Love Transcending Together: The Story of Arlo and Elyse

"Close your eyes, Elyse," Arlo whispered. "I want to tell you something."

"You know I can't do that," she giggled. "I'll mess up this dress and ruin my makeup. Besides, what is it that you'll tell me? You have told me everything already."

"I'm not sure if this is the right time for it," Arlo said, his voice suddenly serious. He looked down at her hand, which he was still holding. "But I suppose now is as good a time as any other." He took a deep breath and brought her knuckles towards his lips. His heart was pounding against his chest, so loud that he feared she would hear it. He felt dizzy and nauseous, but he managed to whisper the words anyway. "I love you."

He waited for her reply, biting his lower lip until the taste of blood filled his mouth.

"Oh Arlo," she said softly, looking up at him with a look of adoration. "I love you too." She threw her arms around him, burying her head in his chest and releasing a small sob. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on top of her head. They stayed like that for a few minutes as the Eiffel Tower sparkled in the night sky behind them.

Arlo had been working at Countess Elyse's castle for almost two months now, ever since she had returned from a trip with her husband and found that most of her belongings had been stolen by thieves while they were away. Count Nicolas had been furious when he'd heard the news; he'd spent weeks scouring Europe for just the right pieces to fill Elyse's empty mansion again, because he loved spoiling her with new gifts and didn't like seeing how upset she got when she couldn't find something that had been stolen from her. Arlo had arrived on the evening of their return with nothing more than a letter of recommendation in one hand and his sword in the other - when Count Nicolas found out about the robbery later that night at dinner, it was Arlo who recommended himself as security for the estate until they could hire someone else to replace him. Nicolas hadn't liked the idea too much - Elyse had tried telling him it would be okay, but he'd insisted on bringing in a few guards from town instead - but after a few days Arlo's calm demeanour and careful watch over the property seemed to win him over, and soon Nicolas was taking every opportunity to boast about how well Arlo was doing for them under their roof. The truth was that despite his best efforts, Arlo hadn't been able to keep any of the valuables safe - three times now thieves had gotten into Elyse's room while she slept off one hangover or another, taking things right off of her dresser or out of drawers while she snored away oblivious - but each time they were gone before Elyse awoke the next morning to realise anything was wrong; it wasn't until tonight that everyone finally figured out how they were getting inside without anyone noticing.

"What are we going to do?" Elyse asked quietly as they stood in front of the Eiffel Tower together. The wind was picking up as evening faded into night; soon enough there would be rain instead of stars overhead.

"The same thing we've always done," Arlo replied with a sigh. It was a question he'd thought he might have to answer someday, but not tonight; not before he'd even told Elyse how he felt about her first.

"No," Elyse snapped back at him suddenly, pulling away from him and spinning around to face him with fire in her eyes instead of tears in them now. "No we can't! We can't pretend nothing is happening anymore! If we don't do something about this then things are going to get worse!" Her hands shook as she spoke; before long they were clenched tightly around each other again as if she wanted to wring all of this emotion out through sheer force alone once more instead of relying on something as pathetic as crying to do it for her.

He knew they couldn't continue like this forever; even though the two of them were sneaking around behind Count Nicolas' back now rather than ignoring what they felt like they should be doing together - honestly thinking about it made him break out into cold sweat all over again - at some point they would have to stop pretending things weren't changing between them and address what needed to be done if they wanted any chance at happiness whatsoever from here on out. And yet... When did things ever really change? Looking back on everything over these past two months... Hadn't things always been this way between them?