Flower Island

Aaron's POV

"Hi, Eros!" Therese called as I looked at her from my door mirror. Her face is now more relaxed than yesterday—I mean—I cannot blame her for being so shocked because of my actions. Who wouldn't be?

I am just a stranger in her eyes.

I couldn't help myself from trying to take her with me, from wrapping my hands around her again, just like the last time, and the pain of being separated from her was too much for me to bear that I just broke down.

It's embarassing, really.

But I'm glad I could at least touch her again even if i already lost my place beside her.

I used to be the one who stood with her, who looked at her with such loving eyes, but now I'm replaced by another person.

"Why are you here?" I opened the door and asked her. Now that I see her more closely and clearly, I saw how dark her eyebags are.

Back then, we fall asleep quickly whenever we lie on the bed in each other's arms.

"I thought to visit you. I'm sorry for last night," she said, handing me a basket full of baguettes. "Please accept this and get well soon."

She smiled at me with worried eyes as I stared at the basket she held in her tiny arms that reminded me how she also gave me one the moment I saw her again in the middle of the labyrinth back then.

"Eros?" she called me. Hearing her call me that name was making me so emotional as it makes me recall how she used to say my name with such love.

I took the basket of bread and looked at her. She was wearing the uniform of the school—a white polo and a black skirt with black shoes. She's always beautiful no matter what she wears.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her face now closer to mine as she inspects it. I backed down a little and held on the door for support as I am already starting to feel the toll of her gaze. "You don't look very well,"

"I am okay," I answered her with a lie that was so apparent she raised her left eyebrow.

She used to do that too whenever she catches me lie back then, and it always puts a smile on my face because it shows how much she knows and pays attention to my every word and action.

She then proceeds to press the back of her arms on my forehead to feel it.

"You look like you have a fever. Your face is flushed," she noticed as she removed her hand from my forehead. "Can you lie down on your bed? I will call the nurse to your room so she can help you."

I was about to protest when she put her hands on my shoulder blades and pushed me inside my room.

"W-wait!"

"I know you are going to protest and I'm not going to let you," she said with a very familiar annoyance with her voice which always made me shut up.

However, because she pushed me to walk backwards, I tripped into a pillow on the floor that fell when I walked on the door to open it for her. Because of it, she also tripped with me as she was holding on to my shoulders and fell on top of me.

It hurt.

My body hurt and I'm sure my head would have a lump because of the impact later.

But that was not the worst thing that worried me.

Once again, our hearts beated as one and I'm sure she felt it because I also felt hers.

She looked straight at me with the same look on her eyes that she used to look at me when she approached me on the banquet.

It sent chills on my spine. There was a certain knowing and inquiry in her face that looked suspicious on me.

"Please stand up. I can't breathe," I said—lied, making her jump to her feet with so much rushing.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" she bowed down low and offered me her hand to help. I reluctantly took it and stood up to head to my bed when she suddenly spoke, freezing me on my tracks.

"You," she said, and I looked at her, her eyes twinkling with something I registered as tears. I stared at her, wishing that she'd never find out my identity.

"You remind me of the person I love." she said and smiled at me happily that it brightened up my room in an instant. "His name was Eros too, and he was quite clumsy and shy at first."

She giggled at the memories she recalled and turned her back against me to take the basket of baguettes beside the door. She faced me again, smiling, and put the basket in my bedside table.

"Aren't you too young to be in love? "I asked her, trying to divert her attention away from the Eros that I used to be.

" You are right, but love is always irrational, " she said and opened my window, revealing the flower island nearby.

"It really is irrational. You are right about that," I replied and stared at the basket beside me.

"You should be honored. You're the first one to taste my baking." she laughed, taking a slice of baguette and handing it to me when she suddenly stopped. "Oh wait, you're not the first one."

I smiled at myself at the thought that I was the first one to taste it in the previous life I had and the present too.

I took the slice from her hands and ate it.

It tasted so familiar and sweet. It tasted the same as it did before, and it looked the same too.

I'd eat anything she gives me, even if it is poison.

"What do you think?" she asked me with so much anticipation in her eyes that it almost twinkled.

I looked at her and smiled as I gulped the remainder of the bread.

"It's delicious," I answered her and took another one.

She happily watched me as she sat down on the chair on my bed side table and stared at the window, taking a doughnut fron the basket I did not notice before.

"The flower island is very beautiful, isn't it?" she asked me, looking at the colorful island surrounded by beautiful sunlight. "It would be nice to live there with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with," she said with a somber tone in her voice as she took a bite.

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"Love, have you heard about the flower island?" she asked me as we both stared at the night sky.

I breathed her smell in and took on the sight of her leaning on my lap.

"Yes, I have. That land is very fertile and colorful with all the flowers and trees," I answered her, smiling, as I touched her chubby cheeks.

She held my hand and intertwined it with hers. Her hands fit perfectly in mine despite it being small.

"I want to live there with you. I want our house to be surrounded with flowers everyday, so we can have a date every night, just like this." she said, her eyes happy as she kissed the back of my arms with the lips that I claimed to be mine. She sat down beside me, still not removing her hands from mine, and leaned on my shoulder.

" I'd go anywhere with you, love, " I answered as her long hair brushed my skin because of the wind. "Even if it is hell or heaven. I'd go with you,"

"Me too," she said with a very determined voice and I kissed her on her forehead.

"Someday, we'd live there. I promise," i told her and she happily smiled, kissing me.

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"Yes, that is true," I told her and stood up. She was still staring at the flower island when I touched her chin and directed her gaze at me.

I wiped the icing on the side of her lips with my hands and by the force of habit, I ate it.

She flinched. She was surprised because of what I did.

I too, was surprised that I continued to act so she would not be more suspicious.

"It'd be a waste if it stays there," I said bravely, trying to mask away the awkwardness I felt. I was actually really thankful that I used my hands, and not my mouth to do it because that was how I used to treat her.

"I-it's okay," she said, her face blushing from ear to ear. "I t-think I've stayed too long. Please excuse me. I'd go call the doctor!" she said and ran as fast as she could to leave my room.

"Haha," i chuckled, remembering how she ran away when i first met her too.

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