It was half past 11 at the night. The moonlight penetrated through the balcony's window, straight into the apartment. Vivian fell on Kirito and grabbed his coat as she desperately tried to walk on the heels.

"I can't walk in these!" Vivian said.

"Too bad, you need to dance in these" Kirito said as he held her hand. "I hate dancing! Especially classical dancing! I'd rather sing!" Vivian said.

Kirito grabbed her cheeks and gave a sarcastic smile "I'm not giving you a choice there. 1st of January, we have the party. This month and the next is all I have" Kirito said.
"I don't wanna learn it." Vivian grinned "Okay, then I'll dance with someone else" Kirito said with a smirk.

Vivian looked at the floor "What? Got something to say?" He said. Tear drops fell down cheeks her cheeks.

"Don't cry! I was just joking! What a cry baby." He said as he wiped her tears with his shirt "Okay, let's learn it slowly. I'll hold you." Kirito said.

Vivian nodded as she wiped her tears and took a step ahead slowly. They walked around the apartment holding hands, Vivian looked at her feet and Kirito looked at her.

The clock began ringing as it striked twelve and Kirito looked at it "Let's stop here for today. Don't strain your feet" He said. Vivian jumped on the bed and threw away her heels.

"Hey! Get me some water!" Vivian bossed around in German "Stop being a brat-" Kirito said as he narrowed his eyes. Vivian threw a pillow on his face "Make me" Vivian said.

"Okay, you asked for it!" He shouted as he jumped on the bed with the pillow. She grabbed another pillow and began hitting him on his head. He hit her butt and she jumped on the bed.

She got up on the bed again "Whoever falls from the bed-- Loses!" Vivian shouted as she continued hitting Kirito "Alright!" Kirito shouted as he finally resorted back.

They both started hitting so hard that finally the pillows tore apart and the room was filled with cotton and feathers but that didn't stop them. Not until the pillows weren't pillows anymore.

Vivian shouted as she continued jumping on the bed. "It looks like it's snowing! So pretty..." Vivian said as she lay on the bed beside Kirito.

"It reminds me of home" Vivian said.

"You mean-- Snow?" Kirito asked as he looked at her. His black hair was filled with white cotton and feathers.

"Yes. It snows a lot in Baden-Württemberg"
"Tell me about it. You never talk about home"
Vivian laughed "Well, I'm from Achkarren am Kaiserstuhl in Baden-Württemberg. It's a small farmer's village. My dad is a cow farmer and we own a dairy where mom makes cheese and Delia helps in making different kinds of flavoured cheese. We also sell milk" Vivan said as she looked at the ceiling.

"So you made cheese too?" Kirito asked. "No, I don't know how to do that. I just used to take the cows for grazing and milk them in the morning" Vivian said "And clean the house. It wasn't too difficult since my previous home wasn't so big" Vivian said.

"We have nine cows, Betty is my favourite because we both relate to each other. When I found that I'd have to leave her behind for marriage, I cried one full day" Vivian said.

"That's a proof now. You're a crybaby. Why is she so special from other cows though?"

"Well, she was born in the same week I was born. And we've always stayed together since then. She only let's me milk her. I wonder how dad is handling her" Vivian started laughing.

"Seems like a good relationship."
"Yes, we get up early, around five in the morning, milk the cows and then dad would go out for selling milk while I would take the cows to the mountains. They would graze while I would gather firewood and fruits in the forest. I would sing with the birds and hear the voices of trees.

Then I'd take them to the lake and swim around with them. We'd bask in the sun until we are dry. They would go back to graze while I would sleep under the trees with Betty. In the evening, I would sing a song and all the cows would come back. Then we'd go home and I'd help my mother with the dinner.

We would eat, talk while sitting beside the soothing fire, the voices of dry would cracking up in a December night-- deep, long conversations. Mom would roast me some sweet potatoes and we'd have marshed sweet potatoes and bread for dinner everyday. Then I would oil Delia's hair and she'd oil mine. And then I'd sleep."

Kirito looked at her as she spoke. There was a tiny twinkle in her eyes "I miss them. Life was so simple then," She closed her eyes.

"Yeah, that's a life I wanted to live"
"Then why didn't you?"
"I was raised in these four walls and always sheltered. They locked me away so that I wouldn't run away because I had tried that. I was home schooled for my entire life and I never got a chance to decide what I wanted-- Well, actually till then I didn't even care what I wanted.

And I wasn't allowed to meet people. I was taught everything by professors who looked like machines to me. And then, I started hating you because I thought it was your fault that I was going through all this. That you might be some lunatic who wanted me to be more perfect than anything.

But," He squeezed Vivian's hand "I'm glad I was wrong. You are like a maze I can't escape."

"Hiomi..."
"You wanna go to Philippines, right?"
"No, not anymore! If you don't want--"
"Let's go" Kirito said with a smile. Vivian looked into his blue-green eyes "There are some things I want you to know about. And since you're my future, I've decided to tell you my past. Just, don't leave me when the truth hits you."

"Kirito." Vivian interwove her fingers with his fingers and looked into his eyes-- He looked back. They lay on the bed, covered in cotton bits like snow angels.

"I knew that you were pretending. Even when you smile, in your eyes-- your sorrow shows. Your breath is cold, your heartbeats are tired. You don't have to say anything about the past pain or even your hidden secrets. I love them all because they are yours. And now, they are ours."

She hugged him and gently pressed his head with her palms "There are some feelings you haven't felt yet, give them time. They are almost there" She said with a smile. Kirito's eyes turned softer and mellow as he moved closed to her.

He pressed his head over her heart "I feel happy" He said "That's great" Vivian said "Happiness is something to be practiced like a violen."

"I can't live anymore if life doesn't have you to give me." He said as he hugged her "Something has changed. I can't change it back. No, I don't want to change it back. My mind is now a calm chaos filled with your reflections."
"What a cry baby" He hid his face between her arms.

Lucus walked inside a graveyard with his antabulam in his hands. He could hear people crying and mourning, begging him to turn them back to human. But he ignored all of them and walked through them.

Finally he stopped at a grave, which read 'In the loving memory of the beautiful, late Margaret Urie Erikson'. He sat on the grave and stared at the sky "I wanted to talk, Marg" He said.

He didn't get any response but he waited for it "So, how much long do I have to wait for you to talk to me?"
Everything was quiet and all he could hear was the rustling of the leaves as light breeze blew. The graves was lightened up by the soft moonlight, making them look hazy and obscure due to the fog. Everything had a shadow beneath it, everything except Lucus "Well, I'll just talk like always.

I haven't killed anyone for a while. I don't get my sprees anymore. Isn't that great? I think it's great." He again met with a silent answer.

He chuckled to himself "You return like every autumn, and I fall like everytime."

- To be continued

Kirito Hiomi || Vivian Hiomi
My Heart Hates Me