He Is Here For Me

"You have fallen in love, Ford," Adrian whispered mischievously and then walked away.

As the sound of Adrian's footsteps getting away from Arthur and Kathrina, they rooted in their place. Confused and flustered about their current predicament and how to approach it better. Several times they locked their eyes but quickly averted them like a nervous high school teenager.

In thirty-two years of his life, Arthur never knew he could end up in a situation where he was lost and not knowing what to do. The calm and collected version of him seemed to evaporate entirely in front of Kathrina.

'You are such a loser, Arthur.' He thought in his head.

Kathrina was not different from him. She played with her fingers to stop her from getting nervous for no reason.

"Are you okay?" Arthur finally asked.

"Hmm, thank you," Kathrina answered and smiled sweetly at him, which she rarely did.

Arthur would not lie. He almost gasped at the sight before him. It was the loveliest scenery he had ever seen. In contrast to the painting in his home, this Kathrina brought so much peace to him. The urge to be the reason for her smile nearly made him beg on his knees for Kathrina to be his.

"I also want to apologize for the incident you saw on Blossom." Kathrina brought the most shameful event in her life back.

"What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong, Kathrina. It was purely his fault for bringing up the topic you find uncomfortable with." Arthur said. His hand almost reached to hold her shoulder. "He deserved my punch for doing that." He muttered lowly, not knowing that Kathrina could hear him.

Kathrina's pupils enlarged. "What?"

"Hmm?" Arthur questioned her.

"You said he deserves your punch." Kathrina gulped and bravely asked. "Why did you do that?

"You heard me. It's because he deserves it." Arthur tried to play stupid and choose the safest answer for both of them.

"Why?" Kathrina inquired again, not giving up. Yet, Arthur remained silent, seeming not to want to satiate her curiosity. "Answer me, why?"

Arthur clenched his hands, trying to be firm in his stance. "Sorry," he said and turned his back on her.

To his surprise, Kathrina held onto the hem of his suit, forcing him to look back at her.

"Fuck." Arthur cursed. Gone was the smile on her face, and now the expression in that painting adorned her face. "Let go." He sounded in pain.

Kathrina did not obey. She held it even tighter, like her life was dependent on it. Her eyes bore into him, intimidating him to stay and explain his reason. Kathrina had an idea, but she needed words out of his mouth to confirm it.

"People are watching Kathrina," Arthur told her.

It was not a lie. Several pairs of eyes had their focus on them. They watched his interaction with Kathrina like watching a television show.

Kathrina did not know why she was being so shameless, but she knew that if she let go, it only meant cutting the thin line between them.

"Answer me, Arthur." Kathrina's head lowered, looking at her shoes and Arthur's.

"It's not important." He brushed her plea.

"It's for me!" The tone of her voice had changed to one filled with rage.

"I care for you, that's why. And I don't want that feeling. It's disgusting."

Kathrina's grip on his hem loosened. The first half of his words managed to make her over the moon, only for him to push her into the earth again.

"Okay," Kathrina replied bitterly. "Please enjoy the banquet, Mr. Ford."

Arthur could only watch as Kathrina drowned in the sea of people. He knew what he said was wrong on so many levels. But he had to do it. He knew that his words and actions did not match each other. Sometimes he yielded to his feelings, and sometimes his brain slapped reality into his face and forced him to harden his heart. Every day was a constant battle for him.

Unbeknownst to them, someone else was watching their conversation with much more interest than the other guests.

"She is in love with him." The man said while gritting his teeth. He loathed watching the love of his life interacting like that with another man.

The man wanted to take Kathrina away from Arthur, and then he would make sure Arthur never appeared in front of her again. "You should have never talked with her, Ford." He muttered, then emptied the champagne from the glass. Now he knew what his first step would be.

After leaving Arthur's side, Kathrina went into the bathroom. She could not take the heavy tension in her chest. Arthur's last words had successfully marred her heart.

"He said it's disgusting." She mumbled while watching her face in the mirror. "Disgusting…disgusting…disgusting…" Kathrina repeatedly said that word. "Did I really make him feel that way? How…."

She did not understand. They were on good terms until her last outburst on FSS, but why was he suddenly saying something hurtful like that to her? She suddenly had the urge to shoot him in the head for making her question her self-worth.

"Forget about him, Kathrina. He is not worth your time." She tried to cheer herself, but her heart knew it was no use. Her heart was hurting, and she chose to ignore it.

Kathrina fixed her simple makeup and then went out of the bathroom. She had to come back and greet her family, especially her uncle Victor. They had not seen each other for a while, and it would not be good if he saw her in a mess like this.

After only five steps from the bathroom, a man bumped into her hard, and she fell back. The man hunched down and whispered, "Sorry for coming too late, Princess." Then he left hastily.

Kathrina froze, and her eyes grew wider as she watched the stranger run toward the crowds. The words and the man's scent were somehow familiar to her. It attacked her sense without mercy, making her feel the hair on her back rose.

"He is here for me…. He is coming back." She said it continuously with tears streaming down her face.