Aelise endured her boyfriend's rant, his threats. She endured all of that, listened without interrupting. She just sat there and obeyed like his obedient dog. Her tears came to a stop. Strands of hair stuck at her face due to her sweat. Her eyes of colors brown and viridian had dark circles around them, indicating the desire of sleeping her ass off. Her mood was of lacking interest in life. She just stared at nothing. This caused her to look like a doll. An old fucked up one. She felt nothing, she said nothing. All she could do was hoping that this would be over soon.
All of those thoughts seemed to go away as she felt arms wrapping around her figure. She tensed at the sudden gesture. However, Aelise immediately recognized the sent of the culprit and she relaxed upon the embrace of his- this feeling. She missed this feeling. Safe. Comfortable. Affection. Attention. It's been five years and she barely received any of these from the people she knew, including her boyfriend. She leaned over him and savored the moment. She wished this would never end.
Aelise closed her eyes but they shot open and she gasped as she felt herself getting carried by the male. But she could care less. After all, her stomach ached as if a surgeon just rearranged her internal organs. And the most painful thing was her knee. They stung like a motherfucking bitch.
She winced as he disinfected the wound but she soon after calmed down until he was finished. Aelise gave him a close-eyed and gummy smile. Her call with her boyfriend had already ended just a while ago. Apparently her parents were worried about her and they informed her boyfriend about it. Eventually, he tracked her down.
Shrugging those thoughts off, she pulled Zen into a hug and mumbled. "Thank you." Aelise cringed at herself. The actions, her scent- alcohol and strawberry and slightly even cigarettes. Surely he'd notice this right away since the both of them are close. "I'm sorry for being a burden." She apologized.
"You're not a burden, ba- Aelise." Zen spoke as he gently wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her. The nickname was about to roll off his tongue but he had to hold himself back if he didn't want stuff to get uncomfortable. "Was that your boyfriend? Why were you crying?" He asked as he could tell the distinct scent of alcohol and cigarettes on her. "Geez, you still love it so much." He let out a small laugh as he referred to the alcohol. "And since when did you start smoking, huh?" He spoke as he let her hug him.
Aelise tensed as he was about to say his nickname for her back then- she shook her head. 'Stop it. He's not your boyfriend anymore.' The female thought to herself and groaned mentally. If anything, she wanted to admit to him that she still hadn't moved on as well. But her pride was butting in, pulling her back from doing so. However, her actions right now were crystal clear. "Yes, it was. I didn't even tell my parents that I have one. But I suppose he told them himself." She sighed. She wanted to keep her relationship with him as a secret for a while but he told them now anyways.
She scoffed at the question and pouted. "I only started two years ago. I don't smoke that much though." Aelise relaxed into his touch, a smile creeping onto her face. 'Wait, is this right?' She thought to herself. Just awhile ago, she ignored him and told Emma that she'll never talk to him again nor forgive him. She shook the thoughts off and sighed in frustration.
He pulled away from the hug and let her sit on the bike, cupping her cheeks and looking at her. He didn't think of it in a bad way but she looked terrible. She looked half dead. He noticed the tear tracks. He sighed as he gently moved her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear neatly. "There. Beautiful." He smiled as he looked at her. No matter how she looked, in his eyes, she was always so beautiful. The prettiest person he'd ever seen or met.
"It's fine if you don't want to tell me. I won't force you. I can't. Come on, let me take you home, please. Unless your boyfriend is coming to pick you up." He spoke as he held her hands. He didn't know that Aelise's boyfriend was from abroad so he just naturally guessed that he might be coming to pick her up. "Actually, I'd rather take you home myself. What do you say?" He asked with a bright smile trying to lighten up the mood a little.
He crouched down as he looked up at her, still holding her hands. "Yeah. This view is much better. Does it hurt somewhere else? There's a pharmacy around here if my memory is correct." He said and looked around, spotting one just a few feet away and smiled. "There. I'll get you some medicine if the pain is still there."
"We just argued. That's all. You don't need to worry about me and him." Aelise stated. "I heard that you have some business to attend. Your parents might get mad at you for taking me home and being late for attending God knows what." She said. It was pretty possible that they'd blame her as well.
She bit her lips and held his hands tighter, shaking her head indicating there wasn't any pain. "How ironic. You're the one who's hurting right now. You should get that treated." She gestured at his leg.
Zen looked at her and sighed. "Nah. Nate is at the company so he'll take care of it when I go back. Don't worry about dad. He'll... Understand." He smiled at her. "Geez, your boyfriend better get here fast or I'll take you away myself." He chuckled as he looked at her.
"L-Listen. I-I'm sorry, okay? I don't deserve your forgiveness at all. That's okay. You don't have to forgive me. I didn't get a chance to tell you this so I am now. I didn't mean to do what I did at all. Things went wrong. I'm really sorry for hurting you." He spoke. From that day, he had distanced himself from almost everyone in his life, except for Nate and his family.
He wouldn't even be here without them. "You deserve to be happy, Aelise. I'm no one to be giving you advice in your life. I don't want to butt in either but if your boyfriend is making you uncomfortable or doing something you don't like, you guys should either talk it out or look for some other options." He spoke, using the most vague words so that he wasn't mistaken for implying something specific.
"But otherwise, that's it." He smiled and heard his phone ring. He held both her hands in one of his and took his phone out. "One second. Yeah, dad?" He asked. "You need to visit those three companies now." His father asked. "Yes, dad but I'm tired and bleeding." He spoke honestly, knowing that his dad won't care. "Visit those companies. Nate will meet you there." His dad simply spoke and Zen let out a laugh. "Of course. I'll do that." He said as his hold on the girl's hand tightened just a little.
"I need you to check the working of-" Zen cut his father off. "Can't this be done in the morning? It's really late and I'm sleepy. I'll do it first thing in the morning." He spoke as he bit his lip. "Check the processes personally. I don't want any mistakes." His dad spoke and hung up. Zen put his phone away and smiled at the girl. "So, how's life?" He asked casually.