Perdita

47 | facing the reality

Apollo was walking down the hallway when I stepped out, his back to me. I called out for him and he paused, turning around to face me.

"Hmm?"

"Where's Ace?" I asked.

"In one of his offices." A flash of amusement crossed his eyes and I raised my brows in suspicion at the sight.

"And where is that?"

"This way." He pointed his index finger to the corridor behind me. "Two right turns, walk straight until the end, take a left turn, there'll be stairs, go up, another straight line until the end, other one left turn, one right turn, another staircase, left turn, walk until the end, left turn and chose the third door and bam! The office!" He snapped his fingers at the end.

I blinked at him in a moment of silence. "I did not get any of that." I deadpanned.

He laughed. "I know. It takes time to get used to this big place. Come on, I'll lead the way. Do you need your wheelchair? I can carry you up the stairs if you need."

I shook my head. "Thanks. I can walk. All I did for three days is just to sit around so that's more than enough rest."

"Mood," Apollo muttered. "I want to do the same. But the damn school awaits me."

"You go to school in person?" My brows furrowed. I never saw them in their uniforms, leave the house, or even mention anything about it.

"Homeschooling." He replied as he began to lead the way with me trailing beside him. "When you arrived, Ace and Elijah decided to transfer us to online then got us a tutor because we wanted to be here. But when you go, we'll go, too."

I nodded thoughtfully. "That's why I'm going to his office to talk to Ace now. I want to go to school soon as possible."

His brows shot up in surprise. "School? Elijah said it would take time for you to go back. Have you regained your memories?"

"Yeah," I said. "Not all of them but they're coming back in both my dreams or visions."

A flash of hurt crossed his features before it disappeared as quickly as it came. He coughed softly on his fist and cleared his throat. "Oh." He murmured and frowned. "You didn't tell me that..."

"No, I didn't."

He nodded stiffly and I shot a hand out to get ahold of his bicep to halt us from his increasing brisk speed of walking. "Listen, Apollo, I'm sorry if you feel hurt that I didn't tell you. I didn't tell somebody else about this, too. It's just that I'm a private person. I have secrets and you have yours, too. I'm not going to brush around the bush but I don't trust all of you completely yet. It's just hard for me too. But I do care about you. A lot."

He gave a small smile. "Yeah, I guess all of us do have secrets that we don't want to tell, even to someone we care about. I understand. I was just taken aback. I just don't like the fact that we do know you."

"What do you mean by you don't know me?"

"I mean, I know your personality very well now but I don't think you realize this...but you're very hard to read. You offer no inkling or any hint on what you're thinking about. I can't even tell if you're actually sad when you smile. You're just...a good actress."

"Maybe I should be an actress?" I joked - not wanting to have a deep conversation just yet - and he snorted, shaking his head, and looked down the floor.

Afterward, we just joked around and Apollo, of course, said random things about his life which I was strangely invested in. It took twenty minutes to get there, particularly because I struggled to climb the stairs. Apollo offered to just carry me up but I refused. I wanted to increase my stamina, even if Apollo complained the most time that he was bored. He could afford to spare twenty minutes with me out of twenty-four hours of the day.