Chapter 2: One Night with You

“Here, I’ve made some broth for you.” She pulled a lower chair and sat beside him, blowing the broth on the spoon and placing it in front of his lips. He was a bit taken aback by this gesture and ended up staring at her for a few seconds.

“What? Do I have anything on my face?” She asked him.

“No, nothing.” He drank the broth and swallowed it. She smiled a little bit.

“What do you think? It’s not bad right?” He nodded.

“You can have some more.” She continued feeding him until all the broth on the bowl disappeared and placed the bowl on the table.

“Dante.” He suddenly spoke.

“What?” She turned to him in confusion.

“My name, it’s Dante.”

***

Two weeks passed by quickly. Every day, Victoria took care of him diligently. She would change his bandage and fed him according to his health.

Overtime they bonded with each other. They got to know each other deeper, but it was mostly Dante getting to know Victoria. Every time Victoria asked him about his family, work or background, he always refused to answer. In her eyes, Dante was a man shrouded in mystery.

She did not want to force him to tell her anything he was not uncomfortable with sharing and simply thought he had a dark past, which made him reluctant to share things with her. It was understandable, they were still strangers after all.

“So, your mother passed away last year?” He asked her.

“Yeah, then a month after that my father remarried, now I have a step mother and step sister.” She told him.

“Your father sounds like an arse. How can he marry another woman in such short period of time?” He asked, feeling annoyed.

“I know, I was angry too. I mean their relationship has strained these past few years, but I did not think he could move on so quickly from her.” Both of them fell silent for a moment, then he looked at her again, this time his gaze was deep and meaningful.

“What about you? Have you ever been in love?” He asked her. She looked at him and shook her head.

“No, I have not. Love is such a strong word. I don’t think I’ve felt it for anyone before.” She replied quickly.

“Then, what about kissing? Have you ever kissed someone before?” He suddenly asked. She was taken aback.

“No, I haven’t.” She replied honestly. He suddenly rose from the sofa and took a few steps toward her, their eyes were locked in with each other.

“Do you want to know what its’ like?” He asked her. She slowly nodded. Then, he leaned in closer and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her into a kiss. It was Victoria’s first kiss, she thought it would be explosive, like the movies she saw as a young girl.

However, the kiss she was experiencing was sensual and soft. He pinned her down to the sofa and looked at her in the eyes.

“Do you want to continue?” He asked her. She quietly nodded and he ended up kissing her on the neck, moving all the way down. That night,

Victoria felt a sense of pleasure that was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. At that moment she did not know, her life would change forever.

Once they were done, Victoria felt asleep on the sofa. Dante pulled the blanket and tucked her in, gazing at her softly.

“You’re a sweet girl, Victoria. I think I may have fallen for you.” He told her as he brushed her hair gently with his fingers. She let out a small sigh in her sleep, Dante’s gaze turned painful.

“The past two weeks have been a dream. But now I must go back to where I belong.” He whispered to her before removing the silver cross necklace he was wearing and gently placed it on her neck.

“We will meet again, I promise.” He grabbed part of her hair and kissed it before giving her one last look and leaving the lake house. Morning arrived and Victoria woke up from her sleep. She looked around the house and realized Dante was no longer there.

“Dante!?” She panicked a little as she touched the cross necklace around her neck.

“Did he… just leave me?”

***

FIVE YEARS LATER

Victoria jolted up from the bed, she was sweating and panting heavily as she placed her own hand on her chest. Her heart was beating rapidly.

“Who do I suddenly remember from that moment five years ago?” She got up from her bed and pulled her drawer. There was a blue satin box and she picked it up, her hands were trembling as she opened it. Inside was the cross necklace Dante had left her years ago.

“You’re just a distant memory from the past. A mistake of mine. She turned around and saw her alarm clock on the bedside.

“Oh, crap, I need to meet the exhibition manager in two hours. I have to get ready!” She placed the necklace on her bedside table and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. When she was done dressing up, she noticed that there was an empty plate on the dining table.

“Liam must have eaten first. But why did he only make one portion?” She asked herself. In the past, he used to make breakfast for the two of them. However, recently, she noticed he became less attentive.

Her stomach was grumbling, but she had no time, so she just grabbed a piece of granola bar from the pantry and ate it as she walked out of the apartment. An hour later, she was already on her way to meet the exhibition manager. On the way, her heart was beating loudly.

“Please, let it be approved. Please.” She prayed.

A few minutes later, Victoria found herself face to face with Ella, the exhibition manager. The old woman looked at her with a cold, detached gaze.

“I’m sorry, but we cannot accept to display your paintings here.” She said it bluntly. At that moment, Victoria felt crushed. That exhibition was the tenth one she reached out to and it was also the tenth rejection she received in the past few months.

“Wait, but why not? Is there anything wrong with them?”

“No, actually there is nothing wrong with your paintings at all. It’s just we have better artists who are more well-known applying with us and we don’t have enough space for yours.” She stated.

“But I applied it during the early bird period.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Liebert, we simply cannot help you.” With that, Ella walked away, leaving Victoria devastated. Three years of art school plus an additional year of working as an artist, barely scraping by, expecting for her next breakthrough to come. The day when she finally made it. All those efforts had gone to waste in a single moment.

As she was riding the bus back to her apartment, she started crying silently. People were staring at her, but at this point, she did not care anymore. As she stopped in front of her apartment, she thought to herself.

“It’s okay, at least I still have Liam.” She told herself.

“With him around, I will be fine.” Yes, even if she lost the opportunities, at least she still had Liam by her side. With her boyfriend by her side, she felt like she could do anything.

Victoria went grab lunch for the two of them, grilled chicken with honey butter sauce, his favorite. She opened her apartment door quietly, placed the lunch in the dining table and walked to Liam’s room to tell him everything that happened that day.

However, when she opened the door, she was a horrifying sight that would crush her even more.

“What the hell!?”