16

The next day after Marcos had slept and woken, he had felt everything had been a dream, probably all made in his jumbled head, but when he got to school and heard what Ace said, he got to that same class.

And there she was. "Did you— Did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Make them stop— Hurting me,"

She stared at him like he was extremely retarded. "I promised no one would hurt you. Even if you refused to be mine, and I meant it. I'm not a liar, Eros. Lying is the one thing I can't do."

That name again...

Of course, he agreed eventually, and he met Alexander 'Xander' Gomez, who was ecstatic to see him. 

Their trainings were... Both a mixture of pain and pleasure and though she promised never to hurt him, there were times during it that she had to, for his own good, but she always asked for his consent regardless.

And there were other times that she hurt him, without meaning to. For example, when he couldn't be with her when she wanted, or demanded for him. When he refused to take her gifts. When he tried knowing more about her, but he forgave her for all that.

Alex wasn't a happy person, but in time, he knew that he made her happy. He wasn't stupid to how she acted during aftercare, like she feared releasing him, and though they didn't even have sex, she still acted like he was fragile.

In some months, Marcos had learnt more about bdsm and wanted something else.

Which Alex blatantly refused. "No."

"But —"

"I'm not pegging you," She cut in, an adamant look in her eyes. "Get that thought out of your head."

"I want it. We always do what you want, what about I want?"

Her eyes narrowed and fear spiked through Marcos' heart at the gesture. "Are you saying that I've never taken into consideration what you want?"

"No. I'm saying that I'm not as fragile as tot make me look, Mistress." He replied, with a pleading look in his eyes. "I can take it. I can handle it. I know you wouldn't hurt me unless I deserve it."

"You don't deserve it, but I won't."

It took a while, but she did.

And she worshipped him. As if she was trying to wipe out any trace of Julian from his body, soul, and mind, and he let her. He let her do all she wanted, because she made him feel whole.

She made him feel like he was actually a god.

After that day, the gifts increased. First, they were just clothes, clothes he wanted but would never dare get, then lingerie, then a make-up set, but nothing she did compared to the clips.

He had once told her that before he was born, his parents settled on calling him Mariposa but since he was a boy and all his clothes were already marked with a MAR, they called him Marcos instead.

One day, she was seated in his bed, him beside her when she said, "I have a gift for you, love."

He poured. "You keep spoiling me,"

"You deserve it." She said with a note of finality before she showed him the things in her hand. "Here."

A pink and white butterfly clip. "Butterflies have always meant transformation. Change. Hope. And I look at you, and I know you've come a long way from the boy I met in the past. So I want you to have them, for you to keep being proud of yourself and what you've become."

It was the least expensive thing she had ever gotten him, and yet —.

"And oh, please date me."

He looked at her in shock now as she continued, "I know that I'm not the best at emotionally expressing myself but I do care about you, a lot. And— And this is crappy, I've never been put in a position like this..."

"I love you."

She stared at him like she just got a heart attack. "What?"

"It's what—" He tried to calm his beating heart. "Y-You're supposed to say."

"Would it make you date me?" She whispered. "Not that it's not true, but would it?"

He nodded and repeated his earlier words. "Say it,"

"I love you."

His heart seemed to freeze for a few seconds but it continued, beating faster as he leaned closer to her. "Again,"

"I love you," Then she laughed, pining him down and kissing him all over his face. "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you."

And she did. He saw it, felt it.

She didn't deserve this betrayal from him.

As Marcos looked at her from his desk, her face in a book of hers, he wanted to tell her. They had faced many things together but this was different.

He knew, she might never forgive him. For lying, for agreeing in the first place, and perhaps... For keeping it from her.

But he couldn't lose her. She had showed him what love was, how powerful it could be.

What was he to do if she stopped loving him?

He heard her sigh and set the book down, rubbing her face and reaching out for her pills next to his bed before he practically rushed to the bed and jumped on her.

She cursed for a second but when he tried to move away, she kept him still. "Its fine," Her eyes scanned him. "Are you done with your game?"

Marcos could see the tiredness in her eyes. Reading continuously took a toll on her body but he had seen what could happen if she didn't so he had to accept it. "Yeah, I am."

She nodded. "Get me a glass of water? My head's killing me."

He did as she asked, watching as she took the pills in her mouth and then the water before settling the cup on his bedstand and pulling him back to her. "This feels nice."

"A... There's something I have to tell you."

She looked at him, worry lighting the features on her face. "Are you alright?"

"It's about... " Tell her. For fuck's sake, you're digging a hole for yourself if you don't. "Paris."

Fuck.

He could feel that she didn't believe him but she continued anyway. "Did he say something to you?"

"No. I just wanted to know why you made me take him to the hospital."

She sighed and rested on the bed's headstand and said, "For one, he was badly injured and needed medical attention but couldn't for some reason, and two, I sent you to assess him yourself."

"Assess him?"

Alex looked at him now. "How do you see him?"

"He's cool, in a way, and he helped me once, I think." He looked at her. "Do you like him?"

"I don't know, but I'd like him for a while." Then she reached out for his face. "It doesn't mean I'd love you less —"

"I know." He did know, but he truly didn't mind. For two reasons, because he knew Paris liked her, to some extent, and two, he needed her occupied when he couldn't be there for her.

Which was a... Devious reason but it was still valid.

"Talking on that, did you get yourself anything with the card?"

"No, I— I forgot." He answered.

"Figured."

Alex pulled the bad on the ground to the bed and brought out a rectangular box. "Now, I know you go on yammering about gifts but I couldn't let this one slide. All things considered."

He stared at it for a while before taking the box in his hand then opening it.

On it, were five butterfly rings, made of glass.

"Happy second year anniversary, Eros."

The first day they were together were two butterfly hair clips.

The day they celebrated a year together, she got him a choker with butterflies on it.

And now, this.

He looked at her with a crestfallen expression. "It was —It was today?"

She nodded. "I was surprised you'd forgotten but you've been acting pretty distant lately. I thought it was because of Paris —"

He shook his head. "It's not."

"You know how I feel about lying. If there's something wrong, tell me. I want him but it's you I love. Your opinion matters more than anything."

"It is fine. I actually want you to want him? In a way?" He shook his head again. "I don't know. He seems genuinely interested in you and I know you like multiple partners. We did that a lot during training, remember?"

"Yes, but we're not just Dom and Sub, now." She said with a light frown. "We're lovers. That's different."

Marcos didn't say it but the fact she had used the word 'lovers' made his stomach do flips. "You'd always be my Dom," He said, placing a kiss on her lips. "And I'm sorry I forgot. I don't know. Work's kind of getting to me."

"If it's the debt —"

"It's not," There he was. Lying again. Only this time he prayed she didn't realize it. 

Alex sighed. "Fine, but that's not all I got you."

He stared at her with a warning look in his eyes. "Alex,"

"There's nothing extra about this one, I swear." She said, "It's more of a personal gift, for me. I've dreamt of you wearing it for a long time now, to be honest."

In her hand was a ring.

A silver crescent ring that had a star on the side as well.

"You already know what the tattoo on my chest signifies," She said, "But this ring. It bonds us together. Connects us. I want you wearing it no matter what. Do you understand? Can you do that for me? Baby, are you crying?"

There it was. The need to confess. To let bare his sin, but he couldn't disappoint her.

Not now.

Maybe when things weren't so good, but he'd tell her. He swore on it. "I love you, A."

Her face became softer. "I love you too, Eros. More than you'd ever know."

And Marcos never did know, because if he did, he would have told her the truth, but he didn't.