MasukWhen Liviana Santora takes her sister's place in an arranged marriage with Blaze Castelli, it isn't only her last name that changes, it's everything she's ever known ⏤ her life, her mind, her heart and soul ⏤ her idea of love. But could the same be said about Blaze?
Lihat lebih banyakTime.
It was a funny thing. Confusing and scary, dreadful.
For some, it was much more positive than that. They found hope in time.
"Time heals all wounds."
They looked forward to the next day ⏤ the next week ⏤ month ⏤ year, and so on.
They anticipated getting older and the change that time would bring them. The wisdom and knowledge ⏤ the experiences they would have in that time, the ones you're told to enjoy because they happen in the best years of your life and time flies, so you're supposed to enjoy it while it lasts.
Liviana never knew what the hell those people were talking about.
"Time flies," yet her days dragged on until she gave up and ended them early, crawling into her bed at merely 6pm just to make it feel like the day was over and she had made it.
"Time heals all wounds," but why hadn't it healed hers? She still sat in pain, waiting for it to lessen with each passing day, but it never did. If anything, it only hurt worse.
Time is something Liviana hated. She loathed the whole idea of it. The fear, the hope, the pressure of it. Everything.
It wasn't until she met Blaze Castelli that she understood what everyone talked about, how they warned her to not waste time, as it's something you can never get back.
She wished she had listened.
Now, as she sat in this cold, empty room, bloodied and broken, she wished that she hadn't wasted that year on things that, looking back, seemed so minor compared to what she was going through now.
She wished that instead of arguments, she would have just apologized and held him close, like everytime was the last.
Instead of ignoring his existence, she would have told him how much she appreciated him, and how much he had done for her in their short time together.
She wished that instead of 'I hate you', she could tell him how much she loves him, that there was nothing he could ever do to make her truly hate him.
But she didn't, and now it was too late, because she never knew if she would see him again.
Time was something Liviana hated, but it was also something she took for granted.
And now it seems as though her time is running out.
The time flew by inside the pub, with drinks and music and endless rounds of pool to help the Castelli brothers pass the time. And once they started, once they stepped back into their dangerous little routine that had the drinks pouring and their minds racing, they couldn’t stop. They drank more, played more, and cared even less about the consequences than they had before.Blaze didn’t bother to track his drinks and dropped his brother’s tally too, trading in his old worries for new ones. He lost himself somewhere around his third or fourth drink when he got louder, sloppier, reckless in the way he spoke and carried himself.And maybe he didn’t realize that or maybe he didn’t care, but it only got worse as time went on, and by midnight Blaze would have half the bars attention on him, flicking over every so often to check in or glare when he’d make too much noise.Blaze paid them no mind and kept his attention glued to himself, his brother, and their evening. He completely missed how o
“Are you sure about this?”Liviana swallowed whatever hesitation remained. “Uh-huh.” She lied - rather poorly, she had to admit.Next to her, in the passenger seat, Violet cocked a brow and asked, “Really? You’re sure?”Her jaw tightened, as did her fingers around the steering wheel. “Mhm,” she hummed, eyes glued to the road ahead of them. She tried to ignore the weight of Violet’s heavy stare, and the way her eyes seemed to burn through her, all thoughtful and knowing at once.It was overwhelming, and it took everything she had not to cave under the pressure. She tried to avoid her eyes, as if that would help.“Really?” Violet repeated the question, utterly unconvinced, even when Liviana nodded and insisted that yes, she was really sure. She wanted to go out. She needed to.Livi was desperate for an escape.For a long second, Violet only stared. She watched her, considered her, played with her words while carefully choosing her own. “Okay, then...” She chewed on the question for a m
The house was quiet, and the air felt still around them, almost as if the house was holding its breath with the women, who snuck through it without so much as another word. They tiptoed through the halls hand-in-hand, nervous as birds as they snuck past her parents’ room and the guests that still lingered downstairs.Like the Rivera’s, who returned to the kitchen for a second serving of dessert, and promptly called for Luka and Tino to come downstairs to join them.“Boys, hurry!” Cressida called out from the kitchen. “Luka?!”Liviana and Violet froze at the sound of her voice, sharing a wide-eyed, helpless stare.Was this it? The moment they were caught and their whole plan went to hell?“Oh, Lord,” the woman huffed, quieter when she asked, “Did you message him?”Mr. Rivera hummed. “I did.”“Good,” she breathed with a light sigh, setting something down a little harder, a little louder, than necessary while she complained about her son and his bad habits - which she didn’t know the hal
“Liviana?”The raven froze at the sound of her name being called, sucking in a sharp breath when the world seemed to stop with it.She watched as Violet faltered in front of her, stopping with a heavy sigh. Her shoulders tensed, and her grip tightened around the phone as she muttered quietly, “Leo, I’ll have to call you back,” as if she already knew how this was going to go. As if she were expecting it, and she was ready.Slowly, she turned around, meeting Liviana’s eye for a mere moment before looking past her to meet her brother’s.“Hey, Tino,” Violet greeted the man, offering him a tight-lipped smile.“Hey.” He nodded in return, eyes glued to the back of Liviana’s head.She could feel his gaze burning through her, but she didn’t dare to look at him. She didn’t even dare to breathe, too scared to make the wrong move, say the wrong thing, and make everything worse. So she avoided it - him - and kept her eyes on Violet.“What’s going on?”“Nothing,” Violet replied quickly with a shrug
Liviana sat silently with her head in her hands, knee bouncing with nerves. “I just... I don’t understand,” she murmured. “Why would she-“ she cut herself off, narrowing her eyes as if she’s missing something she so desperately wanted to see, to know, to understand. But she couldn’t. No matter how
Liviana and Blaze walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand, trying to keep their heads held high in spite of the world’s judgment. They could feel it in the weight of all those watchful eyes and the way whispers seemed to chase them around like shadows.She does her best to ignore it all, but even
“Are you sure about this?” Blaze asks, lips pulled into a thin line of disapproval while he stares up at the building - some breakfast place where he and his brother agreed to meet. Though he was now coming to regret that decision. “It’s never too late to change your mind, y’know? We could still ca
"I didn't mean it, y'know?"Immediately, a frown twists itself onto Liviana's face, and she freezes. At this point, after nearly two hours of basking in the warmth of each other's arms and murmuring sweet apologies, an explanation was the last thing she was expecting. In all honesty, she was hoping
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