"Love, I know you remember," Therese said as tears dimmed her eyes, attempting to fall like raindrops anytime. Aaron stood at the end of his labyrinth path, looking dreadful. He barely held himself back again from coming to her side when she smiled at him, but what she just said made him worry even more.
"I do not understand whatever you mean," he said, feigning ignorance. However, his hands were already shaking at the thought of her knowing of his memories. He backed down a little as she stood up from her seat.
"I saw you endure her advances just to make me think you do not remember anything!" Therese said, now crying because of him. Aaron was so guilty he had to evade his gaze away from her. "I hate it. I hate it so much because you were suffering while trying to hide it."
Aaron breathed in deep and stared at her again, still determined to deceive her. He walked towards her and looked at her sad eyes with a stone-cold expression. "This is getting out of hand. First, you called me your 'love', and now, you are accusing me of remembering something I don't even have any idea about. What is it that you want?" He asked coldly, but in truth, it was breaking him to treat her so badly.
"You even saw the knight and decided not to call him to carry me because you know I am scared of them," Therese said, now staring back at him with eyes that looked hurt—almost mad. "Please, just admit it-"
"That's your evidence? Why would I admit to something I don't even care about?" he asked, startling Therese whose tears already dried out. He was aware he hurt her, but he continued to discourage her thoughts. "And hey, you seem to be a very pretentious person. You couldn't even pronounce the letter 'r' whenever you are with others, but with me, you seem to be talking straight."
"My—I am very honored to see that you have been observing me, Eros—er, your majesty," she said, laughing a little at his remark. Her ability to take control of the situation always fascinated him. Still looking eye to eye, wind blew both of their faces and hair.
"I can't help but notice every single thing that annoys me," Aaron came back with a rude remark, startling Therese who looked down.
"A-annoyed…. I'm…annoying…?"
Aaron sighed. "It seems like you are acting as if you are close to me, Lady. I don't remember being close to anyone like you."
Therese stared straight to him very seriously, and he felt butterflies churn in his stomach. Whenever she did that to him, it was as if she was staring straight to his soul—making him a transparent vessel that only carries love for her.
"Your mouth is lying but your eyes never do," Therese said, her eyes still fixed in his. "I know you, Eros, trust me. I really do."
"I appreciate it if you'd call me Your Majesty, not Eros, or love, since it is not my name." Aaron said, trying hard to have a hint of annoyance on his voice. "Do not treat me as if we are friends. You do not know me."
"Really?" Therese asked, chuckling. "You were the one who told me your name was Eros. I don't really understand why you did it, but I wonder what would happen if you ever told me that you were the prince—
"Would I run away? Would I treat you differently? Would I even dare to meet you again?" Therese paused. "…Would I love you the way I did? Would I still be alive?
"You know, your majesty, truth is, I've already died back then, but for some reason, I woke up as a kid again and I remember everything that happened. I remember you. I remember meeting you at your birthday and meeting you again in this same garden—I remember being your friend, the one you confided to the most. I remember you asking me what is love and if you love me, and I remember everything about you—from your toes to the very edges of your hair. I remember it all. I remember how it feels to be loved and held by you,
"But now, you claim you do not remember me, and act as if I was insane—but the truth is, whatever game you started against me, my love, you are losing because you cannot lie to me."
Therese took one step closer and pointed at his chest, right where his heart was almost leaping out as Aaron looked at her, and now his cold shell of a barrier was breaking as if Therese just landed consecutive blows on it. He knew that there was a chance that Therese would see through his deceptions and lies, because his emotions weren't something he could control—instead, he wore it like a crown that was obvious to her at first glance.
"Why are you pretending not to know me?" Therese asked as Aaron was consistently breaking.
"I really do not know you, Lady Farenas. Whatever you are saying doesn't even make sense to me. So please, just stop this nonsense and let me be. What ever delusion that you are carrying does not concern me, so do not try to woo me using you flowery words and confusing actions." Aaron warned her as he tried to leave the garden. He walked past her, but before he could leave, she ran fast to catch up to him and hugged him from the front.
"Even our hearts beat as one as if they are meant for each other. You may claim that you do not remember me, but your heart surely does."
Aaron pushed her away, but he didn't mean to use too much force to push her down the ground. Her snowy dress was now dirty, and she looked at him with such surprised eyes.
"Whatever it is you are claiming, whatever I was that you claim to know doesn't matter. If I ever was the person you called love of your life, and if you are the person you claim to have regressed, these bodies are not the same ones that used to love each other. Whatever you are feeling might just be stemming from your deepest desires and dreams. Why? Because you want to seduce me so you could be the future queen? I don't plan to associate myself with lowly, adopted peasants like you, so stop this nonsense and wake up from your delusions. That is an order."
Aaron did not stutter when he chastised Therese, who was on the verge of breaking down. All the feelings he felt for him was disregarded and insulted. Still, she did not let him go, hugging him even more tightly.
"I do not regret anything that is about you. I even had to do everything so I could be a noble just to finally be worthy of you, of your love. How can you say something like that to me?" Therese cried as she buried her face on him, her tears making the clothes of Aaron wet that he felt it against his skin.
"If I was the prince who fell in love with you, I regret it." Aaron said and pushed her away again, this time, he meant to trample her on the ground just to discourage her. "That prince was deceived by a maid, and he had to entertain your delusions. I bet he never loved you and he just used you as a sex doll," he said. He didn't mean what he just said, but he meant the effect he needed to inflict on her.
'You have to unlove me, Lorelei,' he thought as he looked at Therese who was on the ground, looking at her as if her eyes were once again, lifeless. 'Because I cannot unlove you. You must do it for the both of us.'
Aaron will never forgive himself for doing that to her.
Therese started to cry, and this time, with such horrifying sounds. "The knights, before I was put in that cell, assaulted me. The King physically inflicted wounds on my very skin. But those pains couldn't even compare to how you damaged me with your words." Therese said, now standing up and wiping away her tears, looking so mad at the prince. "Cherish this moment, your majesty, for these are the last tears I am willing to shed for you. Maybe this new life is a
new chance for us to stay away from each other—to not meet each other again. Our love may have been beautiful yet evanescent, but maybe it was not meant to be."
Therese bowed.
"I wish you your happiness, your majesty," she said and turned her back against him and left him in the middle of the labyrinth.
When he was sure that she was gone, Aaron's knees, who have since lost their strength, made him fall to the ground as he clutched his aching chest. He let out a loud cry that soon became inaudible because rain started to pour on him. He loved how she fit in his arms—how her hair smelled, how she did not regret anything, and how she was determined to stay away from him.
It was a lie. He wanted to take her and just run away but he had an obligation. He cannot choose his own happiness because the entire kingdom will be in danger once the king becomes a tyrant.
The servants soon came to find him, and they told him that the three children already left because the youngest one didn't feel well and had a fever.
By a curious irony of fate, Aaron had a fever too.
However, that very same day, Therese convinced her father to send her away to study on a boarding school for girls on a nearby country, and on the very next day, she left the Kingdom, determined to never see the Prince again to have him live his best life without her.