so much was sacrificed. Was It Worth The Ones We Love?

"Uhm... do what?" Sinbad asked a bit confused. But he was happy that he at least got her to smile, even if only for a short moment.

'Be nice to me just because you feel guilty,' she said quietly as she knew that was all he was doing right now.

It was true that he was feeling guilty, but...
"That's not really why I'm doing it," he said but removed his hand in case she felt uncomfortable.
"If I got at chance of spending 5 years with you.. that'd make me very happy.. Uhm, I just mean.. I can't see why your brother would feel any different."

'Then why are you doing it?' she asked rather coldly as she stared up at him, 'or am I supposed to believe that you've just suddenly started caring about me again?'

"It's not like I ever stopped caring about you," he replied a bit offended.

'Well how was I supposed to know that?' she asked as she stood up and walked to the opposite end of the bathroom to him, 'all you did was get drunk and we've barely talked for so long .. if you really did care then why didn't you show it?'

Sinbad stared at the floor for a while before he said anything. "I don't know. I guess," he started and cleared his throat. "I guess I was just... too ashamed to talk to you after everything that happened."

Odette watched him for a while, maybe she had spent too much time being mad at him for what happened. It's not like blaming him for it all had really helped anything anyway, it had just made her hate herself more .. because if I hadn't been following him that night, then none of it would have even happened .. She knew it was really her fault, but blaming him just seemed easier.

'Maybe ..' she started carefully as she walked closer to him, 'maybe I should have listened to what you had to say about it before it got this far .. if I knew this was going to happen before then I would never have been as hard on you,' she stopped just in front of him and hung her head slightly, her emotions getting to her as she felt herself start to cry again, 'I'm sorry ..'

"You have nothing to apoligise for. I can't blame you," he said and looked at her. As he saw she was beginning to tear up again he moved closer to her and gently placed a hand on her cheek to wipe away her tear. "I'm sorry I didn't show you that I cared about you for all those years, but the truth is that I never stopped thinking about you. But stop drinking... it just got more and more difficult. And then everything with your brother.. it didn't exactly make things easier.. But.. hiding from you wasn't the solution.. I just wish I had realised that sooner before it got to this."

When he put his hand to her cheek, she couldn't help but snuggle into it slightly, his touch cheering her up more than she'd ever admit. She pulled away as he continued to speak, staring up at him with a mixture of longing and sorrow in her eyes. As soon as he'd finished she slowly moved even closer to him, her hands now resting on his chest and her face barely inches away from his.

'But we can change that now, right?' she asked shyly, suddenly aware of what she was doing.

"Better late than never, as they say," he said with a little smile. But he suddenly realised that she couldn't possibly be feeling the same way as him. Even if she had forgiven him. Could she? But why else would she..? A lot of thoughts ran through Sinbad's head as he moved closer to Odette. Soon his head touched hers gently as he looked into her eyes. He wondered if he really could kiss her, afraid that if he tried he'd just ruin it all again. But he really wanted to and maybe he'd never get another chance. Since she wasn't pulling away he decided to give it a try and gently kissed her lips.

As he looked at her she could feel herself start to blush but soon had to look away, feeling embarrassed beneath his stare. As she broke eye contact she felt his lips on hers and she let him kiss her for only a moment, shocked that he would suddenly do something like that here before abruptly pushing him away from her.

'What are you doing?!' she asked, louder than she meant to, the surprise clear on her face as she moved her hands to cover her mouth.

Sinbad stared slightly shocked and disappointed at Odette when she pushed him away. "S-sorry," he said, embarrassed that he had actually kissed her and got rejected.

'I .. I didn't mean it like that!' she said, slightly flustered as she quickly moved her hands from her face. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy it .. 'you just surprised me, that's all,' she whispered and moved her head slightly so her hair covered her blushing face.

"I d-didn't mean to do anything you weren't ready for," he continued nervously, still too embarrassed to fully pay attention to what she was saying. "I guess I just got c-carried away."

Odette looked up when she heard how nervous he was. She didn't expect that, considering how she had seen him behave when he was drunk. But this was different .. and that gave her the confidence to walk towards him even though her face was still bright red.

'I'm ready this time ..' she whispered as she stood close enough to be able to reach out and grab his hand, entwining her fingers with his.

"Okay," Sinbad said and nodded slightly before he took a deep breath to calm himself down a little bit. He gave her hand a light squeeze before he leaned in to kiss her once again. After a few seconds he broke the kiss to see her reaction this time and make sure she still wanted it.

As he kissed her again she tried to enjoy the feeling of his lips against hers, but all that was going through her mind in that moment was her doubting whether she was doing this because she really wanted to or just because it was a welcome distraction from everything that was going on outside of that room.
When they broke apart she looked down at the floor for a moment, thinking of something to say before looking back up at him.

'Why did you do that?' she asked him carefully, hoping that he wasn't secretly drunk again as she remembered the way he had behaved towards her in the past when he'd been drinking. Though that didn't really seem like the reason this time.

Sinbad looked at Odette. "Uhm... well because," he started of not really knowing how to say it. "For some years now... The thing is... I've been in love with you for a really long time, Odette.." He looked down and blushed slightly. "S-so thats why.."

'You have?' she asked confused as she thought back to when they were so close growing up, wondering if this was just some kind of joke to pass the time inside the cathedral.

"Mhm," he said quietly as he nodded at her question. He didn't know what else to tell her. For a moment he thought about leaving the room, but he quickly pushed that thought away as he didn't want to run and hide from her anymore.

Odette watched him for a while, she'd known him long enough to be able to tell when he was lying about something and it didn't take long for her to realise that he was telling the truth.

'I ..' she started eventually, but instead of saying anything more she suddenly wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest so that he couldn't look her in the eyes as she said what she wanted to say, 'out of all the guys I've known, I've never cared for any of them the way I care about you and even after what happened .. no matter how hard I tried those feelings just wouldn't go away ..' She thought about the deal again and stopped talking for a moment. She buried her head in his chest when she realised that she was crying again, asking herself what was the point in telling him all of this when she only had five more years to live. After a few minutes she was finally able to whisper two words to him.

'I'm sorry ..'

Sinbad was slightly surprised, but welcomed the sudden hug. It was hard for him to believe that she had actually felt that way all this time. There had been a time when they were younger where he had actually thought he'd have a chance with her, but after his accident, the alcohol abuse and the death of her brother he had lost all hope. But hearing her say those things made him smile as he put his arms around her.
Eventually Sinbad started feeling her shaking lightly from crying. "It's okay," he said as he ran his hand across her hair trying to comfort her a little. He didn't know what else to say to her. He hoped that somehow it was possible to do something about that deal she had made, but since he didn't really know alot about that kind of things he decided not to say anything about it now. "It'll be alright..." he said both to her and to himself, hoping he was right.

With Sinbad's help, Odette tried to calm down a little and after a few minutes she'd stopped crying, although she soon regretted telling him about her feelings. Knowing that once her five years were up she would only hurt him a lot more now than if he thought that she still hated him, the thought that this would all be easier that way still burned at the back of her mind as she pulled away from him.

Odette laughed suddenly and looked up at him as she gently wiped her fingers across her tear-stained cheeks, 'was I this pathetic when we were kids?'

"Hmm," Sinbad said as he leaned back and tried to remember. "You had your moments," Sinbad said as he stuck out his tongue, trying to lighten the mood a bit more. "Like that time were we all tried to teach you how to ride a bike, and you got so sad because you couldn't do it." He smiled a little at the memory.