𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐨'𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞|✓

xviii.

♔✙ 𝐑 𝐄 𝐈 𝐃 ✙♔

Today, I was in charge of the confessions.

I allocated my entire afternoon to listening to the girls' confessions and forgiving them for their sins. A lot of them were interesting and now, it was easy to tell that everyone had some dark secrets that they were holding.

I expected a few people to come for confessions, but I found them stretching by an extra hour as many girls wanted to be forgiven and unload the burdens off their shoulders. I even had a couple of girls crying behind the screen and I was very patient with that.

I needed to go for confessions too; there were a few things I needed to discuss with God.

I clasped my hands as I waited for the next person. They was going to be the last person because I had a meeting with the Priests at The Cathedral offices.

I heard the door open then close again, and I patiently heard them settling down, probably making the Sign Of The Cross before we started.

I was about to recite my usual phrase to commence the confession when a sigh was heard from the other end. I wonder what this person is going through, it must be quite deep.

Nevertheless, the show must go on.

"I'm in love with a Priest." A familiar, dulcet voice that matched the one haunting me in my dreams rung in my ears, and my blood ran cold immediately.

I watched the skin on my trembling hands turn deathly pale, and the air around me was starting to get thicker. I felt a bit suffocated and just when I thought I was successfully working towards recovery, she was within my vicinity again.

"I'm not really here to confess, Father. I just need to get this burden off my chest, it's been bothering me for days now." Iris spoke discreetly, but audible enough for me to hear.

She was speaking because she obviously didn't think I was behind the screen. Another Father was supposed to handle this but he had an emergency to attend to last minute, hence, I had to take over.

"I made a mistake, Father. I went against everything I promised myself for this year," she started as I eagerly listened. This served as an explanation towards her behaviour.

"I promised myself that after the messy break up with my ex, Finley, I'd never fall in love again. He shattered every little affection in me and I thought I was going to die from heartbreak because I thought he had been my world,"

"But I started learning here, and little did I know that I was going to meet my real world, my soul mate. Well, at least I think he is. I realised that the love that I had shared with Finley can never ever compare to the one I'm having here. This new man makes me feel so different, so special, so beautiful, and it was actually love at first sight. I remember how we bumped into each other at a restaurant and the way we couldn't stop staring at each other." She giggled and I found myself smiling too.