Peace Maker - Chapter 182

“Then what is right to you?” Annabeth replied, “if me saying that wasn’t right, then what is right to you that I say?”

“It’s not a matter of what is right to me, it’s a matter of what you should really be doing rather than what you believe you look better doing,” Antonio muttered, “Being yourself is much better than being a perfect being that doesn’t show anything out of the perfect character they hold. I didn’t like the fact that you believed that that is what you have to be. Perfect… no one should have to be perfect.”

Annabeth stared at him for a moment before a burst of slight laughter left her lips. “Quite the humanist aren’t you?”

Antonio blinked, staring at her. His hand touched the back of his neck as a nervous smile appeared on his face. A red haze appeared on his cheeks. “It seems I am one…”

Annabeth smiled. “Then what should I do? Do you want me to listen to the promise you made for me? Since you’re so bent on thinking that you’ll take responsibility, should I listen to you?”

“No. Don’t” Antonio replied.

Annabeth cocked her head. “Why?”

“Because you should do what you want to do. I overstepped once, I’m not going to do it again,” Antonio shook his head, “Whether or not you believe that that is truly what you want to do, or if it’s something that you’d rather not do, it’s up to you, not me. Afterall, the one being affected is you, not me so I shouldn’t be the one making the decision for you.”

Annabeth looked into his eyes for a moment. ‘He isn’t lying…’ she thought to herself as she watched his eyes. ‘He meant every word…’ Slowly, she lowered her guard, her shoulders relaxing a bit as a smile formed on her face. “So you do listen to the words I say…”

Antonio blushed at her words. “How could I not? It’s your thoughts afterall.”

Annabeth stared at him for a moment, watching as he sneaked a little at her before looking away again, his hand touching his nape.

“You’re so… different,” Annabeth muttered, “it’s like you actually listen..” Antonio looked up at her with his bright eyes, his eyes locking in hers. Annabeth cocked her head to the right, a smile of disbelief showing on her face. “You’re so different… it’s almost like you have an ulterior motive…”

Antonio’s blush deepened as her eyes peered into his. ‘That’s because I do…’ Antonio thought to himself, ‘it’s you. My ulterior motive is you.’

Annabeth let out a sigh and finished the cake in her hand, then bit into the sandwich, finishing it off. “Were you not scared?” she asked, looking up from her cake to Antonio, “when I ‘changed’ were you not… taken aback… revolted? Shamed? Embarrassed? Disgusted?”

A flash of disbelief crossed Antonio’s face. “Why would I be?”

“I was calling you out. People tend to have a big ego. So big they can’t see,” Annabeth muttered through her puffy cheeks.

“Didn’t just say something about you not categorizing me like that?” Antonio frowned his cheeks puffing up a little in a little pout.

“Ah…” Annabeth chuckled. “Force of habit.”

Antonio watched her eat for a moment before shaking his head. “No. How could I be? It’s your opinion. Whether or not I agree to them is not something I should get offended by because you don’t have to agree to every single thing that I say,” he shrugged, a smile appearing on his face when he locked eyes with Annabeth,  “we’re all entitled to our own thoughts.”

Annabeth looked away, her lips twitching slightly. ‘It’s contagious,’ she thought to herself, ‘that smile of his is so contagious…’

“But…” Antonio muttered, to which Annabeth looked up at him.

‘Ah… I thought so…’ she thought to herself, her eyes dimming slightly. ‘His ego had to be hurt in the end. They are always hurt.’ She bit into a chocolate cake slice. “But what?”

“It was scary,” Antonio shuddered, reliving the moments before in his head.

Annabeth flinched, “what?”

“It was scary, your change in moods and everything. I felt like I was in danger or something… like I had to be careful to not anger you. I didn’t want to make you mad at all and your eyes… just made me feel like I was one word away from making you hate me or something,” Antonio sighed, his chin resting on the table, looking at Annabeth’s food for a moment before looking up and matching her gaze. “I didn’t want that to happen. I didn’t want you to hate me.”

Thump.

There was a thud in her chest at that moment when she looked into Antonio’s eyes. Like her heart had… froze for a second when he looked at her, like she had been taken over by his words. It felt different… it was overwhelming. ‘It was…’ she thought to herself as she remained in eye contact with him.

“Sorry… I shouldn’t have felt scared, it was just you afterall,” Antonio sighed, a sorry smile appearing on his face as he sat up straight, his eyes remaining pinned on Annabeth. “Sorry.”

Annabeth flinched. ‘There it is again…’ she thought to herself as she felt the thud in her chest. ‘Why…’ she thought to herself as she felt it again. ‘What in the… why am I…touched.’

Her lips quivered for a moment and she looked away from his gaze, finishing her chocolate cake. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you did anything wrong by being scared.”

“Still…. I shouldn’t have been scared by that, it’s almost like I couldn’t accept a change like that or something. I hate it if that was the reason why I was scared,” Antonio muttered, his voice quiet as if he went into contemplation. He stayed that way for a moment, looking down at the table before his eyes suddenly darted up to Annabeth, causing her to flinch. “But I didn’t feel disgusted, or embarrassed. I was ashamed. Ashamed that didn’t notice that I was doing that to you, so for that, I apologize.”

Annabeth, who had been nervously eating up all her food while he talked, looked up to him again, locking eyes with him. She swallowed the fruitcake, her cheeks heating up again when she looked into his clear eyes.

“You’re not going to make me say it’s ok again, are you?” she muttered.

“Ah.. no, sorry, I didn’t- sorry,” Antonio bowed his head, deeply flustered.

Annabeth smiled. “Just teasing,” she replied, “you really like to apologize don’t you?”

Antonio nervously chuckled to which Annabeth laughed. They stayed in that calm atmosphere for a second before Annabeth’s face twisted into disgust, a shudder visibly overtaking her.

Antonio’s eyes widened in concern and he immediately leaned over the table, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to Annabeth. “Lady Annabeth are you ok?! Are you choking? Do you need water?” he asked, his voice shaking in anxiety.

Annabeth took the handkerchief from Antonio’s hand and began to cough into it, another wave of disgust flowing through her as she shuddered again. Antonio flinched, immediately standing up and scanning his surroundings.

“Be right back!” he announced stepping away from the table for a moment and then returning with a glass of water and handing it to Annabeth. “Here you are Lady Annabeth.”

Annabeth looked up at him through squinted eyes and took the glass of water from his, her hand brushing against his for a milli-second as she grabbed the water. Antonio watched her as she drank the water, his other hand touching his hand as he felt some heat on his hand where they had touched.

“Ah….” Annabeth gasped when she finished the water to which Antonio immediately grabbed the handkerchief on the table and handed it to her. She looked up to Antonio, her grip on the glass loosening. A smile appeared on her face as she laughed weakly. “I’m ok…” she chuckled.

Antonio stared at her for a moment, a shaky sigh leaving his lips, “Please be careful, Lady Annabeth,” he sighed as he watched her dab her lips with the handkerchief.

Annabeth let out a little cough to which Antonio instinctively leaned over her and started to pat her back, the concern growing on his face. “Are you sure you’re ok, lady Annabeth?” he asked his eyebrows furrowing deeper as he looked at her face.

“Yea… ” Annabeth chucked, her head swiftly turning to look at Antonio. “I’m o-” her voice trailed off when her eyes locked with his. ‘Ah… There it is again… the thud’ she thought to herself. Her eyes dimmed slightly as she stayed in eye contact with him, her heart skipping another beat. ‘He’s close…’

She blinked blankly as they stayed in eye contact. Antonio looked away, a sigh leaving his lips. “It looks like you’re ok…” he muttered weakly, looking back up at her “Please be careful lady Annabeth… you could get hurt a-”

“CoUGH,” Annabeth coughed, her eyes shutting from the cough, a hiccup forming in her throat.. A second later, her eyes flew open to look at Antonio, her lips quivering. ‘Fuck…’