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"Let's run away, jiejie!"
Rosa didn't have the time to process any of the words that the current Pax CEO screamed over the noise of the party. All she knows is that Marius von Hagen is holding her hand, and is currently running towards the exit of the hotel manor. Rosa knows she shouldn't allow him to go. That he had other things to attend to, and that maybe she should have made him stay and talk to his guests.
But when she looks at the childish smile that Marius was giving her, how could she say no?
When else could Marius feel as free as this?
Like a lead from the K-drama she used to watch as a kid, she clasps her hand tightly in his, and she doesn't look back.
She runs.
The noise behind her doesn't seem to reach her ears. Not when Marius' laughs echo in the empty night, not when it's his voice that only her whole body chooses to recognize.
"Where are we going?" She asks in ragged breaths, still running as fast as her legs could take her. Hell, Marius wasn't even running that quickly. Curse his long legs. Her eyes look back from his legs to his face, and she feels a smile grace her face when Marius gives her a soft smile of his own.
"I don't know!" He shouts, and then there's that childlike laughter erupting out of the man she's holding. And she's grinning. Like an idiot.
"Well, you should know!" She huffs, barely managing to keep up his pace. He slows down once he's made sure no one could follow them, and the damned smile never leaves his face.
Rosa catches her breath, and gives Marius a light punch on his shoulder.
"You tired me out, Marius!"
The Pax CEO merely shoots her a teasing grin, face inching closer to hers that it made her swallow whatever she was saying.
"Tired you out, huh, jiejie? You want more?"
"Marius! Von! Hagen!" She screams, her cheeks blushing a deep red as she realizes the innuendo she dropped.
Her companion ruffles her hair, before he sits down on the grass they've found themselves on. Huh. Rosa didn't even realize they'd reached that far.
She sits down beside him, and despite the dress she's wearing, Rosa's surprisingly comfortable. Wordlessly, she takes off her heels and sets them on her left, her right obviously taken by none other than him.
They stare into nothing in particular, and Rosa only notes that they were in the hotel's private garden, the manor nearly forgotten. Underneath the moonlight, the flowers are barely visible, but it somehow makes it more magical. It reminds her of the last time they went out of Stellis to see Epiphyllums bloom.
"What is my Miss Attorney thinking that has her all silent?" Marius asks, and Rosa almost immediately snaps out of her daze when his lips almost touch her ears.
"N-nothing!"
"Sure, jiejie. Sure," the man humors. "So I'll just assume you were too starstruck by how handsome I looked tonight?"
"You're an idiot," she shuts down, and Marius gives her his signature pout. Rosa rolls her eyes, but the urge to pinch his cheeks doesn't quite leave her. "I just remembered the epiphyllums that we watched bloom that other time. It was night too, wasn't it? The flowers here made me think of that night."
She gazes at the man beside her, and finds her looking back at her. Butterflies appear in her stomach when it's nothing but fondness she finds in his eyes.
"You remembered that, jie?" He whispers, as if in a trance.
"How could I not? It's one of the most beautiful things I've seen, Marius. And you being there made it more... special."
Rosa swears his eyes turn softer than it was before, and before she knows what's happening, Marius already ditched his place beside her— and ended up letting his head rest on her lap. His eyes flutter close, and a contented sigh escapes him as he rests.
Confused, she pokes the side of his cheek, prompting him to open an eye and look at her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm tired, jiejie," he smiles tiredly. "Can we be like this for a while?"
Rosa nods, fully knowing what he meant. He rarely lets his guard down, rarely ever shows this side of him to anyone— not even to Vincent— that it hurts her sometimes. She lets him close his eyes, and Rosa runs her fingers between dark purple locks, soothing him.
Even if it's only a temporary escape Rosa can offer, then she will wholeheartedly give everything she can. Especially to someone who carries the whole world on his shoulder.
So, he lets him close his eyes and forget everything they left in that manor. Right now, he is not Z, not the Pax CEO, but only her Marius von Hagen. The goofy, teasing, and passionate Marius von Hagen that she was always so fond of, even if he teased her to the depths of hell. She allows the faint moonlight to illuminate his resting face, and she swallows the bubbling feeling in her chest as she looks at Marius.
It was the weirdest time to realize the way she feels for him, but as she continues to stare at his face, and her hand running down his hair— she's never felt more contented to just be beside someone. To be with someone.
God. She loved Marius.
As soon as she makes sure that he is fast asleep, she lets out a shaky breath before she stares at the stars above them. Deep in thought, she allows herself to give her just this once chance to bask in the moment that only they share. That only she knows about him.
She presses a light kiss on his forehead, hoping that he could feel her even in his sleep. Hoping that they could run away again. Hoping that they could live in this little escape of theirs once again.
Rosa holds his hand, and makes a silent promise to be his shoulder, to be someone that she could truly be free with.
The next time that they run away, she'll make sure that she tells him what she truly feels.
But for now, she lets him rest. She lets her be his haven.
Three unsaid words hang in the air, and the temptation to say it when he doesn't hear is almost overwhelming, but Rosa knows he deserves to know it. When they're both ready.
For now, she joins him in this moment of vulnerability, and runs away with him.
And whenever he needs to, she'll always hold her hand out, ready to take his in hers.
Maybe next time, she'll be the one asking him to run away.
She's sure as hell he'll say yes, too.