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"That's new," Jayce remarks after Viktoria placed a kiss on his cheek in the airport. He quickly reaches forward, wiping away the part where the lipstick slightly smudged on her lower lip. "Something you bought on your work trip?"
"Do you like it?" Viktoria asks with a sweet smile stretching her lips. The shade she's wearing today is close to nothing, but has enough color to balance out the natural rosiness in her cheeks. "I got it at the airport," she adds before the red in her cheeks begin to darken suddenly.
Jayce takes her handcarry luggage when she glances away bashfully—a sign that she's hiding something from him. "It looks gorgeous on you, honey," he tells her.
Viktoria pouts as she turns to him. "You say that all the time," she mumbles as Jayce smiles.
"I can't help it if you look good in everything."
"Well, this one is special," she blurts out before gasping, looking anywhere but her lover. She decides to stare at her cane instead.
"Hm... Is it smudge-proof?" Jayce tries to guess in a teasing tone. Viktoria's entire face bursts into flames, the mere mention of 'smudge-proof' sending her into a flustered and sputtering mess.
"Pervert!" Viktoria exclaims under her breath when they finally make it outside. There's a car already waiting there, the valet handing Jayce the keys to his car. Viktoria enters the passenger seat as Jayce places her luggage at the back. When he finally gets back to the car and they drive away, a part of him finally begins to settle.
Viktoria had been away for a work trip in Ionia for a whole week. Of course, his sweetheart is the smartest and most hardworking employee in any bunch, so it's no surprise that she'd immediately be picked as one of the scientists to go abroad despite being just a couple of months into her job. While Jayce was immensely proud of her, an old and lonely part of him felt like he was being left behind.
Jayce supposes this is the challenge he'll have to deal with, dating someone significantly younger than him. He knows this won't be the last time she'll be sent out by her company to do some field work in another branch abroad. A part of him fears that his Viktoria will be so good at her job that she'll immediately get a promotion and a transfer within a year.
Viktoria has always been an overachiever, after all—and Jayce doesn't want to get in the way of her dreams just because he's all alone.
The thought of retiring from teaching and council work crosses his mind. Maybe he can move in with Viktoria, wherever she'll be transferred to. But, then again, seeing as she's still living her best life while he's already in his retirement, it doesn't seem fair that he'll only be holding her back from enjoying the perks of her youth.
And it's not like Jayce will be there for her forever.
"Jayce," Viktoria calls softly when the car stops when the stoplight turns red. She picks on her leg brace, a tic she has when she gets restless from her own concern. "Come back to me, please."
"Sorry, I was just... thinking," Jayce reassures her as they hold hands across the console. "About the future. Your future. The usual."
"Our future," Viktoria corrects swiftly as she presses a faint kiss against Jayce's knuckle, leaving the mark of her lipstick there. The car moves forward once the stoplight turns green, yet all Jayce can think of is his young lover back home with him, smelling like flowers instead of sweets.
Janna, she's getting older and so is he.
"Do you know why I got this lipstick color?" Viktoria asks with a shy smile, her long brown hair cascading down her shoulder. Today, she's wearing a beautiful burgundy dress that reaches above her ankles, making her look like a doll. The diamond necklace he gave her many years ago sits around her neck, the encrusted 'V' initial catching the midday light outside the window. Jayce wants to tell her she's beautiful today too, and every single day after. "It doesn't look that flattering on me on its own if I'm being honest, but I suppose it isn't cheating if I layer another color on top of it," she adds.
"What are you talking about?" Jayce asks, finding himself slightly distracted from driving by the sight of his dearly beloved—his radiant angel in red descended straight from heaven itself.
"In Ionia, they have a superstition about how wearing this shade I'm wearing now and finishing the entire tube will guarantee me a marriage proposal in a year," she explains.
Jayce almost loses his hold on the steering wheel, the car careening slightly to the wrong lane for a hot second.
"Jayce!" Viktoria exclaims in shock before she lets out a laugh. "Is it really that surprising?" she asks before smiling, the tips of her ears red.
"I— Uh, um. Fuck, sorry," Jayce blabs out as he focuses his attention on the road. "I guess I was just surprised. I never expected that you'd... You know."
"Be interested in getting married?"
"I-I guess," Jayce answers. He just thought that since Viktoria just started her career that she'd want to focus on that first. Maybe marriage would only get in the way of her dreams and aspirations. "What— What, um, about work?" he croaks out.
"What about it?" Viktoria asks. "I can both have a family and be successful, no?"
A family. Does she want children too? Janna, Jayce feels faint—which is probably the worst thing to say while he's speeding down the highway, in a hurry to get back home now.
"Jayce?" Viktoria calls in a concerned tone when he goes silent for too long. From the corner of his eye, he sees Viktoria deflate, her shoulders slumping forward as she turns to look outside the window. "I-I understand if you do not see marriage in our future. I was getting ahead of myself. It's silly, eh-and I won't bring it up again."
Viktoria rubs away the lipstick from her lips with the back of her hand, and Jayce abruptly stops the car at the side of the highway.
"What are you—"
Jayce crosses the console and gently turns Viktoria's face to his. Her amber eyes are glassy with unshed tears, and Jayce's hazel eyes burn bright with determination. "Keep wearing the lipstick," he tells her, clicking his tongue when he sees his beloved's lips bare. He reaches into her bag and finds her lipstick after much struggle. Jayce tries to resist the urge to kiss her on the lips as he reapplies her lipstick—not as good as she would, but it's good enough for him. "Beautiful as always, baby," he murmurs as Viktoria's cheeks burn bright.
With Viktoria left speechless in the passenger seat, Jayce continues to drive them home. "Perhaps that superstition is true, V," he says. "Before a year, was it? Let's see if it's just a marketing ploy or there's truth in it after all."
Viktoria's grip on the lipstick tube tightens as one hand covers the ridiculous smile she has spreading on her lips. "Okay," she says, as if she can hide the way she's blushing at the implication from her lover.
It's not a proposal, Jayce tells himself as he enters their neighborhood. He tries his best not to let his cheeks catch on fire, willing away the vivid image of a small, velvet box sitting in a drawer, innocently hidden behind a collection of watches.
At least not yet.