enjoying her making me embarrassed. If alcohol wasn't enough, her words were making me red enough to be a traffic light.
When she was finally done laughing she sighed and turned to face me.

"How does it feel though?" Her eyes shine like they always do when she is excited about something.

"The kiss?" I question without thinking straight

"I know you are obsessed with it Sil, but I am asking about the guy. Aesterope,  how do you feel around him? Butterflies?  Giggles and rainbows?" She asks with a more serious tone than a few seconds ago.

"I feel....safe. Warm. Happy and alive" There was silence and Amelia's brown eyes dug deeper into mine finding answers to questions she hadn't asked yet.

"You love him" A soft loving smile replaces the teasing smile she had. She gets off her seat and pulls me in for a hug.

"What is this all about?" I say hugging her back and laughing.

"I am just drunk," she says letting her arms drop and getting back.

"Wanna give us some hugs too, ladies?" A group of 3 men approaches us. The stench of alcohol is too strong and all of them wear an annoying smirk on their face.

"Sorry, not in the habit of hugging trash cans, they are disgusting and they stink" Amelia sips her drink without caring to spare a single glance at the men. My drink almost fell from my hand at that instant reply.
I like her boldness, but when 3 built men who are surely twice our size are standing almost blocking our way to run to exit? Yeah, that's dangerous.

"Now, Now little lady, aren't you too fierce?" Says the man with a golden chain around his neck that he for some reason kept it between his teeth. Gross. "You should be lucky that we handsome men here are ready to give you a try" Adds the one with the beard.
Three of them take a couple of steps forward.

"The only thing that is little here is your....."  Amelia gives a sassy up-and-down look and lets everyone think about every possible way this sentence can end "Brain" she completes with a smirk. The guy clenched his fist knowing exactly what Amelia just did.
Everything was fine with me until Amelia decided to lose her chair and stand up.
This is bad. Real bad.
She stood between me and the guys, protecting me from their sight.

"And did you just say, 'handsome men'?" Amelia looks at the bearded guy, and laughs before adding "If a car runs over a shit thrice, it still makes a better figure than your face." She laughs louder, people have started to gather around and snickers on that insult are audible. I am wonderstruck by her creativity here and so are those 3 men who death glare at us.
I was at the point where I knew this would end badly. Fear clenched me and I stood up to hold Amelia back.

"You fucking bitch, you have a sharp tongue, don't you? You should think wisely before speaking." The guy standing in the middle with a bald head glares.

"You don't get to say that when you decided to harass two women at a bar. Do you want me to think wisely before I speak? Sure. Let me wisely  describe how you guys look." Amelia is surely drunk. Her being drunk is not a good idea.

She points at the golden chain guy "You look like a pig with diarrhea"

Her gaze shifts to the bearded guy " You look like Mowgli after 30 years in the jungle with obesity"

Finally, she takes a step closer to the bald guy in the middle and says "You look like a giant bald gorilla who came after a bath in the gutter" She tilts her head to the right side.

After every insult, more people laughed making fun of the guys.

"You know who my father is?" The bearded guy exploded

"Why? Your mother didn't tell you?" A classic one. People around us hoot and laugh enjoying the show.

Till now everything was going fine. Was.
The bald guy decided to jump in for an attack, and my heart sank with the fear of Amelia getting hurt. Without realizing I called out for her name trying to warn her of the attack.
It was useless,  the guy landed a strong punch on Amelia's face, and she lost her balance and fell to her left where the long glass table of the bar was, dropping some glass on the floor.
The strong clashing sound matched how my heart was pounding, I rushed to hold her by the shoulders trying to steady her, when I saw her face and her nose which had started to bleed a little.

"Amelia, your nose is bleeding" Worry has wrapped me around in several folds.

"I'm fine" Amelia assures me steadying herself and still looking at the bald guy who smirks.
The music has stopped playing and everyone's eyes are on us.

"What happened? Coming back to your fucking senses?" The bearded guy mocks.

"I'm sorry, We are sorry" I speak up standing next to Amelia who looks at me with surprise. Three of the men laugh.

"That's right bitch, you should have never acted like this, but it's okay, I'm sure we can rethink if you both are ready to negotiate" The chain guys look us both up and then down with a disgusting look.

"Oh, no. I think there is a misunderstanding here, I didn't apologize for this, I apologized for the hospital bill you guys would have to pay because of your pathetic and low character" I correct them. My gaze is neutral. I feel Amelia's smile.
She turns to her left and removes her necklace and earrings and keeps them on the glass table next to the expensive whiskey. Her hands are quick to tie her hair into a bun.

"Get this bitch to our bed! She speaks too much." The bald guy barks glaring at me.
The bearded guy takes a step forward toward me but stops when Amelia speaks. "Put your filthy hands on her.." her voice is low and deadly. A silence wraps the room and her strong aura raises goosebumps. She slowly turns so she can face those men, her eyes are cold, which makes me feel relief that I am not on her bad side. "And I will make your life a living hell. Every single second, I will make you beg for the gift of death" Every word was more lethal than the other.
The men gulp hard, clearly knowing that she might as well do it. The silence is loud, the air turned so thick, I can dig my fingernail in it.

I knew what would happen, I took a few steps back, trying not to be a liability for Amelia here.

"Grab that bitch and teach her some fucking lesson!" The bald guy screams so loud that the silence is replaced with the echoes of his dagger-to-ear voice. He takes a few steps back to stand behind the other two guys. Pathetic.

The Bearded guy leaps forward for a direct punch on Amelia's face again.
At the same time I felt someone watching me, from the corner of my eyes I saw a shadow-like figure. 
But my attention was soon dragged back to Amelia.
My heartbeat rises and I see all this happening as if in slow motion, every step clear.
The guy screams as he moves forwards and Amelia stands still with no movement.

Was I wrong? Did she freeze? All sorts of possibilities on how this can turn into an absolute mess fill my mind.
The guy is too close, there is nothing Amelia can do right now in this short second to defend herself.

Fuck.