IT WAS TIME FOR THE 68TH HUNGER GAMES. Leia Calore was seventeen years old, and she was in the last year of her apprenticeship. Next year, she would be paid full time, and she would replace Lunia Diamond, who was retiring after the 70th Games. Her career was going just as she planned, and she had single handedly designed the hair and makeup for that year's Tribute Parade.

She was fairly proud of herself. Her design was unique, which was her goal since she was trying to make them look as attractive and intimidating as they possibly could. She had learned that those looks got Tributes the most sponsors, even though a lot of the funds were for selfish reasons.

At that moment, she was down by the carriages just before the parade because a few gems had fallen off the girl's face. She had brought backups and stronger glue, predicting that it was going to happen. She had gotten good at preparing for every possibility that could happen, and sometimes, she even forgot something on purpose so that she had an excuse to go down and ease her Tributes' nerves.

The male was freaking out next to them, and as she fixed the jewels, she glanced over at him every few seconds and talked reassuringly. "It's just a carriage ride. Hold on to that bar in the beginning if you need to until you're sure you're steady, and then you can let go. If you really need to, you can hold it the entire time with one hand and wave with the other." He nodded along with her words. "I promise that everything will be okay."

"Leia?" a voice called from behind her, and she froze. She had heard that voice before, but not in a very long time. She spun around slowly, terrified that she had imagined her name leaving the person's lips. However, her eyes landed on the one who spoke, and her breath hitched in her throat.

Finnick.

He looked a lot older. He had grown into his body and face, and he was very handsome. His teeth were perfect, and his green eyes were piercing as ever. He was wearing a white button-down with most of the buttons undone, and it showed off his toned abs. He was tall and beautiful, different but the same.

He had not been at the last three Hunger Games, even though he was supposed to mentor, so Leia had just assumed that they had let him off the hook or something and that she was never going to see him again. He never wrote to her, even though he had promised that he would, and she had honestly stopped thinking about him every moment of every day. She moved on with her life after years of pining and waiting for him to reach out to her.

It took her a long moment of staring before she could even respond. It felt like her brain was holding her back, wanting to make the silence between them last as long as possible so that she could continue to examine him. "Finnick."

He was speechless as well, his eyes scanning over her figure. She had grown a lot, and her features were more sharply defined. Her cheekbones were more prominent, her jawline sharper, her hair longer, her makeup heavier. She was not a girl anymore. She was a woman, and an angelic one at that. She was even more beautiful than he had remembered.

"It's been a while," he pointed out, though they both knew that. In fact, for a moment, Leia had counted each day that she did not hear from him, but it got too depressing for her the longer the period of time got.

"Yes, it has," she agreed with a small nod, still in shock that he was standing there in front of her after three years of hearing nothing. "You never wrote." She regretted it as soon as she said it, fighting the urge to wince at how pathetic she sounded. Finnick just nodded, looking guilty and not saying anything. Music began to play, and they both snapped out of it. "Well, I've gotta—"

He nodded quickly, understanding that she had to get to her seat. "Oh, yeah. Of course." She walked past him, wanting to slap herself because her body was betraying her because her face was flushed. She paused when he called after her, "Do you maybe want to catch up later?"

"I'd like that," she responded a little faster than she had intended after turning back to look at him.

He smiled, and she had to grab the pillar next to her because her knees went so weak at the sight. He was so damn pretty. He started, "Okay. Uh, how will I—"

"I'll find you," she answered, already knowing what he was going to ask. She stepped out of sight before quickly leaning back against the wall and taking a few deep breaths, trying to process everything that had just happened.

He did the same, putting his hand on the carriage as his Tributes watched him with concerned expressions. He was breathing heavily like he had been deprived of air for so long, and he was running his fingers through his once tidy hair, unable to stop staring at the spot where Leia Calore had just stood, perfect as ever.

《✵》

AFTER THE PARADE, LEIA HAD TIME TO BANG HER HEAD AGAINST THE WALL. Actually, she was only able to do that for a few minutes before Apollo began squealing and trying to fix her makeup, despite the fact that they were about to go to bed. He was a little too insanely dramatic sometimes.

She would not be sleeping, though, knowing that the boy that she had not seen in years was lying in a room on the same floor as her. She wondered if he had lied awake and thought about her like she had done after he left, or maybe he slept soundly in Victor Village and forgot all about her. She almost did not want to know.

After about ten minutes of just staring at the ceiling, she couldn't take it anymore. Her conversation with the Odair boy had been replaying in her mind, how she told him that she would find him so that they could talk. She had assumed that he meant in the morning, but she needed to see him.

She slid some slippers on after deciding that her nightgown would be fine. It was Finnick, after all. He had never cared if she was wearing something extravagant or plain, at least he didn't used to. The devastating thought that she did not know him anymore came to her mind, and it almost made her turn back. However, she pushed forward, scanning her hand on the door outside the District 4 Tribute Suite and making her way to the room where the Mentors stayed.

She knocked on the door and waited patiently until he opened it. Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight of his shirtless torso. Her eyes quickly snapped back up to his face at the sound of his tired voice. "Leia, hi."

"Follow me," was all she said before turning around. He hurriedly grabbed a t-shirt and tugged it on before closing his door and trailing after her. She led him into a hall and to a door almost hidden behind a few other ones. There were stairs, and they climbed them — all eight stories — all the way to the top. She glanced back at him every once in a while, but he could not keep his eyes off of her.

He finally stopped looking at her when they reached the stop, shifting his gaze to the beautiful cityscape that was perfectly visible from their position. He chuckled out, "You can see the entire Capitol from here."

"Yeah, I discovered it last year. I come up here when I need to think or just take a break from Apollo and them," she explained, and it was the most words that she had said to him in years. She took a seat on the ground, leaning against an air conditioning unit. He sat across from her so that they were perpendicular to the view. "You wanted to talk?"

He nodded, hesitant before finally responding, "Yeah, I just wanted to say sorry that I never wrote."

"Why didn't you?" she questioned, still unsure if she wanted an answer. She was trying to ignore the fact that he heart was beating insanely fast from just being near him. Their knees were almost touching, and she had to focus on slowing her breath down when they brushed.

"If I'm being honest, I was scared that you'd realize that I was below you and lose interest," he answered, causing her to frown. She was the one that told him to write to her. He was not below her, and she would have lost interest. That was proven by the way that she was reacting in that moment. "I was a District kid, and you were from the Capitol. I guess I let that get to my head."

Her eyes softened, and her chest got tight. "I wanted you to write, Finnick," she assured him, and there was a moment of silence between them before she wiped her sweaty hands on her dress and spoke again with an amused voice. "Now that that's settled, I expect letters when you go back home."

"Okay. I can do that," he confirmed, the corners of his lips turning up at the smile that appeared on her face at his words. She was so beautiful that it physically hurt him. The way her curls fell on her shoulders and framed her face and how the moonlight hit her face made her shine like a goddess.

"Good," she said, and she almost lost her train of thought when Finnick's long fingers began playing with the bottom of her night gown, his knuckles brushing against her ankles. "Now, why haven't I seen you sooner?"

He licked his lips before explaining. "Well, I asked to not mentor until I was older than the Tributes, and Snow agreed. I just thought it was weird that I would be in charge of people older than me." He left out the part about being terrified to see her again, scared that she would not remember him or completely ignore him.

"Snow agreed to that? I didn't think he made exceptions like that," she replied. The President was always very set on keeping everything traditional, even if it meant having fifteen-year-olds train eighteen-year-olds. He just hummed, and she watched his face for a moment as he stared out at the city. "We should probably get to bed."

"Yeah, probably," he agreed, but neither of them moved to stand up.