She needed a friend

That night he came home early.Mum was still able to help around the house, so the both of us cooked a huge dinner for him. All his favorites. He seemed a bit quiet at dinner, but we assumed it had something to do with his new job. Alex had gotten a job in the nearby factory, he'd told us. And, that was it. He left that night. The next morning I got up and found his bed empty. Supposing he'd gone to work, I left it alone. But he didn't come home, not that night, not the next night, not any night after that. Me and mum, we waited.

But we had to give up at some point." Alina finished with a shrug and turned silent.

"But he is back now." Steve spoke after a few seconds, lightly placing his hand over one of Alina's, who let out a defeated breath. "And mum's disease got to him too." she whispered, whether to herself or to Steve, even she wasn't sure.

Steve was silent for a few minutes before he wrapped one arm around Alina's shoulders and pulled her to himself. She let herself be hugged by him and buried her face in his chest, her eyes glistening with silent tears. They stayed like that for a while, until Alina decided she was composed enough to pull out of Steve's embrace.

She wiped her eyes and spoke with a small giggle. "There, I've offloaded all my problems on you." she said, and Steve whispered, so small that she didn't hear him, "I'm glad."

"Now that I've rambled on, what did you want to tell me?" Alina asked, straightening up and looking at Steve.

Steve gave her a quick once over as she waited for his response. It looked like Alina had exhausted her yearly quota of vulnerability, and was back to her usual, closed off self. She had absolutely no idea how strong and beautiful she was, even when she was being vulnerable, especially when she was being vulnerable. Those were the moments, when Alina's facade of being completely in control of her life faded, when she let herself feel, that was when Steve had fallen in love with Alina.

Not to say that he didn't love the usual her. He absolutely adored the fierce woman who could take on absolutely anything in the world with a smile on her face. But he had desperately, incurably, fallen for the girl whose smile seemed a little more brighter, a little more real, when she allowed her heart to reign over her mind.

Yes, he loved her. Steve loved Alina. That was what he had wanted to tell her when he said he wanted to say something. But after listening to Alina's story, he didn't want to drop such a huge bombshell on her, and that too when she was already going through so much. Right now, she didn't need the complication of a friend falling in love with her, she didn't need to sort through her emotions.

What she needed was a friend. So that was all Steve decided to be, at least for now as he shook his head and said, "That was just a ploy to get you to talk. Clever, right?" He let out a chuckle as Alina gasped and hit his arm lightly, exclaiming, "You little sneak!"