From the sea, the moon was still suspended low in the dark sky, the water reflecting the shine as it slowly rolled to the shore. But even then, the birds were hardly audible far away, and there were no sounds apart from the wind whistling through dunes. Olivia and Liam sat on the sand, hip to hip, their fingers touching at the tips but still the air hardly crackles in between.
Liam had been keen to realize that she had changed in the last few days. She laughed a lot less often, her eyes seemed to look past things even in normal conversation, and the sparkle that used to be in her eyes seemed to have faded somewhat. He regretted that she was like this – bearing.? What she did not want to say. He had to do something, he did not want to stay idle any longer especially if he had feelings for her.
"Olivia," he said, in quiet yet strong tone that filled in the silence. "Can we talk?"
She was caught totally off-guard when he spoke to her like that She looked at him in surprise. Her initial reaction was to run, to dodge and cover up the walls she had constructed to shield herself from the hurt. But the softness in his gaze, the powerful confidence underneath the speech paralyzed her.
I've been wondering… you have been aloof, " Liam went on selecting the right and appropriate words to use. I don't want to continue the pressure, but I think you are in a kind of difficulty. Please, let me in. Whatever it is, you don't need to consider it a journey that has to be done on a single bus ride alone.
Olivia was utterly speechless for a few seconds. She had doubled over, struggling to breathe and her eyes filled with tears. She had protected herself that well; spent so much time concealing her wounds behind laughter and denials of feeling ill. It was there, in the back of her mind, when Liam was sitting next to her, with the obvious desire written all over his face, that she felt the first signs of the chinks in her armour starting to peel off to widen.
'Say it,' she murmured and the words came out in a cracked voice 'I'm scared.' 'That might terrify me because I'm scared of what I feel.' Scared of getting hurt again. Afraid to commit one's self and put all one's faith in some one only to have it all shattered."
It was half a confession, quiet but spoken, and with every statement, I felt as if the burden twisted around her heart slid to a new place.
Liam's hand slides into hers, and he takes her wrist gently. "Okay," he replied firmly, and cleared his throat. "I won't be able to give a guaranteed that I would not err and that every delivery will be absolutely perfect. But I can promise you this: I will never harm you, Olivia as far as my intentions are concerned. And I will never leave you behind every time that thing gets difficult."
She stared at him, hoping that he will betray some kind of deceit but his face was perfectly clean. He spoke sincerely and looked straight in the eyes. In that moment, the walls that she has constructed over time came down; the rapidly eroding bricks.
"I have been here before," she said softly, "I have been here before I have been…" "It really scares me personally about whether or not I have it in me to go through that again?"
"You don't have to do this alone", Liam said these words while his hand over mine becoming warmer and much tighter. "I don't need you to compensate for what I don't have and I don't need you to change or rewrite your history, Olivia." I have remained here to support you all the time and in any way that I could. To face it all with you."
His words enveloped her like a hug, that she did not know she required. And that, for how many years, she had been having her suffering to herself thinking that it is a shame to be fragile. Whereas before surrendering felt like giving up on oneself, with Liam, it was the opposite, the most liberating thing.
Tears slowly ran down her face and she came closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her, and drawing her into his side, he said for the first time in what seemed like light years,She was able to photosympathize, she let herself free.
They just sat there on the sand dunes listening to the waves getting entangled in each other's arms. Olivia still had no idea what is in store for her and how she is going to face her fears but as of the time of writing this thesis, Olivia is safe. Safe enough to believe that perhaps, and only perhaps, she could allow herself to love once more.
And as Liam pressed a soft kiss to her hair and softly murmured, "You're not alone anymore." She was right; it was the first step towards her healing; not for him, but for her strength, her strength to try again.