That last word escaped my lips as though it’d been waiting for weeks. It might’ve been cherry-flavored, to an extent, or perhaps slightly laced with mint. It was also a poison, sweet and delicious till my last breath. It was sweet surrendering. I surrendered, because there was no other way out. I had no choice but to give up. I did not want to though. I was the last one to do it. I had my back turned to the wall, the only one left alive, and by mere miracle. My hair, long and as dark as the mind can be, was draped over my body, scratched, beaten up and bloody. I knew that this sweet poison was already half-done with its seducing dance of slow death.

That smile he gave me wasn’t all too pleasant. None of it reached his eyes, cold as ice itself. He wanted me dead. I’d been used for his purposes, and now he was finished. I would die with honor though. Everyone else gave up too soon. I was used, but now I would be the one to dispose of him. My strength was nearly gone. But I would not move my eyes away from his. His eyes might be like ice, but mine were made of fire, and I would melt them. I would die, defenseless and with my back to a wall, and I’d take him with me.

“Are you done with me?”

“Dear, I’d finished with you long ago.”

“Then you loved me.”

“Never.”

I smiled. I already knew the truth. He used me, but in the end, he also loved me. He’s stabbed me with his love, kissed me with the taste of sweet death on his lips, and whispered words of hate into my ears. I loved him for it. And he loved me because I was the only angel to love someone as hated as him. I chose to become his angel.

He loved me for the love I gave him in the face of his darkness. I loved him for the taste of darkness he let me have.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And one last time, I tasted that sweet cherry laced with mint, which surrounded and permeated his love and his lips. He hated me and he loved me. Though blood dripped down my body, though I was taking my last breaths, at least I was dying with the knowledge that someone did love me.

“Surrender.”

That last word escaped my lips as though it’d been waiting for weeks. It might’ve been cherry-flavored, to an extent, or perhaps slightly laced with mint. It was also a poison, sweet and delicious till my last breath. It was sweet surrendering. I surrendered, because there was no other way out.

I surrendered to love. And it tasted sweet.