Chapter 55 - Paper Kites - Bloom (1/2)
The suffocating silence as they forced themselves to finish their food strangled Maxen in his seat. Olivia was spacing out the entire time and he badly wanted to speak about anything random but the gloomy air around her made it hard for him to see through her.
Maxen was not a patient man. Oftentimes he would apply his patience to more important matters, for example: Peace talks or dealing with terrorists. Yet here he was, holding every inch of his patience as he watched the lady who stole his heart absentmindedly slicing through the small portion of fish that didn't need to be sliced. The poor thing was the size of a crumb. Another moment passed by and Olivia was almost finished with only a bite of food left on her plate.
As if by divine intervention, Olivia finally made eye contact, relieving Maxen from his misery. Under the table, he impulsively locked her legs with his and yanked it closer to him, slightly nudging Olivia in her seat with her bum sliding down up to the edge of the seat.
”You brute! How can you handle me like that?” Olivia hissed, she dropped the silverware in her hands and planted her palms on the table for support. The sudden attack by the little prince drew her out of her reverie which made her fuming. However, the chuckling portrait of Maxen across her was so handsome, she was momentarily infected and wanted to laugh too. It took every ounce of her not to smile as she reminded herself that she's mad. Yes, she's mad right now.
'Don't let that clear blue eyes fool you, Olivia,' she reminded herself.
Letting go of Olivia's legs, Maxen placed the wine glass from his hand down on the table and said, ”Sorry not sorry. But you were spacing out the entire time.” He waited for Olivia to straighten up in her seat before he reached out for her hand that was now holding a silver knife.
”What's bothering you, Olivia?”
'This is a mistake, Maxen,' her mind forced her to utter the words yet her mouth said otherwise. ”Nothing.”
”Doesn't look like it. You can tell me anything. I'll take it with a grain of salt.”
'Us is a mistake, Maxen,' her mind forced her again, her knuckles turned white as she gripped the silverware with the sheer force of keeping things to herself.
She could feel the thorns that surrounded her heart tripling the pain exponentially as the memory of the times that she had to let Lance do as he pleased and pretend that everything was okay between them replayed in her thoughts. Everything was replaying in high-definition.
Across her, Maxen searched Olivia's eyes and saw nothing but a blank pair of hazel brown eyes staring blankly at him.
'What is she thinking this time?' he wondered. Clueless. For the first time in his life, he was clueless about what he needed to do next. Most of the time he'd be three steps ahead for everything; may it be about royal matters or about military missions. But the enigma that he called Olivia was there across him, confusing him and making him second-guess himself.
The stifling silence forced Maxen to stand up. He waltzed to her seat and offered a hand. ”Care for a dance, Olivia?”
His presence snapped her out from her trance. She glanced up and saw Maxen's pleading eyes. She could feel it, how he's trying to put his best foot forward only to take two steps back each time.
Accepting his offer, she quipped, ”Ok? Should I pick the song? Alexa…” She randomly pointed her hand on a nonexistent device in her flat. She didn't have that lying around but the thought of playing with his emotions excited her.
She watched as Maxen's face slowly painted a frown. She knew how royals valued their security that even the hottest gadgets in the market would not even reach their gates. It was as if the royals were stuck in the sixteenth century for one could not see a single gadget laying around except for a telephone.
Smiling, she waited for Maxen's carefully thought-out reply. ”That's not safe,” he finally muttered to which Olivia let out a burst of carefree laughter.
”Of course I don't have those kinds of things laying around,” she reassured before taking his hand.
They walked to the living room and stood facing each other.
”Okay, this is weird,” Olivia commented before taking a sharp breath when Maxen's hands crawled to her h.i.p.s, pulling her and closing the gap between them. With their height difference, Olivia's face planted on his c.h.e.s.t where she could feel the beating of his heart. She sealed her mouth and let the natural rhythm of his heart play in her ears.
Behind her, Maxen tinkered on his phone and picked the song he heard that morning on the radio. He thought about Olivia as the song played in the car en route to the hangar that he eventually downloaded the song on his phone.