Darling | All16 | ✔

TWENTY-SEVEN

My eyes are closed as I slide the paperclip in the lock. Jiggling it back and forth, I spend nearly ten minutes trying to open the lock on the door. The sound of footsteps draws near and I scatter, jamming the paperclip in the pocket of my sweats.

Gabriel was horrified when I told him that I was buying some sweats. It started when we all went on a hike. I had tripped over a tree root and went sprawling into the mud. Nathan had kindly offered to let me borrow his pants. I'm pretty sure it was the first time in my life that I've worn sweats; Mother always thought of them as pants for the lazy and poor. I haven't stopped wearing them.

"Sang?" Kevin calls. "What are you doing over here? There's lunch ready for you downstairs."

"Oh, okay," I say, turning around and pasting a smile on my face. "I'll go down now."

"Let me walk with you, darling," Kevin offers.

"Sure," I agree, my smile turning real.

Kevin is still acting strange around me and I don't know why. However, I do my best to make the most of moments like this. Moments where he is kind and soft.

He takes my hand and his hand instantly warms mine up.

"So North managed to rope you into helping him?" I laugh as we begin to slowly make our way to the kitchen.

"How did you know?" Kevin replies, sounding surprised.

I keep my hand on the railing and feel my way down the stairs as I explain, "The calluses on your palm. Plus, North mentioned that he and Silas might need some help with fixing the fence."

"Yeah, maybe renting a house might not have been our best move," Kevin admits. "There's a lot off work that needs to be done to make sure it's safe. But it's worth a shot since all of our safe houses are being found."

"I'd be happy to help you guys," I remind him with a grin.

Even as I say it though, I know that it's unlikely. After all, a blind, untrained girl wouldn't be of that much help. Still, I feel so helpless and useless.

"Oh, that's okay, Sang. Thanks, though," Kevin responds tightly.

"I just need something to do," I say as we enter the kitchen.

"You can be a sneaky ninja with me!" Luke declares excitedly. "And we can hide all of my chocolate!"

"WHAT?!" North roars from a completely different room.

I have no clue how North heard Luke, but Luke doesn't see too surprised as he calls back, "Future chocolate, baby brother!"

"He's lying," Kota whispers in my ear, his warm breath fanning down my neck. "He has a large stash of assorted candies hidden in with the water heater."

"But they'll melt!" I blurt, my eyes wide.

"We all have to learn lessons sometime," Kota replies cheerfully, neither of us whispering anymore.

"I don't know what you guys are whispering about, but your conspiring is making me nervous!" Sean announces making his way to the fridge. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm about to make an apple pie."

"NO!!" We all scream in horror.

"You burned down one safe house already!" Corey exclaims. "Isn't one enough?!"

"I don't wanna die!" Sobs Gabriel as loudly and dramatically as possible.

"Sean, I love you but you can't cook!" Owen yells.

"Aha!" I shout. "He admits it! They're in love and getting married!"

There's a silence and I feel all of them staring at me.

"What? I can't be the only one that thinks Sean and Owen are in love!" I defend with a shrug, my hands out and my fingers splayed.

"Yes, absolutely!" Raven agrees emphatically. "They only have eyes for each other! You and I should go discuss this privately. In length."

There's the sound of a thump, followed by Raven grunting.

"Sang, why don't we ignore them and their confusing stuff and eat lunch?" Brandon suggests, reading my mind.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" I accept, relieved.

I honestly have no clue how he knew that I just wanted to eat and not be confused by boys, but appreciate his mind reading.

"And none of them can come with us to eat outside, right?" Brandon says.

"Uhh... Well..." I mumble, fumbling with my words.

"Good choice, Sang. Let's go," Brandon decides.

Bewildered, I allow Brandon to take my hand and tug me outside. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but apparently, I'm eating lunch outside with Brandon.

I sit down on the grass, crossing my legs beneath me and Brandon sits down right beside me.

"Here's your plate," He tells me, placing it in my hands. "It's a sandwich and chips."

Nodding and giving him a smile of thanks, I pick up my sandwich and begin to eat it. At once, I recognize that Marc was the one that made it. Luke always uses the sweetest white bread he can find and North always uses strange bread that's always covered in seeds, claiming that it's healthy. Marc always manages to find a good middle ground between the two.

I quickly eat my lunch and sit back silently, enjoying the quiet and the sounds of nature. Somehow, the boys always manage to find a house that is secluded and away from the city. I guess it's safer that way. Not that I would know.

We keep moving from safehouse to safehouse, pursued by notes. The room that I was trying to get into earlier, it had information, all the clues and notes that the boys had found.

I can no longer sit here, doing nothing. I feel cooped up, caged. I'm not allowed to even make my own lunch, these boys are so protective. And I am so, so thankful for it, but I... I just need a little room to breathe.

My chin wobbles as I feel myself growing more and more emotional. I turn my face away from Brandon in hopes that he won't notice.

"Sang?" He says. "You okay?"

My watering eyes are closed and I am wishing for my sash to cover them as I turn to ask, "Why can't you guys just let me know about what's going on? I need to know what those notes say. Please."

I can feel a warm tear snaking down my face. Beside me, Brandon let's out a shuddering breath and scoots even closer to put an arm around me.

"Sang, we've been over this already," He replies gently. "We don't mean to hurt you, to scare, or anything like that. You just don't need to see the notes. They aren't nice and we don't need you to be scared. We all are just trying to do our job. To protect you."

That last line stings almost worse. My feelings for them have only grown stronger over the weeks and here he is saying it's just a job. Realistically, though, I know that it's the truth. I mean, they were hired. They were selected by an organization to protect me. I think what stings the most about his statement is the truth and the fact that they won't stick around when it's all over.

I don't know what I'm going to do when they leave. Living in a mansion all the time, pretty much alone is lonely. But I never noticed how lonely it was until they came. And now there will be an empty hole in my life.

That's the moment that I realize that I need the boys, I need them in my life. I can't let them go. I can't just let them walk away and leave me broken. I have two choices. Distance myself now before the situation grows out of hand or find a way to at least keep in contact with them somewhat.

"Sang?" Brandon says worried, startling me from my melodramatic thoughts. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"Just... When this is all over, will I be able to see you guys still?" I ask, desperately fighting back both tears and hope.

He shifts, probably thrown off by the sudden and abrupt change in topics. One moment I'm pleading with him for information, the next I'm desperately asking him about the future.

His voice is full of emotion when he responds, "Sang, I don't think we could ever let you go."