CINDERELLA ¹ ╮

{31}

━━━━━━━ ☆☆ ━ OPHELIA continued to eat her breakfast nervously. She gulped the last bit of food down before speaking.

"Dad?" She called out.

"Yes?" He replied without looking at her. She inhaled deeply, trying to remain calm.

"Can I go on a hike today?" She asked with a nervous smile.

Damon gave her a reassuring grin in return. "Course we can. I'll grab-"

"N-no," She denied him hesitantly. "I wanna go on my own. Like by myself, on a hike," She informed him.

She shifted in her spot anxiously.

"Oh," Was all Damon could say coherently.

"Umm yeah... just make sure you bring everything you need like a water bottle, a reflective coat, a taser, pepper spray that's actually vervain too—" Damon rambles like the paranoid dad he is.

"Dad!" She interrupts him.

"I got it, relax," She tells him.

"I was raised in the woods. I think I can handle a hike on my own," Ophelia begrudgingly informed him.

"Right," Damon replied, still anxious over the thought of her all alone.

"Are you sure that you wanna go alone? I mean... I'm sure Stefan or
Elena would be happy to accompan—" He tried to persuade her.

"Nope. I'm good," Ophelia told him with a bright smile of excitement.

Making Damon sigh reluctantly. He moved over to her and wrapped her in a big hug.

She smiled and hugged him back. "Gods, I'm so glad you haven't gotten to the age that you hate hugs," Damon mumbled under his breath fearfully.

Ophelia pulled away with a smile. Not having heard his words.

"Bye Dad! Love ya!" She shouted as she scrambled to go downstairs and throw on her shoes to leave.

Damon waved back with a strained smile on his face.

"Be back by six and we'll have a make up dinner!" Damon called out. Ophelia didn't respond other than a final salute.

As soon as she left his sights, his phone let out a small dinging sound.

Glancing down he saw a message from John Gilbert.

'Everything set,'

Damon read the message six times. Beginning to have doubts about the quality of the plan at hand.

But he sucked it up to keep Ophelia safe. At least that's what he thought he was doing.

••• Time Skip •••

Ophelia's love for nature extended beyond mere appreciation.

It was a deep-seated desire to connect with every living thing around her.

As she embarked on her hike, her steps were deliberate, each one a gentle acknowledgment of the earth beneath her feet.

Her dark brown hair swayed with the rhythm of her movement, and her brown eyes sparkled with a childlike wonder.

Ophelia supposed her father's paranoia was beginning to rub off on her. As she was wearing a belt piece with pepper spray hanging off it.

The trail meandered through a lush forest, its canopy creating a mosaic of light and shadow on the forest floor.

Ophelia's keen eyes scanned every inch of the landscape, searching for the smallest signs of life.

She stopped frequently, bending down to admire delicate wildflowers, moss-covered rocks, and the intricate patterns of ferns unfurling in the dappled sunlight.