His Little Flower (Felix and Flora)

1 lickest my lips in nervousness. Thaid kitown he would ask me this. Hut 1 huulist yet thought of what to say to him,

What could I ever say? Lalidi’t even know half the things myself. I only knew what I saw. I knew what I had left, what I had been through. I knew of the weird behaviour of my father. I knew of the turats he had sent my way, landing me mid to contact Felix, or any of the Corsinon. Even Tilly.

And I was still afraid

got faut again, I couldn’t bring Felix into all this by telling him what had happened.

d of him. He was still a threat, and even if I g

Tive years of gnawing silence Ting heavy in the air, a storm brewing in Felix’s emerald eyes. He held my gaze, his jaw clenched tight, his knuckles white -on his clenched lists. “Tell me, Hora, be caspeil, his voice sanslpaper rough. “Tell me what happened that night.

Tive years had carved canyons in my soul, and in Felixs, too. The air in the woom crackled with the unspoken stor ragling within both of us. His emerald eyes shone in the artib lilly lit rem as he stared at me. His eyes were filled with nige, hope, desperation,

“Tell me, Flora,” his voice raked across the silence. He repeated his words. “Tell me what happened that night,”

My heart echoed the emptiness in his gaze. “There’s nothing to tell,” I repeatedl, the words tasting like dust on my tongue. It was the mantra I’d ching In. for five years, the wall I’d built around that night, brick by entationless brick, Rebeursed answers were all I could give him..

I don’t know, Felis. There is nothing to tell, Felix.

But tonight, the wind howled differently. The wall threatened to crumble under the storm in his eyes, the vulnerability beneath the anger tearing at my resolve

If he touched my once. If he begged once more. If he looked at me for much longer with that soll vulnerability in his eyes, I’d break and crumble. I’d spill.

Felix s hand shot out, a desperate plea cupping my face. “Please,” he rispeit, his voice cracking. “Just… let me in. Whatever it is, I can handle it. Just… tell me, Flora.“

My mask faltered, a tremor I couldn’t hide. The raw pain in his voice, the echo of my own in his plen, fugged at the tattered remnants of my courage. But the memories, icy shards in a frozen lake, threatened to pierce me if I stepped onto the thin ice. And the fear of my father gripped me. It held on to my tongue like claws.

“I… I cant,” I whispered,

the u

words heavy with unshed d tears. “It’s……. too much.”

There was so much to say. And yet, there was nothing.

Felix recoiled as if I had slapped him, his face crumpling in despair. He stood abruptly, pacing the room like a caged lion, the despair in his eyes morphing into something primal, dangerous.

“Too much?!” he roated, his voice a tortured echo in the small space. We were making so much noise, I wondered if the other’s in the servant quarters could hear us. “Flora, five years! Five years of this silence, of wondering, of fearing the worst! I thought you were dead, Flora! You disappeared off the face of the earth. Don’t I deserve an answer? Don’t I deserve… prace?”

cracked on the last word, a plea swallowed by the storm of his emotions. I watched him, my heart an anvil in my chest, beating so hard, so painfully, every unanswered question he spat out ringing like a llum to my face. He deserved everything the truth, the closure, the solace I denied

The silence stretched, a chasm yawning between us. Finally, Felis stopped, his hack to me, his broad shoulders slumped in defeat.

a desolate echo. “Keep it

it to yourself,

1, Hora. God knows how much you have changed. How selfish you’ve become.”

He turned, his steps heavy with resignation, each one a drumbeat against my conscience. My that tightened, the unshed tears blurring my vision. As

rached the door, he paused, hh voice barely a whisper

his

Hoved you, Flora,” he said, the words laced with a bitterness that mirrored the one festering in my own soul. It felt like the alt had been knocked out of my lungs. He loved the Loned Tor all the things we were to each other, for all the promises we made, this is the least you could do for me.”

I

He left, leaving behind a hollo echo and a deafening silence that screamed his accusation: I was selfish, a keeper of secrets, a betrayer of love.

Unt #sea

Sleep wouldn’t come that night. The ghosts of the past held a raucous party in my mind, their mocking whispers filling the void left by Felis absener

Morning came fast and painted the sky a pale blue color, but the darkness within me held fast. I didn’t have it in me to face him.

Chapter Comments

Valen Burnet Lauletta

she acts like she wants him back and she could have probably gotten Felix back as the would have just been honest with him but instead she chose to stay silent so she clearly doesn’t want him back

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His Little Flower

The clatter of mugs and the low hum of conversation formed a soothing backdrop as 1 slid onto the stool next to Tommy. He glanced up from his worn paperback, a startled grin appearing on his freckled face. Flora!” he exclaimed, scrambling to close the book. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, yeah, like we didn’t plan it last night.”

He chuckled lowly.

“Why the emergency meeting? He inquired.

“Well, prepare to be surprised,” 1 teased, tucking my backpack under the counter. “Double latte, please, extra shot. Iced, please.” This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

The barista winked, already familiar with my caffeine desperation. And with my order. Tommy and I frequented this place. It was our go to hang out spot because the coffee was good and cheap.

Turning back to Tommy, I saw curiosity simmering in his hazel eyes. “So, spill,” he urged, leaning forward. “I haven’t seen you in so long! Not even at home!”

I swirled my coffee, rotating the coffee cup. A nervous energy swirled in my stomach. “Okay, brace yourself, because… I have a lot to tell you.”

“Uh uh.”

́“Well, to begin with, I moved out.”

He almost choked on his cold brew. “What? But I saw your Dad, yesterday…” he trailed off, placing the pieces together, “You’ve finally left him behind, huh?”

I breathed deeply. “Yeah. It was….really sudden.”

“I’m really happy for you, Flo.” His smile was genuine. He had seen me go through years and years of torture and abuse. I had gone to him crying more times than I could count. The walls between our houses were thin enough for him to hear every single bit of every fight between my father and me. “Where are you living?”

I swallowed. “Where I work.”

He raised his e

“I guess.”

eyebrows, “Like, as a live in housekeeper, or what?”

“That’s nice, then!” he exclaimed, “How did that happen?”

“About that…Tommy.”

He continued to look at me expectantly. I had invited him here to tell him about my life, and my past. And so I did.

told him about my childhood. How I used to be rich, how I was in love with a boy named Felix, How he loved me That we were joined together, never to be separated. And that life forced us apart.

I painted a picture of the past five years, a landscape of shadows and whispers. I told him about the storm that shattered my world, the dark secrets that forced me to vanish like a ghost, leaving behind only questions and more unanswered questions.

“Remember the boy I told you I loved once?” I asked, hesitantly at first, then with growing warmth as his memory flickered to life in Tommy’s eyes. “The childhood love, Enever grew out of?”

“How could I forget? Tommy chuckled, memory coloring his voice. “You said it with such conviction, and so much fiery emotion. I’d never seen you like

that.”

A smile tugged at my lips, a bittersweet counterpoint to the heaviness in my heart. “Well, guess what? That’s him.”

Tommy’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, what? When? How?

The story tumbled out, a torrent of words and emotions. I recounted our unexpected encounter at the mansion antique bookstore, the bewilderment