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MARIA

The only man in my life that I had ever had eyes for was Leonardo Romano.

But, I had to admit, Francis Lemaire was looking extremely handsome that night whilst walking towards me. More than usual. He had really showed off his best attire; it was his looks that made his appearance become more striking. He adjusted his blazer as he moved, drawing attention to his muscular frame. Francis had a masculine way of walking that could pull all eyes on him. He held a manly and virile aura to him.

I blinked in surprise as I watched him, a charming smile on his glowing face as he approached me. His eyes lit up as he locked eyes with mine and a warm smile began to appear on my face.

His arm snaked around my waist as he strongly pulled me for a hug, kissing my cheek. "Mon cherie! {my sweetheart}" Squeezing me tightly, I laughed as he pulled away, happy to see him. "Francis!" Francis pulled back a little to look at me whilst holding my hips. He moved a strand of my hair away from my face as he smiled and with a teasing tone he said, "how sexy were you tonight, mon ange (my angel)!"

I blushed, shaking my head and brushing off the compliment. He wasn't the first to commend me that night but his compliment wasn't the one I wanted to hear the most. I wished Leonardo was with me but I still hadn't seen him that night.

My mind suddenly reminded me of Camille and a frown came onto my face whilst thinking of her absence. Interrupting Francis' romantic gushes, I asked more seriously, "where's Camille? I thought she'd be here with you." I remembered her words to me a few nights before when she was underneath me on that bed. The graveness of her tone, the encrypted words she seemed to be saying.

His face fell slightly but he swiftly picked up another winsome smile. My eyes caught the sudden change in his demeanour. "Hmm. . .I'm not sure. She has a life of her own too, mon bebe." Francis' hand went to caress my cheek but my head unconsciously moved backwards slightly. His hand stopped mid air and I had realised immediately what I had done. I couldn't stop thinking about that night again with Camille again.

"Francis. ." I started, his signature smile diminishing as he recognised something was up. My eyebrows lowered, "is there something going on with Camille? Did you guys argue? She seemed different the last time I saw her."

His lips parted but no words came out. Then Francis sighed, giving me a warm look. "Don't worry about that, my love."

My frown deepened as I felt the severity. "If it's because of m-"

A peck was placed on my cheek. My head turned to meet the eyes of Azia, her bright ones beamed back at me with happiness. Francis's arms had released me as Azia said in a playful tone as she grinned, "long time no see, Mr Francis Lemaire." Azia stood beside me. She changed and was wearing a mini skirt with a strapless crop top, showing off her toned figure that had Francis's unrestrained eyes running all over. Azia held her pink lolly stick in her hand, twirling her wrist around.

"Ma belle Zia," he replied in a low, husky voice. His tongue slowly licked his lips. The knowing gaze they held gave me the impression that this wasn't the first time she had met Francis. I glanced between the two of them who seemed to be eye-fucking each other. Folding my arms I questioned, "I'm guessing you guys know each other?"

Azia chuckled, slapping my arm. She teasingly asked Francis, "we had a good time getting to know each other last year, didn't we, Francis? That long night in Dubai?" The flirtatious look on her face had drew him in.

Francis winked at me before snaking his arm around Asia's waist and pulling her to him with a lustful gaze. "I think I need a reminder." I was somewhat glad when they had walked off to familiarise themselves with each other. I exhaled as though I had been holding in a deep breath for hours, still thinking about Camille. I had thought their relationship dynamic was going to change.

I was grateful the performance had went well; there seemed to be a positive reaction towards it according to Iris. We had spoke as soon as I had finished. The opening performance of mine was trending on various platforms online and my mailbox was increasing by each minute. I hadn't received that much attention in a while that it flustered me. I switched off my phone earlier to avoid feeling anymore overwhelmed than I already was.

The sound of footsteps approaching caught my attention. My eyes snapped upwards to meet a familiar pair of hazel ones that were coming closer. Unconsciously, the corner of my two lips began to rise as my feet began moving closer and faster towards him until my two arms were around his body and my cheek was pressed against his chest.

"You're acting as if I didn't see you earlier today." My smile widened at his unbothered tone and the fact that my hug was reciprocated by him.

"Have you been here the whole time?" He didn't reply so I lifted my head to look at him once again. My lips lowered as my hopes had began to disappear. "You didn't watch?"

"No," Leonardo responded bluntly, losing eye contact with me. "I didn't. I woke up late. Sorry." He glanced behind me at the sound of Azia's giggles, Francis and her were still lingering around. I didn't turn back and focused on Leonardo. He seemed a little off at the sight of Francis but managed to bring his eyes back to mine again.

I managed to hide the disappointment building in my heart with a usual poker face, a half-hearted smile replaced my excited one. I shrugged, moving away from him as I folded my arms. "You didn't miss much." I was barely looking at him at that point, but I held my head high.

"Anyway," I brightly began, my heart burning with sadness inside. "I heard there's an evening festival tonight not too far away." I glanced at my watch and gasped, "there's still an hour left! I'm going there now, do you wanna come?"

I was already skipping away before he could even reply do my overly chirpy question.

I didn't think that I would ever find myself feeling like that; displeased, unwanted. I couldn't even understand why I had such high expectations for him to come. He didn't have to. He never did before we met again. But what was annoying me was that he said it as if he had never even planned to see me anyway.

Was it because we had gotten closer during our time in Greece? Is that why it bothered me? He seemed a lot more relaxed and open with me over the last few days. It wasn't even a big deal but the pain in my chest felt like I had been shot a million times over. Why did I really want him there? Why was I comparing him to Francis who had seen all my performances?

It felt like he hadn't prioritised me. But he was genuinely exhausted. A mixture of guilt and frustration began to pour into my mind.

I reminded myself not too get too comfortable.

The higher expectations I had, the more disappointed I'd feel when I was let down.

It hurt and I didn't expect it to hurt that much.

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I skipped through the hustle and bustle of chatter and laughter around me, the cool breeze running through each stand of my hair, as I explored each and every Greek store waiting for me to witness.

The whole street was bursting in majestic colours of pink, vivid blue and green, orange and yellow, bright lights and the most vibrant music that set me alive. The aches my body had before had suddenly disappeared simply being in the midst of such excitement and happiness surrounding me.

The smiles I kept seeing were contagious. I passed animated and exhilarated dancers, charitable caricature painters, laughing couples and families; people who had cast away their worries for the night and focused on enjoying themselves in the summer heat.

Any burden on my chest had already been lifted the moment I arrived. My arms were full of handmade bracelets, my fingers filled with rings and sticky jewels on my nails. I had gone overboard with my shopping; I somehow managed to get new earrings dangling from my ears and some new shoes.

I soon forgot about my disappointment from earlier and relaxed in the joyful ambience around me; that was what I needed to relieve all the stress building within me.

"Ria!" I kept hearing, "Ria slow down!"

I turned, a small chuckle left my mouth watching Leonardo who was clearly sweltered, breathlessly jogging to catch up with me. I stopped moving, folding my arms as I mischievously grinned at him. "Struggling?" I perkily questioned, the bags, I had made him buy for me, in his hands bouncing everywhere as he approached.

"No. Not at all," he firmly denied, though I could see the opposite through the beads of sweat building on his forehead. I shook my head, beginning to feel slight pity for him for making him chase after me all night. "Haven't we seen everything now?"

"Okay, we can take a break-"

"A break?" Leonardo incredulously repeated in relief. I raised an eyebrow and he immediately looked away, clearing his throat.

"Then if there's time we can see if we missed anything!" I chirpily finished, watching his face fall in exhaustion. "You don't mind, do you?" I provoked innocently, giving him a teasing look with a slight pout.

"Not at all," Leonardo nonchalantly responded, looking away with a gentle but tired sigh. He wasn't one to go outside much, it was most he had experienced in a while. His introverted self was really showing that night. I held back a laugh before taking his warm hand and pulling him to find a place to grab a drink.

I settled on an outdoor bar not too long after and ordered iced mango drinks for the two of us. Leonardo had turned his face towards the breeze of the fan that was blowing not too far away from us, closing his eyes in bliss at the light air coming towards us. His thin shirt was moving from the air, the open button area from his large chest occasionally catching my eyes.

I exhaled in contentment at the sound of the resonant music the guitarist was playing from the inside of the bar, loving the passion from the older man playing what seemed to be his favourite piece.

When I looked back at Leonardo, our eyes met. He'd been watching me. I felt my heart begin to beat faster inside my chest. I took a sip of my iced drink, feeling frosty sweetness slid down my throat, automatically cooling me down.

"You're mad at me."

"I'm not," I immediately replied, which wasn't completely wrong since I had let the events from earlier free from my mind.

"I didn't watch your performance."

I shrugged with an unemotional face, taking another sip from my straw before meeting his eyes once again. He looked remorseful, he must've have been thinking about it the whole time.

"I don't mind, Leo," I reassured him with a softer tone. I glanced at the guitarist at the sound of applause whilst he moved onto the next song.

I never did think that any of my performances were good. There was always something I messed up on. That night, I came onto the stage seconds late. Seconds seemed simple, barely a mistake, but it meant that I had rushed to catch up with the beginning of the dance, missing a move. It frustrated me throughout, making me feel awkward at certain points. I knew Iris would be telling me how ridiculous and over concerned I was being but that was just me. Everything on that stage had to be perfect and it wasn't. I didn't want to think I too much about it otherwise it would torment me all night.

But I acknowledged that my anxiety that night was no where near the same as the way I would feel before a ballet performance. For some reason, I hadn't thought about my mother on stage. I didn't worry about the moves I was making, the expressions I had on my face, the reactions of the crowd. Instead, I thought about myself, the feeling of freeness on that stage, the exhilaration I felt moving my body in a way that I felt fit, not completely choreographed and strict. But most importantly, I thought about him throughout.

"Don't worry about it," I smiled, thinking more optimistically.

Leonardo seemed more relieved. His beautiful eyes became brighter as the fairy lights by the railings near eyes shone to highlight the lighter brown specks inside. "Maria, I-" His phone cut off my attention. He looked as though he was going to say something with meaning.

Leonardo excused himself in Italian before answering the phone. "Marco." I drank some more of my drink, my eyes trailing over to his as I noticed he had almost finished. I glanced around to see if there was any waiters around to order him another once since he was feeling so warm.

When I looked back at him again, his expression at changed into a serious one, looking as though he was taking in a lot of information over the phone. He seemed increasingly frustrated and sighed as he stood up from the table, taking his phone call elsewhere.

In the meantime, I checked to see if Luna had replied to my messages. She had sent pictures of her day out with Leonardo's mother at the zoo. I chuckled at all the silly poses she had made, happy and assured to know that my sister was doing a lot better than before. I had never seen her so cheerful. She had watched my performance and praised me, saying all sorts of cringy yet youthful jokes about the manner of my dance, making me laugh.

Once I had finished texting her back, my phone vibrated a few times to signal new messages. Messages from a number I had never seen before.

There were pictures and videos of me dancing that night. It looked like it was from an audience point of view.  My smile began to simmer the moment I read the messages below.

Dressed up all naughty for me tonight, didn't you?

It's nice to see you're taking care of yourself, you lost all that extra weight, kitten.

But you're in trouble, sugar.

Performances as naughty as that are for me. You're mine only to see, only to touch, only to have.

There will be consequences for your indecent actions tonight, you filthy star.

I'll see you soon, Maria.

I can't wait.

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~ Author's Note ~

Does Maria have a right to feel upset that Leonardo didn't attend?

Leonardo seemed to be a bit more distant that night. Francis seems to be the cause of his quietness. I initially had this chapter in the third perspective but switched later on! L

As for the new messages, the stalker has reminded Maria that they are still out there, interrupting her holiday in Greece.

Thoughts on this chapter?

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Thanks for reading!

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