Page 105 of Everdoll

“If we’d changed together, it wouldn’t have been like this. Let me.” He brought the shirt and comfortably put it on me. I felt like a doll. I didn’t even try to hide the cut marks on my wrist.

How can he say he loves me if he can’t see the storms inside me?

Distance opened inside me. I wasn’t in this world anymore. I didn’t know Raymond at all. I stood up, noticed how cute we looked together and sniffed. I picked up her phone to take a photo, but he took the phone from me. He leaned over and kissed my wet lashes, and I only closed my eyes.

Don’t do it, don’t, don’t. If you can’t see inside me, don’t love me. Don’t be so shallow.

“Don’t think it’s over, Mina.” As he kissed my cheek, I wanted to cry even more. “We need to have a proper talk when we get home.”

He wiped my tears away, but I couldn’t answer. Did he see? I jumped and tried to grab my phone.

“Remi!” I snapped, but he only laughed harder.

“Come here.”

He seized me by the shoulders, close to her chest. He pressed his lips against mine, at the same time, took a photo. I closed my eyes. I tried to force myself to enjoy the moment. After all, the only flaw in the picture was me. I was the one who didn’t belong in this magical relationship.

I’ll never belong to this world.

He pulled his lips away and gave the phone back to me. I held it up to the mirror. I beamed at the reflection.

Pink and gray. We were so cute.

And so out of place.

When we got to the car, Raymond yanked my body on his lap. Maybe he wanted another round, but he just rested his forehead on my collarbone. His eyes fell shut, his features softening into peace. I gently ran my fingers through his soft hair, unable to stop myself. I never seemed to get enough of touching him.

I didn’t know how to live without Remi.

Until eternity. That’s what we had said, but even that wasn’t enough for me. I was a foolish witch, and I couldn’t find peace.

“Remi…” At my whisper, he opened his eyes. “Do you really love me?”

I waited fearfully. At that moment, I was so terrified I could die. After all happened, after all those confessions and intimacy, I was still asking him such a stupid question. Still questioning his royalty. Anyone would have been angry, maybe even thrown me out of the car and said, ‘I wasted my time on you.’

But his answer was simple, he didn’t even react. “More than anything.”

“But… how can I trust you?”

His gaze was calm, almost amused. “You never change, Mina.” As he raised his metal arm, I understood what he meant. I remembered everything.

Our first meeting, the promise we made, what Raymond had offered…

It was in his palm once again. His hands hadn’t trembled then, and they weren’t trembling now either. According to him, his whole life was there, but he didn’t hesitate to offer it to me.

“Carry this with you.” He smiled and handed me the small chip. “If it breaks, I’ll break too. It won’t happen immediately, but my organs could fail within a few hours.”

“Re—”

“It’ll stay with you from now on. And if one day you decide to break it…” His intense eyes locked with mine. I swallowed hard. “Then I’ll understand; there’s no reason left for me to keep living anyway.”

No. At that moment, I realized I didn’t want that. Not even a bit. No one should be so devoted to me. No, not again. Angelica was the same; she gave her life to me. No! I couldn’t bear that responsibility again. I didn’t want someone else to throw away their life for me.

Suffocating.

But all I did was smile and give him a long kiss. I looked into his labradorite-like eyes. The greens were visible again; I noticed now there was a small screen in his retina. So that was why they were green.

“I still can’t believe you can’t cry.”