Valentine Day Alone

Tessa sighed as she knew that Valentine Day was coming up. And her and Afonka were fighting. He hasn't spoken to her since that day. And it was really tearing her up inside. She loved Afonka and he should know that. This all happened before they even started to day. She then sighed as she looked around.

She had sent him an owl telling him where to come. And hoped that he would show up. If nothing us them to dump her so she could get on with her life.

He'd been half the mind not to show up. As cold and petty as it was, Afonka hadn't wanted to face Tessa. Did he regret what he'd said? No. What he'd said about Feliks still stood. The boy was a monster. Sure, he'd practically fallen off the face of the earth, but what he'd done while still around still stung.

Afonka gave his hand a cursory glance, running the fingers of his other hand across the latest scar. This one ran from just underneath his index finger all along the palm. Every time his fingers curled into a fist, the stabs of pain calmed him down.

Slipping into the restaurant the Hrabrost could only dream of affording, he found Tessa remarkably easily. Gripping the back of the chair across from her, he offered her a tiny smile, though for all the world it looked more like a grimace. "Um, hey Tess."

Tessa was looking around hoping that Afonka would show up. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't. Worse she had no idea what she would do if he dumped her. Ending her life over a relationship seemed a little bit too much. She really did love him but she wouldn't kill herself. She knew that he was still hurting about what she said last time. About how she had a crush on Feliks. It was something that happened before she meet him. And she only really seen him once.

When she looked around to see if he was there. You could tell that she wasn't getting any sleep over this. It was because she was scared that Afonka was going to leave her. After everything that she has been though. He was there when she got Ariel he was there when she was able to see again. And what if he dumped her? She had no idea what she was going to do. Tessa would be so crushed.

She then looked and see that he was standing in front of her. He was about to sit as he gave her a small smiled. “ Hey Afonka.”

Raising his uninjured hand in a wave, Afonka's brown eyes swept across his girlfriend for the first time in months. She looked as if she'd hardly slept. Biting his lip as a prickling of shame washed over him, he couldn't help but blame himself for all of this.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, eyes wide as he stared at her, pleading for her to understand. Pulling out the chair, he sat down, leaning across the table to grab her hands, taking them in his.

"I'm an idiot. I - I shouldn't have ran out on you like I did. It was a horrible thing to do." The Hrabrost chewed on his bottom lip. But that was it, wasn't it? His conscious was clean when it came to everything else he'd said.

Feliks was a monster, simple as that. Evil people did good things sometimes. It didn't mean everything bad they'd done no longer counted. It changed nothing.

Squeezing her hands, he met her brown eyes. "I love you, you know that, right? You're amazing. You - You're practically perfect. And I - I'm just me." He hardly deserved to have someone like her in his life.

"What's so great about me?" he tilted his head, letting go of her hands. "I'm just that kid in the -" he paused, glancing around before leaning in, whispering, "- the mafia. And I'll be in it for life." He leaned back, a frown pulling his lips down.

Tessa looked and seen that Afonka waved at her. And she just smiled a little bit. She hadn't really been sleeping. And that was because she was worried that Afonka was going to leave her. Tessa was sure she was the one who cause it. She had to bring up Feliks.

She was shocked that he said that he was sorry. Tessa could see that he was pleading to her. He then grabbed her hands and placed them in his. She couldn't help but look him in the eyes as he was talking.

He admitted that he was an idiot that day. And that he should have never walked out on her that day. She was glad that he wasn't breaking up with her. This was good news for her.

She would have to make this up to him. But she really didn't know how just yet. He then squeezed her hands and told her that he loved her. And that she was amazing and practically perfect. “ I love you too Afonka and I also think your amazing and I am not perfect.”

Tessa then see as he let her hands go. “ Yes you are. You where there for me when I needed it. You didn't care that I was blind, you was there when I got Ariel. And you was there when I got my sight back.” He then whispered that he was in the mafia and that is when she smiled a little bit and whispered back. “ We will find a way to get you out.”

That silence, that period as she said absolutely nothing as he apologized, made him realize that he might have screwed up more than he realized.

What if she didn't forgive him? But that was ridiculous, it had been her who'd agreed to this meeting. So of course she forgave him. Right? Afonka swallowed hard, trying to keep the wave of panic from taking over. If she just said something, than this would all be alright.

Letting out a small sigh of relief as she finally spoke, his brown eyes lit up, and the Hrabrost gave his head a small shake. "Yes you are. You're amazing. Really.

"But me?" he gave a small shrug. "I'm really not." At her next words, he shrugged again, his eyes suddenly glued on the table, his hands in his lap, fingers tracing his scars absentmindedly. "That just makes me a nice person. It doesn't make me amazing."

Snorting, he raised his head, staring blankly at her for a moment before his expression shifted, a dance of different emotions crossing his face. "No. Don't you see? I can't leave. Not now, not ever. They'll kill my entire family if I do." Afonka gritted his teeth, his parents and sister flashing behind his eyes. "Do you really want to be responsible for them all dying?"

Tessa was just looking at Afonka. She really didn't know what was going to happen. But she knew that she loved him more than he realized.

She had forgave him after he had left her. But he was avoiding her. But she wasn't sleep and it was because she was worried with what was going to happen. And going to classes was hard when you didn't get enough sleep.

Tessa then heard Afonka as he let out a sight of relief. He then was shaking his head and he was telling her that she was amazing. “ I am just me.”

He then was saying that he really wasn't amazing. But that is what a nice person would do. “ Afonka your amazing to me. You found me when I was lost and was dating me when I was still blind.”

Tessa sighed. “ Yes I know but I am sure I will figure something out.”

"And just you is rather perfect," Afonka said, grinning across the table at her, a blush creeping up his cheeks. Maybe he'd just been overthinking this all. Maybe they really would be fine.

Maybe he'd just been worrying over nothing.

"That was just luck," he pointed out, "It could've been anyone who showed up there. It just happened to be me." Shrugging he frowned down at the table before glancing back up at her. "And no one cared you were blind. It's not like I was the only person to be nice to you while you were."

Afonka shook his head, his eyes flashing with irritation, but before anyone could have gotten a good look at it, it was gone. "No. No, don't you see? There is no way. It's a one way thing. There is no leaving. My grandparents have made it so I can't. Even trying would be a stupid thing to do. You think they wouldn't make me pay for it?"

Tessa smiled when Afonka said that she was rather perfect. She then looked over and seen that he was blushing. “ I am not really perfect maybe to you I am.”

She knew there was nothing to worry about.

“ Yeah it was luck that you found me that day. But we have been dating since our third year. You was there when I got Ariel.” She then watched as he was looking down at the table. “ Yeah people I was around didn't care that I was blind. And you wasn't the only person that who was nice because I was blind. But you dated me.”

Tessa could see how he was reacting when she said she would find a way for him to get out. He then was telling her that there was no way that would happen. “ Do you want on your mind that the mafia kills people. That someone you might be killed. I don't know what I would do Afonka. I think I would lose my mind.”

"Exactly," he nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "That's exactly how it works. No one ever really thinks their perfect, but the people around them sure can. And they do."

Pulling his gaze away from the table, he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Because you were nice. It had nothing to do with you being blind."

His hands curled into fists in his lap, sending a sharp stab of pain through his hand. "You think I don't know that? And besides, I'm hardly important to them. They wouldn't waste their time killing me unless I did something."

Tessa smiled a little bit when Afonka said that she was right. To him she was perfect even if she really didn't see it. She knew a lot of people thought they was perfect and cute togther.

She then watched as his gaze went somewhere else. He was telling her it was because she was nice. And not because she was blind. “ But you still loved me no matter what.”

Tessa then seen that he was getting upset. “ Yes I know that you know this. Do you think that I like the idea that something could happen to me? You think I like the idea when we have a future together you still being with this mafia.”

"I never stopped," he met her gaze, confusion causing his brow to furrow. "Did you think I did?" In his mind's eye, he was going through everything he'd said, everything he'd done around her. How in the world could that have even crossed her mind? His hands pressed together, and for a moment the shoots of pain from his cut relaxed him.

"They're not going to do anything to you," Afonka said through gritted teeth. "To them, you don't exist. You don't matter to them. You'll be fine." Leaning back into his chair, he frowned. "You just won't accept it, will you? It's my life now. Whether I want it or not. The only way that changes is if I die," he flexed his hands, the pain doing nothing this time. "And neither of us want that."

Tessa smiled because she knew that Afonka never stopped loving her. But she thought after what happened last time, he would have changed him mind. She then let out a small whisper. “ Yes after what happened last time and you avoided me for a long time.” Tessa felt like she was about ready to cry.

She then sat there as he told her that she doesn't exist to them. And that she would be fine. “ Afonka everything will still not be fine. You have to remember the ministry. I am sure they aren't going to take a liking that you are mafia” Tessa then started to sigh. “ If this is what you are now I have to learn how to accept it. And no I don't want you dead because I wouldn't know what to do anymore. I would die of a broken heart.”

"That doesn't mean I stopped loving you," he frowned. Stopping loving people wasn't as easy as snapping fingers. If it took forever to fall in love, shouldn't it be the same for falling out of love? "It'd take a lot more than one fight to do that."

For a moment, the Hrabrost's expression darkened before he shook his head and it quickly dissipated. "You say that like I chose this," he accused. "Like I want this. I don't, alright? But I can't leave whether I want to or not. They'd kill my family. You think they wouldn't hesitate to kill me as well?"

Afonka gave his head another shake, "I'm really not all that important. You got over Phillie's death. I don't think you'd die over me. I'm just one person. In the grand scheme of things, there are billions of people on earth. And who knows, maybe there are more people out there. But I'm just one person. In the grand scheme of things, I don't matter."

Tessa looked at Afonka and started to sigh. “ I am sorry that I said that.” She should have known that he would love her no matter what. It took him forever to say that he loved her. And it was when he was with her visiting her aunt.

She was still sighing. “ I know that and I should have never brought it up. It wasn't like you had much of a choice.” Tessa didn't want anything to happen to him just because of what she said. But he told her that the mafia doesn't know anything about her.

Tessa was upset when he said something about Phillie's death. “ Afonka I still expect to see her in the Great Hall. Every time I think about the book, The Hunger Games I always think about her. Because I never got to tell her the ending. I really do miss her because she knew that I always believe in true love.” She then looked at Afonka. “ You matter to me.”

"Don't be," he said softly, reaching out to hold her hands in his. "Don't be," he repeated, giving his head an affirmative shake. "Just know I love you, alright? Forever and always." A small grin spread across Afonka's face, along with a pink blush across his cheeks.

She really had no idea the effect she had on him.

A small frown flitted across his face. He'd been the one to find Ophelia, and for the most part, he really had moved on since her death. He still missed her (he didn't spend every Christmas morning at her grave for nothing), but he hadn't thought that he'd be able to see her in years.

Was this because he was a stronger person? Or was there something more? He bit at his bottom lip, leaning closer to Tessa. "Tess?" he whispered. "I - I don't - I mean, it's not like I know what I'm talking about, but isn't it - I don't know, shouldn't you have moved on by now? It's been ... over a year, now."

A small smile tugged on his lips, and he reached over to press his lips against hers. "And you matter to me." But that doesn't make me at all important.

Tessa smiled a little bit when he told her not to worry about it. But he then grabbed her hand to hold in his. She then watched him as he said he loved her. And would always love her forever. “ I love you too forever and always.” She then seen the grin on his face and the blush on his cheeks.

She loved Afonka more than she knew.

Tessa then seen as he was frowning. She knew that he was closed to her. And her death affect him as well. But she knew that she missed Ophelia a lot. She was a person that it took her a long time to get over death.

She sighed when he said that it has been over a year. But it felt like it was yesterday for her. “ I don't know maybe I don't know how to get over death Afonka. Maybe there is something wrong with me.”

Tessa smiled as she seen his smile. He then pressed his lips against her and told her that she mattered to him. “ That good.”

"No, no, no." He shook his head rapidly. "I didn't mean it like that. There's nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all. You - You're perfect." Bopping his head up and down to illustrate his point, he brought her hands up, pressing them to his lips.

"But - I do mean that maybe - I don't know, you could talk about it to somebody who actually knows about this sort of stuff?" He shrugged. "I just - I don't want to see you sad. I love you too much for that."

His lips twitched upwards, "Very good."

Tessa then watched Afonka when he said that he didn't mean it like that. He was also telling her that she was perfect. She then looked at him and he was nodding his head just so she knew it. That is when he brought her hands up to his lips.

He then was telling her that maybe she needed to talk to someone about this. He loved her to much to see her the way that she was becoming. “ I guess I can try and talk.”

Tessa then watched as his smile was going upwards. “ Yeah.”