Chapter Thirty-one

Rose

My lips curve up into a small smile before adding one last paint onto the canvas—leaning back afterwards to see my masterpiece. I'm fully satisfied by my work as the colour blends in nicely with different light shades.

''You did a great job,'' Elis says from behind.

I turn to look at him and see that he has a smile on his face as he places a mug on the desk near me, ''I like how you blend the colours together as if they were made to be one. You're amazing,'' He mutters, after pointing at the paints that I've mixed. The way his brown eyes remain focus on my art, it shows how he's honest about his judgements.

''You're trying to make me feel better about my painting,'' I respond with a smirk and he starts to chuckle, shaking his head afterwards

''You're trying to make me feel better about my painting,'' I respond with a smirk and he starts to chuckle, shaking his head afterwards. The smile on his face never fail to soothe any kind of pain.

To my surprise, he turns to look at me before cupping onto my face lightly as he stares deeply into my eyes, ''Rose, I've been watching you paint for a few months now and you never fail to impress me. You express your emotions and your feelings through the exact painting, it's beautiful. You're beautiful,'' He smiles.

My cheeks heat up immediately at the sight of his smile and at the sound of his compliment. The way he said it was calm but it caused my heart to beat like a drum—almost exploding from my chest. I know, Elis is the only distraction I can find; he's been taking care of me ever since I've faced a severe mental breakdown. All of those pain. He soothed them.

We might have met differently. When he first met me, he was only busy glaring at my face; but now we're laughing at each other's faces, only enjoying the moment. Within seconds, I run the paint brush on his cheek and his face is now smeared with a light blue painting which causes his eyes to open wide.

''Oh, I see it now.'' He chuckles.

My eyes widen at the sight of him dipping the brush into one of the paints, causing me to immediately take a few steps away from as I laugh out loud while he closes the distance between us; attacking me with the brush—my screams filling the room.

''No! Get away,'' I laugh out loud but he manage to catch me by the waist before pulling my body close towards his. When I lean my body back, he runs the brush on my nose and to the side of my face, leaving me grabbing onto his shoulders.

Elis laughs at the sight he sees as he dips the brush once more and running after me. I take my brush and start running it behind his neck and near his ear, causing him to react differently due to being ticklish. When I realise that I've hit his spot, I start to laugh.

Without us realising, we're busy attacking each other with paints; almost covering our faces and our clothes. The right side of his face is covered with different colours of paint, only making him look a little bit like a piece of art. My piece of art.

I let out a loud piercing scream as I trip onto one of my own paints which causes my eyes to remain shut, preparing myself to hit the ground. Surprisingly, I don't feel a single thing except for someone's hands on both side of my waist; holding me from falling.

I like it.

I've been longed for someone's touch for the past few months but I've been keeping that to myself and even though Elis is only touching me by the waist, I can't help but feel slightly affected. Repeat. Slightly.

He lifts my body up which causes our faces to be inches apart and my hands are placed on his chest, spontaneously. Our eyes are pierced into one another without a sign of breaking the eye contact yet I don't mind. It's not like we get to have this everyday.

All of a sudden, he runs his brush on the tip of my nose to the side of my cheeks, making me close my eyes in respond—not expecting him to continue on playing with the paint. I chuckle immediately, only opening my eyes afterwards and seeing his breathtaking smile. Reminds me a lot of Elia.

No.

Why am I still thinking about him?

Slowly, we unwrapped ourselves from each other's embrace because we both know how we'll fail to push the temptation away. Well, Elis and I have been living together in this apartment ever since I left. He's living with me for the sake of my safety, just incase but it's mostly because I asked him to. The world is a place where I'm not very familiar of and I needed someone to guide me through the ending darkness.

''We need to wash up,'' I mutter under my breath as I look at both of us; seeing that we're covered in paint.

My eyes widen as I see him taking his shirt off before exiting the room, leaving me in awe and admiration. God damn, the sight I saw was giving me all sorts of feelings through my body and down to my soul; it's more like an attraction towards the beauty. Him.

I, honestly don't see anything wrong with Elis. Yes, I may have misjudged him but after spending an adequate amount of time together, we manage to overcome the past and just start new. He's a whole lot different person that what I thought he would be.

Once I step out of my painting room—it used to be empty where I kept extra boxes in here but I decided on a better solution to make it useful. I've been diving into art ever since my breakdown. Elis was helping me on a way to ease the amount of sadness, pain and anger. Painting was the solution; the only sweet escape because on the first few months, I was damaged.

Mentally. Mostly.

My heart was broken. My soul? Empty. I had begged for Elis to end my life and I've even tried to commit suicide; by standing in the middle of the road or—you get the whole drill but Elis, he has been there for me. He saw my pain and he even felt it too. I'm glad that he's still here; he told me that I can lean on him.

Without him, I would've been six feet underground.

The memories, the pain and the suffering are still fresh in my mind without a glimpse of disappearing. Every single moment can be used as a bliss or a curse; I find it hard to let go especially when I've become stronger than how I used to be. I was fucked up.

I, obviously, depended my whole life on him. I trusted him with my whole soul and I loved him with everything without expecting him to hurt me in the end because he was like a knight in shining Armani. He saved me from hell yet he gave me worse; how?

My heart clenches at the memory.

''Kill me. Please, Elis. Just kill me.'' I beg, tears are streaming down my cheeks as he hold me tightly in his arms; trying to make me think and feel that there's still hope but I'm broken. Too broken.

''Rose, look at me.'' Elis cups onto my face before looking straight into my eyes and wiping away the drying tears on my cheeks, leaving traces of hurt and suffer. ''You're strong. You can get through this,''

I cut him off with my non ending tears and my heart breaking pain. All I can think of is death because I find that as my only escape. My only freedom.

He had pulled me away when I was supposed to be dead, a couple of minutes ago. He had saved my life from ending; he had given me strength, the strength that I've lost when he left. The kind of strength that I've given up when he turned away. I'm left with nothing and only suffocating with madness.

I breathe out, roughly running my fingers through my hair, ''I want to be dead. I want to be dead, Elis. Just end my life, do it for me. Kill me,'' I keep on chanting the word kill because that's the only solution I see; yet Elis sees different solutions.

''Death is permanent solution to a temporary pain,''

Those words. His words. They manage to sink deeply into my heart and slowly washing away my everlasting pain. As I look up into his brown eyes, I am constantly reminded of Elia but for some reason, for some unknown reason, I'm only seeing Elis.

Elia? Who's Elia?

That man will forever be buried.

I blink a few times, bringing myself back into reality as I look up to see Elis stepping out of the bathroom with his towel hanging low around his hips; causing me to gulp, miserably feeling the thirst. Seconds before he can see my expression, I immediately look down at my phone—pretending to scroll while I'm putting pressure onto the screen, calming myself.

Elis does not seem bothered by the fact that he's shirtless and his chest has droplets of water; giving me the kind of feeling that I can just pull his towel down but I remain calm, only pulling on a poker face.

''You're going to wash up?'' He asks.

With a small smile, I nod and he returns it before entering his room; letting me exhale. I've been holding in my breath because I was terrified if I could have reacted differently. No, Rose. He's a friend. A friend that has helped you through this and has brought a better inner you, don't ruin that. I thought, thinking positive.

After showering and washing all of the paint on my skin, I manage to look at myself in the mirror—seeing that my now dark brown hair matches my skin tone. I've changed how I look, mostly my hair because I know that in order to forget and move on, I needed a new perspective. A new me. A better me.

During dinner, I manage to sneak a few glances when Elis isn't looking because truthfully, I can't help it. The way he picks up the fork when he eats and the way his jaw moves when he chews or when his Adam's apple—stop it! For god's sake, Rose. I thought.

I've been living with this man for almost a year now

I've been living with this man for almost a year now. We've been going on so well and I can't ruin it because of my stupid little fantasies; he's probably going to think of me weirdly, he's probably wondering why I'm reacting this way so let's just move on and forget about how temptingly sexy Elis may be. I've never come to notice that until now. Don't ask me how.

I've been too caught up.

''So, do you have work tomorrow?'' He asks, looking up at my face as he eats his food, slowly chewing it. I look deeply into his brown eyes for a few seconds, trying to regain my composure before answering.

''Yeah, what about you? I'm guessing you have a lot of unfinished works and meetings to attend,'' I reply.

Elis—he owns a company in New York City. I should've known due to his Lamborghini but at first, being the naive me, I thought Elia helped him. Like, he helped him bought that car because well, he's rich. Then, one day, he answered my unanswered questions. Honestly, if you bump into Elis in the street and just take a few seconds to look at him, you would see him as someone who's casual and good-looking; yet, he doesn't seem cocky or overdressed.

''You can say that,'' He smiles.

I watch as he places the meat in his mouth before chewing it and drinking his glass of water afterwards. Why am I slightly affected by him? I shouldn't be.

Once we're done with dinner, I pick up my plate and his before he can even respond; then make my way towards the kitchen, placing them in the sink. It takes me awhile to realise that Elis is currently standing behind me—quite close, giving me shivers.

''I can wash my own dishes, Rose. I've been doing that and I can wash yours, too.'' He says from behind but I just chuckle before washing our plates and our empty glasses—slowly, trying to make my mind occupied instead of thinking about him standing close to me.

To my surprise, I feel him holding onto both sides of my waist, causing me to stop moving immediately and just remain focus on his touch. My heart starts to beat fast as I try to control my breathings; slowly. Elis and I have never made such contact with each other, we have been respecting each other's space. I was actually thankful that we managed to hold on that long. He hasn't touched me inappropriately.

''Let me help you,'' He whispers.

My breathing hitches as soon as he closes the distance between us and runs his hands on mine before he starts to reach out for the plates, causing me to look down; only seeing him washing them while my hands remain frozen—at their spot, slightly brushing against his.

Due to being so close, I can feel his breathing near my neck. Then again, blame me for tying my hair up into a messy bun because at times like this, my neck can be pretty sensitive or is it just my imagination.

I turn around once I realise that he's done washing the dishes and of course, I expect to see his broad chest as soon as I turn around—it's not a surprise. I look straight at his chest before looking up at his face; seeing that he's actually busy looking at the plates.

Within seconds, after he has placed the plates on the kitchen counter, both of his eyes meet mine; hitching my breath again. His brown eyes are filled with confusion yet they never show signs on looking away. Surprisingly, I find him leaning in ever so slowly that he's actually questioning his actions but I stay still at my spot—questioning myself too. Should I move?

All of a sudden, I find him placing his hands on my waist and slowly sending me an unknown feeling down my spine; a feeling that I've once felt. Yup.

Just as our lips are inches apart.