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“I’m fine. I just… I can’t believe you’re locked in such a room, Raf,” Noelle cried desolately as she looked around the tiny cell that didn’t even have a bed. There was only a toilet and a sink built into a wall. Aside from that, there was only darkness. So much darkness.
“At least I’ll have time to heal,” he replied tersely. “It’s better than breaking my back in the temple.”
“I guess you’re right. But I still…” she croaked, tears stabbing at her eyes.
She wanted so badly to be next to him, hug him to her chest and tell him that everything would be okay. More than anything, feeling the chill of the cell, she wanted to share the warmth of her body with him.
“I’m fine, Lucero,” he told her. “Please don’t worry on my account.”
She didn’t dare speak for he would hear the anguish in her voice.
I did this. I brought him here. It’s all my fault.
Her thoughts were clamoring, her guilt overwhelming her.
“Talk to me,” he whispered, his tone softer. “I love hearing your voice. It soothes me like nothing else.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Have you ever been in love?” he suddenly asked, tension radiating from his voice.
“I told you I’ve never kissed someone before. What do you think?”
“You could have been in love without kissing someone,” he grumbled.
“No. I haven’t,” she confessed. “It wasn’t in the cards for someone like me.”
“Someone like you?” He frowned.
“Trapped,” she whispered, not elaborating more on the word. “Haveyou?” she countered.
“No,” he answered immediately. “I… I had a good friend, but I never met her in person. Maybe if we had met, we’d have developed something. But I’ve never felt anything like I feel when I’m with you, Lucero. Your presence alone brings me peace.”
Noelle would have been raging with jealousy if she didn’t know he was talking about her as curiouscat. Still, she didn’t know whether to be at leastslightlyjealous, or if she should be mad that he hadn’t fallen for her as curiouscat, as she had for him.
“No girlfriend?Fiancé?” She knew she was digging for information, but she hadn’t forgotten about that newspaper article she’d read about their nuptials that never came to pass. She’d been wrecked with jealousy for months.
“I wasn’t engaged once,” he sighed.
Noelle leaned forward, anger already radiating off her as her small hands formed into fists.
“It was an arranged marriage. Nothing else. But I… I don’t think I could have gone through it. It didn’t feel right.”
“What didn’t?” Noelle inquired.
“We were friends but nothing else. We became closer to please our families and she already had someone she was in love with. But even platonic… I just didn’t feel right saying those vows when I didn’t mean them—when I didn’t love her. So the answer to your question is a resoluteno. I’ve never been in love.”
“Me neither.” She smiled.
Moving closer to the wall separating them, she plastered her hand against the cold concrete, imagining that he was doing the same in the other room. And as they continued to talk, about anything and everything, she, too, felt at peace.
Despite promising Lucero she wouldn’t take unnecessary risks and that she would only visit Raf once, Noelle continued to do so every night.
The moment the clock struck midnight, she would take advantage of the shift in guards and go keep him company, always bringing him supplies and making sure he was well-fed and taken care of. Then, she just kept him company for hours on end—until close to sunrise when the hacienda started to wake up.
Although she hesitated talking too much about herself, they found different topics to entertain themselves, often bursting into laughter at the jokes they made of their current situation.
They discussed politics and literature, mythology and history. Soon, they developed such a comfortable routine that it was as if she were curiouscat again and he were her Blue.
