Mirabelle slowly takes a sip of her tea once he's done serving them both. The warm and fragrant scene sweeps through her body like a fresh breeze, making her eyes flutter shut for a brief second before she's interrupted when he clears his throat.
"I'd still like... To prove myself to you." He says as she watches his fingers nervously trace the mouth of the cup. "How about we share a room tonight? We don't need to be intimate. They say you love... being cuddled."
Mirabelle nearly chokes at this but clears her throat as she looks down at her tea.
There's no intention for intimacy, right? There is no reason to be concerned.... right?
"Uh..." She stutters and unconsciously scratches the body of the cup, to which he smiles.
"We can sleep on different sides of the bed. It's a big bed too... So if you don't like cuddling, I can keep my distance. Just... Spend the night with me." His voice softens towards the end, making Mirabelle sigh in defeat when she knows she can't simply deny when he's being this desperate.
At this point, she would have loved it if they simply told him that his fiancée hates that he's blind.
"Serena?" He calls out and Mirabelle softens her expression and gently places the cup down on the table.
"Sure... We can. But I'd like some distance... I'm... shy." She says softly, trying to act shy when in reality she's terrified of what would happen if they got even closer.
Cuddling is too much of a risk. He's just way too affectionate to stop at cuddling. He would try to kiss her again!
"Ok." he says after a very long while and shifts in his seat. "Sounds... fair."
She sighs in relief and takes her cup again, taking a long sip before looking around the garden.
He sat there for a while, almost far to silent that she can almost feel that he's watching her. Studying her every move.
Mirabelle looks back at him, sweat beading on her forehead from nervousness, before she smiles awkwardly and runs her fingers along her lap.
"So... A-Any thoughts you'd like to share? Like... what you'd want to do today?" She chuckles nervously, and he seems to turn his head elsewhere as if to look at something.
"You can just tell me the story you always tell me on my birthdays." He says, making her tense as he eyes widen in terror. "I never get tired of listening to it. Since you said you have trouble coming up with anything new."
"O-Oh, that story about the um.... the..." She chuckles, pretending to know to lead him into finishing the sentence for her.
After all, if she knew what the story was about, she could know which folklore or story it could be. She always loved reading books to pass time, and she knows for sure Serena would just rip a story from a book somewhere.
"About us?" He says, finishing the sentence for her, which makes her pale up even more. She sits there stunned, gripping onto her skirt as her throat closes up. She nervously looks around, hoping the assistant would appear to save the day as usual... however, there is no sign of her anywhere.
"R-Right... the story... uh.. well..." She hums as more beads of sweat crawls down the back of her neck. "It's...."
He starts laughing, taking her by surprise as the laugh vibrates out of his thick neck. A rare sound that even she hasn't heard before. Her eyes travel down to the way his adam's apple jiggles when he pauses to swallow and laugh again.
It makes her heart thud.
"I made it up. We don't have a story." He chuckles and shakes his head. "You've been acting strange lately, so I was messing with you." He sighs, and Mirabelle only tenses further at this.
It could only mean he doesn't really believe she's Serena.
She's just not acting well enough to pass as her...
"I.... I'm not." She says silently as she grips her skirt tighter, swallowing hard.
"Yes, you are." He smiles softly, his expression visibly easing into a more tender look. "You pity me. Just because the procedure failed. You used to challenge me all the time, that if I didn't get better before our engagement and wedding, you'd leave me. I used to think you were being serious, but now I find it funny."
Mirabelle's heart only cracks at this when she knows the real Serena really has left him.
She doesn't want anything to do with a blind man...
"Ha... haha..." She awkwardly laughs when he chuckles and looks away, feeling sorry for him.
"You're cute." He says suddenly, before tilting his head and smiling softly as he grips his trousers from under the table. "I used to worry about you leaving me a lot... I felt sick thinking about it. But then I realized you only said some things to urge me to go on, I know that the you now, even though pitying me, is the one who really is you. The Serena that loves me."
Mirabelle's eyes widen as she looks over at him, her heart thudding in her chest as she realizes the grave mistake...
He's falling for his new Serena...
The Serena that isn't even real.
"Realizing this makes me want to see you even more." He chuckles nervously as he runs his hand to the back of his neck. "Makes me want to look you in the eyes and say 'I love you'."
He chuckles again as Mirabelle only watches him with a frown on her face as her stomach twists into something foul and disgusting. She can't handle the guilt anymore... She can't keep deceiving him like this...
She opens her mouth, ready to end things and let him find peace with the fact that the woman he loves isn't here... But she slowly closes her mouth back up, realising saying the truth now will only hurt him more...
She just needs to start pretending to be the old Serena.
The one that's cold to him and slowly break off their relationship as the days to the next surgery near.