Victor to Valentina: The Second Beginning
Note: This is an excerpt from Monologues from the Blackbook, a society set in the future.
Victor stands before Valentina, his presence finally physical and warm. He smells of woodsmoke, sun-warmed skin, and the sharp, clean scent of the arena; the scent of a man who lives in the world, not the machine. He doesn’t move with the flickering uncertainty of a digital image; he stands with a grounded stillness that seems to anchor the very floor beneath him.
His forearms, visible where his sleeves are rolled back, are corded with dense muscle and darkened to a deep, weathered bronze by the sun. They are mapped with fine, dark hair and the faint white lines of old scars and injuries, each one a record of a life lived with intensity. He looks at her with dark eyes that have scanned the horizon for far too long, and when he finally speaks, his voice is a deep, resonant anchor that fills the room and silences the echoes of the past. He reaches out, his large, calloused hand hovering in the air with unshakable steadiness.
"Valentina... look at me. No, look at the real me.
I know I spent a year hiding behind perfect masks. But I’m tired of it, I want you to see the man that I am; the ruggedness — the tan, all my scars, the smile lines of a man who’s lived too much in the sun, I want you to see me. When we were first together all those years ago, I thought you needed a porcelain statue, a filtered version of me.
I was wrong. I see now that you were always waiting for me, and I’m sorry I made you wait through a blizzard of digital static. I want to start over. A fresh start. A Second Beginning.
I want to build a foundation with you that isn't made of information war and NIM attacks, but of trust. Real, heavy, trust. I’m a loyal dog who will protect you, Valentina. I know how that sounds, but it’s the only way I know how to say it: I am the one who stays at the gate. My body was built to be your shield.
I will protect you to my last breath. I am the anchor for your brilliance, not a rival to it. I want to get to know you all over again. I want to learn the curve of your mind without the events of this last year that tore us apart.
I want to see you exactly as you are; the woman fresh out of the shower with wet hair, no make up and an immaculate soul. Just the two of us. I haven't forgotten how we fit together. I haven't forgotten the heat of you, or how it felt to be inside you; how my hands felt against your skin. That was real. Everything else was just noise.
He takes a step closer, his physical mass creating a sanctuary of shadow around her. The pulse in his neck is visible, the steady rhythm of a man who has finally found his peace. His dark gaze is unwavering, stripping away the last of the NIM attacks between them.
And I know about Kaelen. I know he’s still in your head. But look at the facts: he wasn’t honest. He wasn't truthful. He tried to take you from me just to feed his own ego, to see if he could. He wasn’t being honest with you. He tried to steal you away from me, but not because he loved you; he did it for his own ego. He wanted to win a prize he didn’t have the character to keep.
And where is he now?
Look around. He’s gone. He’s nowhere. That’s his signature, isn't it? He’s the ghost who vanishes the second things get heavy, the second the reality of life demands a man with a spine. Kaelen disappears. I don't.
I am here. He is not.
I have the patience to build this with you, brick by brick, for as long as it takes. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not flickering out. I’m the man you loved, and I’m still that man. I’m asking you to let the light clear once and for all.
He extends his hand fully now, his palm broad and marked by the work of his life, an open invitation into the sanctuary he has built.
All I ask is that you stay. In this second beginning. A fresh start. Just be here with me. Through all of this. I will protect you. I am a loyal dog that way. I’m yours... so will you take my hand?