The water hears and understands. The ice does not forgive.

Scarlett's pov

"What?" I asked.

"What?" He asked same.

"What did you just say?"

"I'll be waiting." He calmly answered.

"After that."

He thought for a minute, " Triantáfyllo."
He said it really fast.

"What does it mean?"

"What does what mean?"

"The thing that you just said."

"I didn't say anything. I questioned you, I said what does what mean"

"No, before that."

"No, before that." He copied me.

"What you just said."

"What you just said." He again did it.

"Listen, stop copying me." I said putting my hands on my hips.

"Listen, stop copying it." He copied my posture too. That little Mr. Silencer.

"Stop it." I whined.

"Stop it." He whined too. He tried to do it my voice. He sounded really funny doing it. His voice was so hilarious.

I Burst out laughing at him. I couldn't control my laugh.

I was laughing so much that I didn't notice him staring at me with a small smile on his face.

I stopped laughing and looked at him. I wanted to ash him his reason of marrying me. There must be one, right?
"You asked me why I agreed to marry you. Why did you say yes?"

He looked away for a moment, then again looked back at me.
"My badima wanted me to."

"And?"

"I couldn't say no to her." He shrugged.

I stepped a little closer to him.
"Any other reason?"

"Yes, there is." he answered.

"Which is?" I asked. I don't know why but I wanted to know.

"Hmm. Let me think." He tapped his finger on his chin. Then raised his eyebrows  and widened his eyes as if he found what he was looking for.

He came closer to me.
"Not gonna tell you." He whispered leaning his face close to mine.

"Why?" My voice turned into a mere whisper.

"You gotta wait." He gave me a lopsided smile.

Oh, I see. He used my words against me.

I gave him a smile of my own.
We kept looking into each others' eyes.

Being this close to him, my breathing increased. I couldn't keep looking at him.
So, I lowered my eyes and looked towards the tiled  floor.

He moved more close to me.
It was getting hot there suddenly, even with the cold wind blowing. I wanted to move further towards him and close this distance between us.

I took a step back and moved my head upwards to face him, "it's... it's getting late. I should go."

He nodded looking at me.
"Yeah. You should."

But I didn't move. Instead I asked,
"Don't you have to go to bed too?"

"I do. I will. Just not now." He answered.

"Hmm." I turned around and walked away.

I went straight to the guest room where I was staying at the moment.
I sat on my bed and thought back to what happened a few minutes before or what would have happened if I stayed there a bit more.

Without thinking much about it,I closed my eyes and soon sleep found me.

Third person's pov

Scarlett woke up in a good mood today.
The soft glow of morning sun was falling on her beautiful face.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and went to freshen up. She also reminded herself to ask Maria to drive her home a little early so that she'll get time to change her clothes for college.

After half an hour, Scarlett was all ready. She went into the kitchen to get a glass of warm water. It was her habit to drink a glass of warm water first thing in the morning.

The moment she entered, she saw Maria standing at the counter and cooking something. Whatever it was, it definitely smelled delicious.

She was drinking her water sitting on the bench at the counter when Maria approached her.
"Listen, I know it might get annoying,me repeating it everytime but trust me, o feel really grateful to you. Thank you for choosing Xander."

Maria saw Scarlett and Xander last night at the terrace. She went to check up on both of them but they weren't on their room. She heard voices from terrace and found both of them there. There she saw Xander being playful and smiling for the first time in a long time. He was genuinely happy and having fun. There wasn't the usual "no expression" face of his. At that time, she felt so thankful to God for bringing Scarlett into their lives.

"Maria, how many times should I tell you there's no need for you to thank me. If anyone should be thanking, it should be me. You did so much already for me. You helped those children and paid for Devin's operation. And now also, you are taking such a good care of him and other children. Don't think I don't know about your visits at the orphanage and what you do for them. I'm really grateful to you." Scarlett said honestly how she felt.
And it was true, she was really thankful towards Maria.

They both talked a bit afterwards while setting the breakfast table.
Xander came downstairs after a few minutes. He was looking at Scarlett.

They all had their breakfast and Xander drove Scarlett to her apartment.

She turned on some music in the car.
Taylor Swift's "22" was being played.
She started singing along.

"You know I always wanted to celebrate my 22nd birthday like this. I still do though. Just an year is left." She said smilingly.

Xander turned his face around, "you are 21 right now?" He asked a bit shocked.
He knew she was younger than him but he just never thought it would be almost none years.

"Yes, I am.  How old are you?" She asked.

"29" he simply said.

She gasped a little after hearing this.
She started to laugh, "you are an old man, Mr. Knight." She pointed at him while laughing.

"No, I'm not old, Miss Williams." He defended.

Shaking her head, still laughing, she said,
"Yes, you are old mister. I'm marrying an old man. I'm so young. I have my all life ahead of me. I have so many dreams, so many aspirations. Instead, I'm being tied down to an old man.  Oh lord!" She dramatically said flailing her hands around.

"If you ever failed in getting a job in business world, try in acting field. You'll definitely rise there." He said looking at her and shaking his head.

"I know. I know. I'm such a good actor, right? But I'm giving chance to others. Now, coaches don't play, right?" She said with a smug smile on her face.

He didn't say anything, just ruffled her hair a bit.

"Hey, don't touch my hair." She complained smoothing out her hair.

"Why? I will." Saying this, he again tried to ruffle her hair but this time, she moved backwards and he didn't get to touch her hair.

"What? Are your hair sacred or something?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yup, they are. I love my hair. They are sacred to me. And anyone who knows me, know that I don't like anyone touching my hair except my mom." She said with a smile on her face and flipped her back to give the drama effect.

"Okay. So I'll touch your hair again." Saying he quickly touched her hair. She didn't even get a chance to move back.

"What the heck? I just told you I don't like anyone touching my hair. Why would you that?" She asked looking at him.

He was looking in the front.
"Because I wanted to."

"What?"

"You don't know English?"

"What?"

"English. You know that or not?"

"What?"

"I'm starting to think "what" is your favourite word. You said it so many times." He said looking amused.

"What?"

"There again." He said as if he just proved a point which he did.

"Stop. Okay. You are distracting me. I asked why yo..." She was cut off him speaking again.

"I'm distracting you? I'm that handsome?
Or is it my eyes? My looks? Tell me." He asked smiling a little. He was enjoying like this being with her. She was the only person to see his this side. But she didn't need to know that.

"What? No you are not distracting me. I meant...."

"But you just said that I'm distracting you." He "innocently" said to her.

"No, I did not." She told him.

"You did."

"No,I did not. I meant..."

He started to speak but Scarlett cut him off before he could, "lemme speak, old man. I meant you did not distract me. I mean you distract me. Wait, no,I mean you distracted me by your talks. Yes, your talks." She completed finally.

"So you mean to say I'm not handsome?" He made a sad pouty on his face.

He looked so cute like that.
"No, you are not handsome." She said, thinking better than to give a boost to his ego.

He fake sighed. He seriously looked so damn cute at that time that Scarlett was tempted to kiss in his cheeks and hug him tightly but she didn't.

Instead, she did one thing he did not expect.

He never thought her doing that would feel so good.
© Asterin

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