"Tanya…" Alvise breathed when she came out, and she wore a weary smile that matched his. It was at times like these she felt that they were a perfect match.
"Did you come here straight from the party?" Tanya asked the moment she was enveloped in his embrace, her face against his chest; her body shuddering at his powerful heartbeats.
Alvise nodded, then shook his head, "The moment you left, I handed everything over to Connor and Darion and left the mansion. I washed up, changed cars, and immediately drove here."
Startled at his revelation, she dug her head out of his chest and looked up at him, "Where did you park?"
"At a supermarket close by. I wouldn't want to be implicated so soon." His words calmed her anxious heart, and she expressed her relief with a sigh.
Alvise smiled at her little actions and hugged her even tighter, probably in an unfruitful bid to merge themselves into two.
"You must be tired." She said in a small voice. Alvise nodded in affirmation and dragged them both onto the bed to catch some shut-eye.
This wasn't the first time that Alvise was like this to Tanya in the three years they met.
She had found out that he suffered from insomnia due to his horrid childhood and it affected his mental health. Sometimes, he visited the pub and drank himself to a wasted state where he could pass out and a subordinate would carry him back. Or he'd pay for a night and would fuck himself to waste.
His habits were horrible and self-damaging; Darion had complained one day, apparently fed up with his toxic habits. Alvise needed someone to make physical contact with to sleep. It was a disorder that had formed after the demise of his mother and his seven years of abuse.
Tanya volunteered to do it. She also needed someone to cuddle to sleep. Her nightmares had become worse and at this rate, she was slowly poisoning herself with the dangerous doses of pills she was ingesting.
It was suicidal, her pharmacist had warned but then again, what could she do? It was either hell or high water.
That said, she tested the waters and tried to get on his bed, only to be kicked out. She tried again and again. From sleeping at the entrance of the door to sleeping on the couch, to sleeping beside his bed, until one day she saw herself wrapped tightly in his embrace on awakening. It was a success.
Now, they almost couldn't sleep without each other. It was like an unbreakable habit.
"You have to sleep early so that you can leave before dawn," Tanya said with tired eyes as she looked into his own. They hadn't gotten much sleep during the little time spent with each other.
Alvise covered them both in her blanket and hugged her waist as he buried his head in the crook of her neck, "What time would I awaken?"
Tanya rubbed his back with a smile, "I'll tell you when that is. For now, go to sleep boss. You looked tired."
Like a spell, Alvise slowly sunk into the warm but dark embrace of sleep, his consciousness slipping and his breathing evening out.
Tanya looked at the bear-like figure who held onto her as he slept so peacefully. Alvise was naturally a very angelic-looking figure, but there were times Tanya could easily tell that those features were forced, as though he were wearing a well-crafted mask. It was scary but a bit sad.
Tanya eased up a bit from the embrace, making him hug her waist while his head was just by her bosom. She stroked his face as she looked at him.
There were eye bags underneath his eyes and his skin under looked bloated. He looked a bit more thinner than she had left him and he was pale. She stayed like that for a while, playing with his hair. They felt like silk. She leaned in to take a whiff. Delightful. She thought.
A little childlike giggle echoed as she kept on taking a whiff, followed by unintelligible mumblings. Tanya looked down to see a dream-like, carefree smile on Alvise's face. The sight made her heart speed. A strange determination filled her chest all of a sudden at the sight of such a smile.
The urge to protect his smile and that moment filled her heart like a knight's vow. She would protect him, even at the cost of her life. Just like she would for her family.
That night, the urge to become even more capable filled her heart, and a new name was added to her list of people to protect. Even at the cost of death.
***
Tanya left home three days after visiting her home. Her parents and her sister-in-law were covered in tears and snot but Tanya didn't think it was necessary.
Nathaniel had to peel his wife off her. She and Rhea had bonded closely these few days they had been together. She was suddenly reminded of the welcome dinner she had gotten when she had first returned.
Rhea had taken her dinner earlier and gone to bed before she had arrived. She was the one who helped majorly in preparing the welcome and such, but she had to rest because of her weak constitution.
She was the most excited out of all of them; Nathaniel had quipped in while she had explained, causing the woman to ripen in embarrassment and attack her husband, which failed woefully, causing her to end up under him as he began to attack her with kisses. Tanya left immediately after, the PDA being a bit too much for her single soul.
Her mother had packed lunch and a lot of snacks and desserts for her to eat and share with her friends when she arrived at the school grounds. She smiled and accepted with a smile. The boys would be excited when they saw what she had for them.
Her father almost gave her a pistol for self-defense but her mother had tapped him (smacked his head) lovingly (with the strength of a Godzilla) and had told him to quit it. He eventually turned down the intensity of his gift and gave her an expandable club instead. It was like the one she had but came in the form of a parasol, with a lot of side uses and artillery.
Her brothers also gave her a little something, too, while her sister-in-law shocked her with news of her pregnancy. Tanya almost squealed in excitement until her sister-in-law threatened her to silence. She hadn't told her husband because she was planning on surprising him on their anniversary which was a week away.
So, Tanya set off back to school on her own, carrying with her the feelings of her family members in her heart. The thought of family immediately brought the image of her sister to mind, making her mood a bit dampened.
She hadn't come to see her off. It angered her parents and Rhea but she calmly told them not to shout at her. There was a reason why Bertha hated her. It was very understandable why she would be like that to her. If she were Bertha, maybe she might even strangle herself to death.
She didn't expect her to suddenly forgive her with talks of sisterly love and the likes but seeing her act like that to her made her heart hurt.
She felt something crawl on her cheeks and she gently put pressure and wiped at it. It was warm tears. She quickly dried her eyes and shook her head.
It wasn't the time to be uselessly emotional, she chided herself but the thought made her feel a bit down. She was human still; even if she had died once and was still alive by some mystery.
The sound of someone clearing their throat brought her out of her thoughts and she turned a shade of pink from spacing out in public.
The woman who was selling tickets for the metro smiled a knowing smile and gave her the normal complimentary courtesy as she took her tickets. Tanya was almost tempted to wonder what kind of misunderstanding the woman had that caused her to smile in such a manner, but soon, she decided against it. She had more important things to deal with.
***
"Hey, did you hear? They say that there's going to be a police rookie training program here in our school." A student whispered to her friend on their way to class.
"Was that why there were two very handsome men in uniform inside the principal's office?" The other girl said all dreamy-eyed.
"I heard that one of them had an affiliation with one of the students in our school. Sylvester… was it?" The first student spoke but the sentence sounded more of a question than a statement.
"Wait? Sylvester? As in, Tanya Sylvester?" The other student asked in surprise.
"Yes! That was the one. Do you know her?"
"How could you not know Tanya? Hey! Tell me the truth. Do you live under a rock?"
"H-hey! There's no need to be so mean!"
"Whatever…" the girl sighed uninterested in her friend's tantrum. "So…" she asked with renewed interest, "what's his name?"
"Huh?"
"You know? The affiliated officer. What's his name?"
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "Conner was his last name…" She said as she racked her mind to try and remember the man in question.
"Ah!" She suddenly exclaimed. "I remember." She said in excitement.
"Adam! His name was Adam Conner."