CONT

t was baffling how little I seemed to see of Leukas that with all the time he spent around our kids, but I’d learnt from some of the friends I’d made that Leukas had always been unnaturally quiet and a bit of a loner and they hadn’t been surprised when he’d abruptly left for a reason no one seemed to know. They liked him, he did talk to them and had joke with some of the people whom he and Atlas had gone to school with, but it wasn’t hard to see the slight divide between him and everyone except Atlas and his kids. It made me a little sad that he and I would never have the kind of relationship we’d once had but I got it. When we spoke he’d told me how I’d hurt him and how he had hated me once but was willing to work on not being so angry at me. He’d expressed his understanding and his acknowledgement of the merit of my reasoning but he’d asked that I not expect anything further than civility from him and I had been giving him space and a wide berth for a month. It was hard but understandable, so I was surprised when, running down the familiar road for my evening run, he suddenly appeared next to me.

“Hey.” Leukas said, startling me from my thoughts and making me trip from air before I ungraciously caught myself before I fell on my face.

“Hi.” I squawked back in embarrassment even as I continued my run on a slower pace with him next to me, and I unwisely took a sideways look at him, surprised that he was clearly starting a conversation with me when we were alone like this. One look at his lean body in some black track-pants, trainers and tank top with his flaxen hair scruffier and curlier than I’d ever seen it and my flash of exhaustion turned into a different flush altogether. I turned my eyes away from that body-of-a-god and forced a breath of his mouth-watering scent which seemed to be unusually thick at that moment, down my lungs. So much for being cooler around him.

“You okay?” he asked and I could imagine a frown on his unfairly perfect face.

“Yes. You scared me.” I accused quite defensively before darting a look in his direction, suddenly worried he’d stop talking to me and move because is spoke so familiarly to him. I was relieved to find amusement on his face.

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“You’re running on a public street.” He deadpanned but I could hear a familiar teasing in his voice. It made me so happy and I decided to take a chance.

“Yes but I’m also a vulnerable little lady. How do I know you’re not a man of questionable character, here to take advantage of me in this quite street?” I sassed back, hoping he’d play along. He didn’t disappoint me as he snorted.

“I think your virtue is quite safe from me and any other questionable character.” He replied.

“Clearly wasn’t safe enough from you.” I replied. There was a moment of tense, unsure silence before he responded.

“Fair enough.” He said and we both burst into laughter before continuing the run in relative silence. I was trying to match his speed but was falling a little breathless but I was too proud to ask him to slow down. For some reason I wanted to ‘win’ this run that we were having, just like when we would go to gym together and take up side by side treadmills and we’d try to outdo one another while we taunted each other. I was getting tired and he noticed.

“What’s wrong there, Aleks? Having trouble keeping up with a man. Should I just leave you behind to run the way you were running before?” he taunted childishly.

I stubbornly pushed on, my leg muscles protesting, as I glared at him. “And what way was I running before?” I demanded, annoyed at how winded I sounded while he looked and spoke like he was chilling at the beach and hadn’t been running for about ten miles to be all the way over here.

“Like a girl, and there’s no shame in that.” He smirked.

“Take that back or I’m telling your mother.” I demanded and he laughed, his laugh so beautiful and cheerful it made me trip in air again before I righted myself as he snorted again.

“Real classy. And you’d have to get back home to tell her and I have a feeling that could be a few years from now. Later.” He said before running ahead, a laugh on his mouth as I cursed at him and ran behind him.

I had no idea what brought on the change and what conclusion he’d finally come to but things were so much better between Leukas and I all of a sudden. We were running together in the mornings and the evenings, we teased each other mercilessly, we flirted regularly, he invited me for lunch with him and the kids regularly, and we’d taken to eating supper together with the kids along with Atlas, Kim and Harp; leaving Jason, Bene and Lanthe to their own devices. It was amazing to have my friend back. And with the lies and the mystery between us gone, it was so much better and we were so much closer. It was enough for me. It had to be.