Chapter 72 - Each Other’s

(From Leandro's Perspective)

She seemed to be excited seeing the stones. They were precious, but she did not care about the values, rather she enjoyed them for their beauty. Even though she was so enthusiastic and reckless about everything, sometimes I wondered if she knew that there was a part that was very deep about her. Her words always roamed in my head. The more I spent time with her, the more I was valuing life in a different way, the more I was eager to stay with her and learn more about not only her but also what she knew, what she thought, what she craved. 

"This is a citrine... This one is golden. Wow, I love the orange shade on it. Look! It's cute... It's an alexandrite. It's quite handsome. Oh, now that I think of it_ Have you heard the name Alexander?"

"I had a cousin named Alexander," I said. 

"Really? Well, do you think this name is way too common? You know, this name... Oh lord, writers use this name like it's what they breathe. In romance novels especially, like you start reading a steamy romance novel, the male lead's name is Alexander. Dominating male lead, you get Alexander_ Handsome but arrogant male lead, here is Alexander_ Erotic novel, Alexander will say hello again_ Evil power-hungry male lead, hey, I'm Alexander. Honestly, your name is better than it. I have never heard a name like yours before. Leandro- it's quite ancient. That's why," she said. "You don't mind that I call you ancient, do you?"

"No."

How could I mind anything she said when she was being way too adorable? It seemed like I got attached to her adorable chaotic nature. 

"It's an ametrine... I got another opal. It's an Australian opal. Of course, you guys don't call it that here. There is no Australia here... Cat's eye moonstone. Weird shape! That's why it's called cat's eye moonstone... You got pearls too... Isn't this a green Kyanite...?... Huh, I got a moonstone! I was thinking if you have one other than the cat's eye one... A neon apatite! Do you know that there is a chemical element called neon in my world? Atom number ten, a noble gas. It will take longer to tell you what noble gas is. But don't worry, I'll surely tell you about them someday... Wow, another moonstone! It's a rainbow moonstone... Rhodochrosite!"

She was talking non-stop as she examined the stones. It did not take too much to make her happy. Well, she was almost always happy, like she was trying to enjoy life. I had been thinking of asking this her, but never could think of the correct way to do so. 

Seeing her this happy and smiley, a smile would always curve up on my lips. She had the ability to brighten up any place, yet she was the one who craved darkness the most_ like the way she was craving me. 

I knew I was dangerous for her and getting attached to her was not good for her, neither it was for me. I was not sure if I would not lose control around her. And if I did, then I could not even bring myself to think of what I was going to do. If I ever ended up hurting her, I knew that no matter what, I would never be able to forgive myself. 

Now that she made a huge place in my heart, losing her would cause me a lot. This was the reason I did not want to think of her or get close to her, but now that I did, I knew that I had to protect her at all cost. She was precious_ and she was mine...

"At last done! You've almost all kinds of stones. There are two hundred types of stones that you have. But there are a few that you don't have," she said after a long time of examining the stones and commenting about them. 

"You can't find out what I don't have. I've lots of them. It's hard to identify," I said.

"No, it's not. I know what you don't have. You don't have red coral, white topaz... I haven't seen watermelon tourmaline as well... then trapiche emerald, and oh yeah, smoky quartz. That are the ones I could not find here. Can we find them in this forest? Will you take me with you to look for them? You can add them to your collection then," she said normally like it was not a big deal at all. 

I did not even know the names of all the stones I collected. I just collected them out of a hobby, but never truly tried to find out a lot about them. But this girl, she did not even care how precious those stones were, knew all about them and even she managed to say how many types of stones I had and what types I did not have. It felt like she was an expert at this though I was sure that no expert would be able to tell this. 

"Let's go have dinner." It was all I managed to utter after looking at her in disbelief for a long time while she stuffed the stones back in the box. 

"Yeah, let's go. I'm hungry too," she said and handed me the box. "Keep it back in the closet. We'll go out and find more stones. It will be cool! Now come on quickly. I'm hungry."

As we were eating, I noticed that she was eating very quickly again. "So why are we going to the pub tomorrow?" she asked.

"I thought you knew."

"To see how people think about the whole situation? Is that all?"

"Not anything more now."

"Well, I wanted to ask you something_ about someone actually. Do you know Valentino Trenton?"

"Who is that?" I asked, anger slowly building inside me thinking that she was asking me about a guy. Was she interested in her? Did she like her? But she said she liked me. How could she like another guy?

"You don't know," she mumbled, deep in thought with her fork on her lips. 

"Why do you want to know about him?" I asked, trying to control my anger.

"What's with your tone?"

"Just tell me why you want to know about him. I don't like to repeat myself."

"Can you find out about him? That would save me a lot of work. Can you ask Anders to do it? He seemed to know about people. I mean, he said that he has many shifters. He can send one of them to know more about him. You know, I thought of asking Jed about him, but I forgot. He might know..."

"Stop talking, Ella."

"I better go look for him myself. Do you think it would be weird..."

"Stop it, Ella," I said, pursing my lips. 

"I don't even know what to say to him. I mean, he might ask how I know him. It would be so..."

She could not finish as I started to kiss her senselessly. The taste of steak was still in her mouth as she was not finished with her dinner yet. But I did not care. I needed to let her know that she was mine. Perhaps I was being possessive and was acting without knowing everything first, but hearing her talking about other men like this was too much for me. 

The fork fell from her hand as she grabbed my shirt, trying to push me away in a feeble attempt. But I did not let go of her. I pinched on her waist, making her wince in pain. The moment she opened her lips, I took the chance to push my tongue inside her. It was too raw to kiss her while she was eating, but it did not matter as long it was her. 

I pulled back only when I realized that she was out of breath. She panted, her hand still holding my shirt tightly. 

"Why_ have you_ done that?"

"You know why I did that."

"What? I don't... Don't tell me... You're so immature," she grumbled. "I asked you about him because Rosaire told me about him before her death. She told me to meet him. So I asked you. And I said about Anders because he seemed to be relevant with these types of things."

"Don't meet anyone alone, let alone a man. They've bad thoughts."

"You don't have to tell me that. I know."

"And if you want to know someone, tell me. Don't mention Anders."

"Do you hate him?" she asked. 

"No. But I hate it when someone looks at my thing in a way that only I can look at. I don't like others trying to take my thing. I know he never can, but I don't like to see him gawking."

"I don't..."

"You don't have to understand," I said, not letting her finish. "Just know that we're each other's now.. Just remember this."