Chapter Ten

آفة العِلْم النسيان

Forgetting is the plague of knowledge

Rose

''No shit Sherlock.'' I chuckle before sitting properly on the hammock while I see a glimpse of his smile appearing. Then, he walks towards the chair which is placed a few feet away from where I sit, ''I want to know about you... Elia. I think I've seen enough of what you do.''

Elia's eyes darken as he runs his fingers through his dark brown hair—messily making them neat, ''There's honestly nothing to know about me, tesoro.'' He replies, standing up and walking back inside; leaving me outside.

He doesn't want to talk about it. I thought.

I glance one last time at the place he sat before looking back at the city; enjoying the view. The wind blowing and caressing my bare skin, it makes me feel calm. Due to all of the problems that we're facing, it's quite funny how I manage to find something soothingly calm out of it.

Closing my eyes, I try to breathe in the fresh air; feeling myself releasing any sort of depression. Within seconds, I am already making my way inside, closing the sliding door behind me. I see a glimpse of Elia's dark brown hair as he sits down in the living room—covering half of his face with his hand before leaning back and letting out a deep sigh.

Frowning, I leave him there; thinking that probably right now is not the best time to start a conversation. I might've asked him about something too personal—I shouldn't have. He can tell me whenever but I wasn't in the right place to ask him.

I lay on the bed, raising my hands up and looking at my fingers one by one before turning left—seeing my reflection from the mirror on the wall. For once, I would consider myself beautiful. Without all those thick layers of makeup, I feel like myself.

There are flaws. Here and there but I feel comfortable. That's what matters most. I'm not perfect and as far as I know, nobody is.

The next morning, I am awaken by the sound of someone closing the door. My eyes open wide as I sit up straight, peeking down the hall—even though I can barely see a thing once I realise that the door is closed. Running my fingers through my hair, I let out a sigh before eyeing the whole room.

Once I've cleaned myself up in the bathroom, I enter the walk-in closet and I find myself looking at a few pairs of women's clothing. There are also a few pairs of men's clothing on the other side. Elia must have prepared this—it seems like he's a regular customer here. A part of me wants to know why he has women's clothing in here but I guess it doesn't seem to matter.

I change into a loose white sleeveless dress before covering my arms with a black leather jacket. When I'm fully satisfied with how I look, I finally step out of the room—seeing Elia cooking breakfast on the stove. My lips curve up into a small smile; realising how he's actually cooking other than heating food in the microwave.

Elia turns to look at me with a small smile on his face, ''Good morning.'' He says as I sit down near the kitchen counter. Then, he picks up the pan, placing scrambled eggs and a few toasts on my plate.

''You actually cook.'' I mutter, looking straight into his eyes; earning a chuckle from him.

He bends over a little, resting both of his elbows on the kitchen counter, waiting for me to eat. Slowly, I pick up the fork before tasting the scrambled eggs in my mouth. The both of us couldn't move our eyes as we just stare but it doesn't make things uncomfortable, honestly.

All he does is watch me eat which I find a little bit odd but I manage to ignore him—if watching him back is consider as ignoring. Once I'm done, he takes the plate and put it in the sink. Then, he is already walking towards the back—probably getting something.

When I turn to look, he is already walking back with an empty backpack and the two briefcase from yesterday. I eye his every movement as he takes out a few guns and placing them inside the backpack. He doesn't seem to mind me being here and watch him so I just stay at my spot.

''We're leaving.'' He says, placing the backpack on his right shoulder.

Again. I thought as I look down.

We both walk out of the door and head straight towards the elevator. Once we reach the lobby, Elia starts to look around before frowning at someone. I follow his gaze but I can't seem to find who. Within seconds, he is already pulling me by the arm and heading outside.

We turn to look behind as soon as we hear someone's footsteps. Elia starts to run and I follow beside him—not slowing down my steps either. It's either we run and try to get away or we get caught and die. Two simple options. Of course, I would choose to stay alive.

I can't help but turn around to look at the person and I see him pointing a gun towards us. My heart starts to beat fast—probably at the sight of the gun. We both run, pushing a few people out of the way before finally reaching the park where less people are standing and most people are sitting.

Elia glances at my direction, reaching his hand out for mine. He doesn't seem to realise the little things that he does, would have a great impact towards me and I can't seem to justify them either. When we start to hear gunshots, we yelp at the sudden sound—making us run faster.

I start to scream as soon as I hear the gunshots getting near, making Elia grip onto my hand tighter and pulling me closer towards him. The both of us won't stop running, not until we are sure that we're safe. For now, we're far from safe.

He leads me towards a larger crowd, where it might be harder for them to catch us. Yes, there are around four men running after us. I sarcastically agree in my mind. It's stupid of them to fire the gun when they know that we're in public and it could cause attention—which they already did.

We make a turn, heading down the road but once we are a few feet away from entering the alley, I start to feel a sharp turn on my shoulder—making me flinch and groan in pain. To my surprise, I am already shaking, not able to endure the pain. In an instant, I let go of Elia's hand, earning a confused look from him.

''Shit.'' He mutters under his breath, pulling me closer before turning towards the other direction and entering any of the stores.

I start to breathe rapidly, holding onto my arm and letting out a few groans of pain. As for Elia, he's keeping both of our heads down as he checks out through the window before looking back at me.

The people in the store are shock at our condition but they ignore us. A few walks out immediately, not wanting to get involved. I know that the owner might call the police soon and it's not safe for us but I can't seem to control the pain—it's new for me.

I've never been shot before, for fuck's sake. I thought as I bite onto my lip—hard.

''Look at me.'' Elia says, cupping onto my face as he looks straight into my eyes, ''We're going to get out of here and we're going to go somewhere safe. I know it hurts but you have to hold it in. You're going to be okay,''

Both of my eyes are filled with tears due to the pain. When I release the grip from my arm, I look down to see my own blood on my hand, making me breathe out—trying to calm myself. ''I can't.'' I mutter under my breath, holding back the tears from falling.

''Sto chiamando la polizia!'' Someone shouts from behind and Elia turns to look at him—more like glaring as he clenches his jaw in dissatisfaction but his grip on my face never loosen or tighten.

''Ci stiamo lasciando.'' Elia replies.

Then, he looks back at me, leaning in a bit but it's not the closeness that I'm worried about at the moment. I can feel myself weakening due to the amount of blood I'm losing but I try my best to stay awake; to fight the part of me who wants to let the darkness consume and just give in.

''Tesoro, look at me.'' He raises my face and I look straight into his brown eyes—which someone soothes the pain a little, ''Do you trust me?''

Both of us are just intimately staring into each other's eyes. Even though I barely know anything about him and we've only known each other for awhile but deep inside, it doesn't feel that way. It feels like I've known him forever.

''Rose, do you trust me?'' He repeats, waking me from my sudden trance.

Elia smiles, pecking me on the lips before slowly lifting me up with my uninjured arm. We both quickly walk outside once he's sure that there's no harm. As I endure the pain, Elia's grip seems to be helping. Once we're a bit further down the road, Elia stops in front of an unknown clinic but I am too weak to ask.

He starts to knock on the glass door, quite hard before the door is being opened by a woman around her twenties. She has dark brown hair with light hazel eyes and a flawless complexion. Her eyes wander around to look at what's behind before landing on me and pulling both of us in.

I breathe out, groaning in pain as I fall onto the ground but Elia's grip on my waist manage to save me from any head injuries. He places my head on his lap as my vision starts to blur and I can see is his brown eyes—the only clear vision.

''Lei sta perdendo un sacco di sangue.'' He speaks as he keeps on looking at me.

The woman starts to appear as she places something beside me, ''Che è successo?'' She asks, looking at Elia for a few seconds before raising my body up slowly—earning another groan from me. I start to feel her taking off my jacket before throwing it onto the ground and looking at my wound.

Elia clenches his jaw, ''Colpo di pistola.''

She looks at him with a frown, ''Che cosa è questa donna innocente facendo con te? Lo sai meglio, Elia.'' Then, when I feel a sharp pain on my back—I start to let out a low scream and grip hard onto Elia's hand which makes him whisper soothing words into my ear, saying how I'm going to be okay and how strong I am.

Once I feel the bullet out of my skin, I let out a breath of relief, ''Non posso lasciare la sua.'' I hear Elia speaking again as I feel my body shaking from too much pain.

''Ella è fatto male a causa di voi.'' The woman says out of nowhere, earning no respond from Elia. If only I can understand what they're saying—that would've been better.

When I thought that the pain would ease, I start to yelp once more and grip onto Elia's hand. This time the grip is harder as I feel the stinging sensation on my back, ''I'm sorry.'' She says and I just nod as an answer, ''This will help you rest.'' She adds, injecting something on my arm and I start to feel myself loosing control before completely seeing the darkness.

I blink a few times, trying to reduce the blurriness as I hear voices.

''Why are you here, Elia?'' The voice asks and it takes me awhile to realise that it belongs to a woman. The woman who treated me—maybe a few hours ago. I start to stir a little, adjusting my body to a comfortable position.

I look down and see that they are transferring blood into my system due to the amount that I've lost.

I hear Elia sighing, ''It has nothing to do with you, Danielle.'' My body manage to stop moving as I just hear their conversation. I know, I'm eavesdropping but I can't seem to stop myself. I want to know.

''Allora perché siete qui?'' She asks, this time, her voice is a little bit low. ''It has been three years since I last saw you. I was already moving on and seeing you again, it's not helping. It's quite different this time. After three years, this is how you plan on meeting me, bringing an injured woman right at my clinic—what were you thinking?''

''What happened between us, I've forgotten everything about it.''

The whole room remains silence which leaves me in utter confusion but before I could sit up, I start to hear them talk again—this time, something a little bit more personal.

''You know exactly why I left, Elia. You know exactly why I gave up on us.'' She starts to speak and I hear heels on the floor, ''You can't just blame everything on me. It was your fault, too.''

To my surprise, Elia starts to chuckle but it didn't sound sincere or happy, ''At least, I thought I was marrying someone who would stay through the best and the worst, whatever may come, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others for as long as we both shall live.'' He replies. My heart starts to beat fast due to his respond.

He was married? I breathe out.

''We were young, what do you expect?'' She breathes out and I hear her sigh, deeply.

Within seconds, I hear Elia's footsteps getting near me so I close my eyes—pretending to sleep. I feel someone caressing the side of my cheek with the back of his hand; which I highly assume is Elia. ''We will leave as soon as she wakes up.'' He says.

They both stay quiet for almost a minute, ''Do you love her?'' She asks, making the situation much more awkward. I know they might think that I'm still asleep but I'm fully awake and I just don't want to get caught right now.

''I care for her.'' He replies, exiting the room with Danielle trailing behind him because I hear her heels clicking on the floor.

Once they have gone out of the room, I start to sit up straight, groaning a little at the slight pain but I ignore it before pulling the intravenous therapy out. I furrow my eyebrows at the stinging sensation—even though it's not that much of a pain.

I turn to look at my leather jacket and see that there's a hole at the back. Lucky enough, it is clean from blood. Elia or Danielle might have cleaned it up while I was out. Standing up, I start to hold onto the bed—afraid if I might fall and cause much more injuries.

''You're awake.'' I glance behind and see Elia standing near the door.

Smiling a little, ''Yeah.'' I answer, reaching out for my leather jacket before putting it on. I try my best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling on my shoulder and just endure the whole pain. My eyes wander up to look at Elia—as he looks back at me.

Clearing my throat, ''Should we leave?'' I ask, not wanting to make him feel suspicious. I don't want him to feel like I've heard his conversation with his ex-wife. No, that doesn't even sound right. Ex-wife? I shake my head, mentally.

''We should.'' He replies but he is only walking closer towards me. Once we're close enough, he runs his thumb on my face—slowly making me feel the sparks that is currently flowing in my veins. How is that possible?

His hand is on the side of my face while his lips is brushing against mine—making me close my eyes in respond. Then, he finally kisses me, causing me to kiss him back. The kiss is passionately slow; somehow showing emotions instead of lust. I, for one, know that he's a great kisser, even though we only shared a few.

I pull away slightly, making him clench his jaw as a respond.

''I'm sorry that I got you into this mess.'' He whispers, smiling as he rubs my cheek. Then, he walks out of the room—leaving me alone.

As I walk out, I see him picking up his backpack, standing quite far from Danielle who is currently eyeing his every movement. From afar, I see long lost love in her eyes but she tries hard to deny it. As for him, he doesn't waste a single glance. For some reason, he doesn't want that feeling to rise.

I hold onto Danielle's arm, ''Thank you.''

''Be safe.''

When I hear the door open, I turn to see that Elia has already stepped out and is only waiting for me outside. I glance one more time at Danielle—seeing her looking at him with slight hope. I don't know what she has for him; I know that she used to love him. Probably still. I know that they both used to love each other.

I walk out, glancing one last time at the woman who used to be the amore of Elia's life.