The Week

"Don't say that," I muttered, angry at myself for not being able to control my own cheeks so they wouldn't blush. Or at least not as clearly and burningly as it is now. "And don't look at me."

"Why not?" Tetsuya laughed. "But I am telling the truth and is it not inherent in male nature to look at beautiful women?"

"I am far from being beautiful," I replied sadly. I couldn't remember when I actually felt comfortable with my appearance.

"You should try to see yourself through the eyes of others sometimes if the power permits you," he said firmly. "I took the day off, so are we planning something specific or full spontaneity?"

"I do not like spontaneity." I looked at him and saw him wondering if this also applies to surprises. "Yes, this too," I nodded. "You understand unless anyone's not going to surprise me."

"I will take it as a challenge," he laughed and stood up. "Just give me some time and you'll be surprised. You promised me you wouldn't disappear, so I can be calm and take my time."

There was something sweet and contagious about his laugh at the same time. I felt that it was something I would like to hear as often as possible. He didn't have to worry about breaking the word. I had no intention of doing so anymore, I felt safe with him, but insecure as if I would prefer to have an easily accessible escape route left after all.

Tetsuya stretched and began to mentally complain a little about his aching back after spending the night on the couch. I frowned and offered to sleep on it. He moved and immediately thought about the need to be careful with me.

"You are making stupid problems, the bed is huge and both you and you will fit on it at once. Even I can still fit in, said Kiba's second sentence happily.

"That's not what is about Kiba," I said, blushing even more. "But that's what I meant," I said to the man and stood up abruptly. "First, my powers are so cool, but then there comes a time when 'I have to be careful with it'. It was the same with Victor, as soon as he started dating someone, he immediately moved away from me, and since he is with Alex, I can see how he is careful around me. How can you be with someone, with whom you cannot feel at ease, with whom you cannot be yourself?!" I said clenching my fists. "That's why I have no chance to create a happy relationship with anyone! That's why I clung to this unrequited feeling for Hyacinth so tightly, because then…” My voice began to break. "Back then I wasn't interested in other men and didn't give myself unnecessary hopes until..."

"You met me." Tetsuya finished for me, I nodded my head, and after a while, I found myself in his gentle embrace. He stroked my head reassuringly.

"You got too fixated on our thoughts that nothing would succeed. Because of this, you did not give anyone a chance, especially yourself. We're gonna work on it, how about that?" he asked, stepping away from me, though he was overdoing it, and apologized for his behavior.

"Why do you want to help me?" I asked, wiping away the tears that had meanwhile appeared in my eyes.

"Didn't I make myself clear earlier? I'm in love," he said this with such lightness and a smile as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He mentally mentioned something about Hyacinth and being his rival.

"You don't have to worry about that," I said. "But forgetting also takes time."

"Yes, I know something about that," he confirmed sadly, thinking of his ex-wife.

He suggested that we prepare dinner together, which I thought was a good idea and I didn't have much to do with myself. For now, I wasn't ready to go anywhere, much less go home, but I wondered if I should get a few things from there. However, the vision of meeting Victor still overwhelmed me. Tetsuya noticed that something was bothering me, even though I was smiling and willingly playing the question-and-answer game with him. He felt the moment to ask me what was on my liver. I said I was worried about my brother, but I didn't want to see him just yet, and I wasn't sure if a phone call, for example, would calm me down enough. An idea flashed through his mind.

"Could you really do this for me?" I asked excitedly. "Won't it be a problem for you?"

"Since I had this brilliant idea." He laughed and reached for the phone. "I'll call him. Should I turn on the loudspeaker?" I nodded my head.

After a few rings, we heard Victor pick up, and after a while, we got the “What do you want ?!” message.

"Hi, Victor," said Tetsuya. "We had the opportunity to meet a few months ago at the police station. I'm calling on Lucretia's behalf, asking you to get some of her things ready. I'd pick them up tonight if that's okay with you."

We waited a while for his reply, "She can't, or doesn't she want to talk to me herself?" The policeman replied that I need some more time. After a while, Victor replied, "Send me a list of the things he wants. Be at seven in our apartment."

With that, the conversation ended, and I started to get even more nervous. When we had dinner, Tetsuya suggested a walk with Kiba, followed by a movie, but nothing could occupy my mind hard enough not to count the minutes until I found out something about my brother. I felt guilty about treating him like that, knowing he was definitely madly worried about me, and so was David. And I chose a stranger instead of them because my brother revealed my greatest secret on his nerves. I felt terrible about those thoughts.

"Lucretia?" Tetsuya's voice snapped me out of my lethargy. "If you want to, you can also go, the best you will stay in the car."

"I'm afraid of how I will react."

"Okay. Then, Kiba, keep an eye on her," he said, coming out and smiling at me as if he wanted to cheer me up and assure me that everything will be fine.

However, the hour and a half that I had been waiting for his return was a torment for me. I was pacing around the apartment, unable to sit still. Kiba watched me, intrigued by my worry, but couldn't understand why I was acting this way. When I heard the sound of the door opening, I went out to meet Tetsuya, who handed me the bag Victor had prepared.

"How is he feeling?" I asked right away.

"If you don't mind, I'll make myself a cup of tea first, and then I'll tell you everything," he replied.

"You can show me everything in the meantime," I suggested. "I have to find out!" I clenched my fists.

"Do I need to do something special?" he asked, intrigued.

"No. And thank you for agreeing."

I tried to enter his mind as gently as possible, but he flinched anyway when I was inside. I apologized to him and went straight to the newest mentions. I quickly found the scene that interested me when Victor was opening the door for him. My brother looked like a shadow of his old self, his shirt was hanging over him, his hair was tied carelessly, and his eyes were swollen from crying. I wanted to hug him and apologize. First, he reached out from the bag with the intention of handing it over, but after a moment's thought, he quickly reached for the phone and asked Tetsuya, "Why did she choose you instead of me?!". My messenger said nothing because he didn't know what exactly. Victor sighed heavily and was about to close the door, but he stopped himself and asked one more question. This time, however, Tetsuya replied, "Don't worry about that, what I've learned about Lucretia is that she loves her family, especially you." The brother smiled gently and thanked him, but something in his eyes said he didn't quite believe it.

"Thank you for telling him that," I said as I left Tetsuya's mind. "And for tea too," I added when I noticed the steaming mug in front of me.

"It's true." He shrugged and took a sip.

That night I slept more peacefully, but later thought a lot about the situation with Victor. I pushed back the repeated accusations that I didn't want to make, convincing myself that I had forgiven him. Then why are you putting off meeting your brother, I asked myself. Why are you afraid to meet his eyes? You trusted him immensely, and now you are afraid of his thoughts? Why? Why? It kept coming back and tormenting me so often that after a week I decided to go home to my brother.

Despite these worries, the week I spent with Tetsuya was extremely magical for me. Sometimes I wondered if it wasn't just a long dream I didn't want to wake up from or some kind of grandma's trick. First, it will make me feel safe, then ruin everything painfully. I was nervous then, but Tetsu, as Tetsuya told him to call himself, assured me then that everything was really happening.

This week at work was mainly the first part of the day, before going out he was taking Kiba out in the morning and making breakfast. Then I took care of the dinner and the house. He had a sizeable collection of crime novels that I also read when he was away. In the evenings, we went for a walk with Kiba, and then we played games or watched movies. We talked a lot and got to know each other better.

I was surprised by the directness and honesty with which Tetsu approached everything. He also told me a little more about his years with Evie. He was a very family man, and that's why he suffered so much when everyone accused him of divorce and felt rejected by his loved ones. I also noticed that he sometimes tries to pretend to be cool and show off his nonchalant side, but it definitely did not suit him. He also complained that he used to do more sports, and in the last year, he ventured out and laughed that it would be even worse with my cooking.

"Kiba, don't you know sometimes what your master's favorite cake is?" I asked the dog on the last day, I haven't checked it myself in Tetsu's mind yet.

"I don't know," he replied, but he clearly wondered how may still help. "But sometimes when he said he wanted something sweet, it was like a shaky thing." He also began to pretend to shake the back of his body himself. I burst out laughing and Kiba barked happily. "My lord will be proud of me, he will give me more delicacies."

"Ah yes?"

"Yes, because he told me to do so that the new lady laughed as much as possible," said the smug dog.

I smiled and decided to find a recipe for a jelly and fruit cake in my head. So I chose a cold cheesecake with raspberry jelly with the addition of fresh gifts of nature. However, I had to go on a short shopping trip, I was afraid to go alone, but nothing happened during this short trip. However, I was calmer when I got back and closed the door behind me. I had already decided that this would be my last day there, although I tried to thank him in part for looking after me. I was happier than usual when I heard that Tetsu tastes my baking.

He could see that I was a little anxious. After he took a shower, I decided to talk to him and convey my decision. Unfortunately, my plan could not be implemented because I was distracted. By a half-naked man walking around the apartment with the excuse that he forgot to take his sleeping clothes from the wardrobe. I tried to look away but couldn't. My face felt as if it was steaming with strong blushes. Tetsu looked at me again with a nonchalant smile and brushed his still-wet hair back.

"I should cut them a bit, huh?"

"Maybe a little," I muttered, looking much lower than I should have.

His dark brown eyes flashed with mischief as if he were pleased with the effect he had achieved. His silhouette showed that he was dealing with sports, but it was not overly muscular. I held out my hand as if wanting to touch him and make sure that he was really standing in front of me. Luckily, Kiba came to my rescue and barked at him saying “Get dressed man!”.

"Exactly, get dressed," I said, embarrassed. "And you're not playing some sort of flirting."

Tetsu laughed and came back after a while, this time in a tracksuit. He was smiling pleased and teasing me all the time. It annoyed me a bit, but it made me still remember seeing him. I wished I had told him so many details about how my power worked, and now he was using it against me. If so, I announced that I was going to sleep, but I couldn't sleep. This time I left the bedroom door open and listened to the podcast that Tetsu was listening to while filling out some papers for work. I waited until he was done working to call him.

"Something happened?" he asked worried, looking into the room.

"No, but I'd like to talk to you," I announced, sitting down, and he did the same right next to me.

I was surprised it didn't bother me that it was so close. For this week, we only held hands during walks, because then I felt safer, but nothing more than some neutral gestures, touching of arms or hands.

"I'll go back tomorrow," I announced after a moment, not meeting his eyes. I was afraid of what I would see in them. "I have to finally confront my brother."

"I understand, I felt something was wrong," Tetsu replied sadly. "The time you were here was beautiful, but I knew it would end someday. So it was not necessary for me to make a fool of myself with my seduction ability." He laughed nervously. "Not it was supposed to make your stay with me."

"I would have a request, though," I said, blushing. "Don't sleep on the couch today, just here." I hid my face in my hands, thinking it sounded silly. Anyway, that was the idea from the beginning. "I just want to hug someone," I quickly explained, knowing that it would not make this embarrassing situation any better.

"Can I then also have a request?" he said, taking my hands in his and revealing my face. "Or even two, if I can be so greedy."

I looked up.

"Do you really want it?" I asked, excited, trying to calm my beating heart at a frenetic pace. What he asked for would be my dream come true, but he was still wondering about one thing. "Yes," I replied. "For all your requests. And I can confirm that I don't know when I fell in love with you."

He leaned toward me and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. My first ever. On the one hand, I had the impression that it lasted too short, and on the other hand, the event was so exciting that I was afraid of the condition of my own heart.

"Now that we're a couple, I don't have to be afraid of running away anymore," he laughed and scrambled under the covers. He spread his arms into which I cuddled with pleasure and I hid my face still red with emotion. He stroked my back soothingly. I felt so safe and so excited about my first kiss, yet the dream came surprisingly fast as if he knew I needed a lot of strength for the next day.