But maybe this thing was a
masterpiece 'til you tore it all up

Running scared, I was there
I remember it all too well

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

THE NIGHT RODE IN ON A HORSE OF PURE MIDNIGHT VELVET, beckoned by the stars under a the glow of a full moon as the cold breeze blew right through Katerina's sweater.

Her heart twisted and sunk with nerves as she made her way towards the back garden of the Thrombey house. Opening and closing the door with a subtle creek. Her footsteps gently placed upon the ground, one in front of the other.

Other than the darkness and herself, all that seemed to exist was the chilly wind that's harsh bite could be felt through her clothes. She could feel the hairs on his arm raised and the bite of the wind had left its mark in the form of small bumps that were tingling on her arms, but its bite was more than flesh deep. Her blood ran cold through her veins and her bones were chilled.

Her slender fingers pressed into the skin of her forearms, nails biting, almost drawing beads of blood. Her whole body shook. Heart pounding so hard against his ribcage as her pulse pressed outward, jerking the veins within.

Trepidation swelled through her as she slowly raised her eyes to gaze at the figure in front of her.

"Why did you wanna' see me?" Kat spoke as she held her breath behind pursed lips.

His jaw clenched once his large figure loomed over her, blocking her way. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

Katerina's stomach turned uneasily and she noticed that the hands that she was hugging herself with were pinching into her skin. She eventually released her hands but then she couldn't figure out what to do with them, so instead they clasped and unclasped each other as if in constant need of touch and reassurance.

Casting her eyes to the side, he could see the shape of her face like a silhouette. It gracefully moved up and over her cheek bones then slanted sharply at her mouth. "Tell you what?"

"You're too smart to play dumb, Kat."

"I was going to..." Katerina pursed her lips once again. Pushing the words out of her mouth was incredibly difficult but staying silent was not an option either. "Eventually."

"Oh really!" Then despite the rising tension in his voice he snickered. "What? Were you gonna' tell me about my child while you were in labour?"

"Oh my God, Ransom." She began with an exasperated tone. "You have to understand why I didn't want to tell you."

He paused and sighed. "No, I do, alright?" His cast his gaze onto the ground and his eyes darkened. He glanced back up at Kat. "But I didn't want to find out about my first kid by discovering a pregnancy test in hidden in the trash."

Ransoms voice sounded more pained than anything as he continued to speak. "I know you don't want me around, but you matter to me..."

In that moment, her eyes were narrowed, rigid, cold, hard. Katerina's customary warmth gone faster than summer rain on the tarmac. "Give it up, Ransom."

Thin lips curved into a sly smirk and equally thin eyes crinkled at the edges. "And you always will."

"Stop, Ransom!" Her voice shook as she spoke. "It's taken everything I had for me to put you behind me. Let me hate you... Just let me hate you."

A delicious shiver ran down her spine, like a bolt of electricity as silence drowned the pair. Katerina wrapped her arms around herself tighter, as a shield from the cold and the man before her as he began to take off his tailored coat for her.

"Look, Ransom..." She began. "I don't need your jacket to keep me warm. And I don't need you telling me that you've changed." Katerina bit her lip, eyes everywhere but on her old lover. Then he moved closer with those eyes that looked so deeply into her own.

Ransom gave her a tender smile. "I just want you to know that I'm not the same guy I was who went home with that girl that night. And you know, alright? Just admit it. You need me."

Kat was silent for a moment. A moment that felt much much longer than a moment, before she released a heavy sigh releasing the tension in her body.

Her eyes shifted to the side again and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip tightly in attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth; Ransom's heart sank.

Her lower lip quivered as words slowly made their way out of her mouth. "I hate you." She began, yet what followed was engulfed in the tremors. "I hate you so much."

"No, you don't." Ransom could see it. He could see in her eyes that her brain had built some new walls with her so lonely on the other side.

"I should." She continued with a humourless laugh before she finally broke.

"I should hate you."

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 !
for those of you a little
confused this is the night
of harlons birthday after
ransom texted katerina to
meet him outside the house.

sorry it took so long to
update, with just a filter
Chapter at that, but next is
the will reading and i'm super
excited !

also, i hope people caught
the teen wolf reference.