Love At The Headington Hill

CHAPTER 8 - Smiles and Secrets.

Valerie was roaming around the garden when she was approached by an awkward looking Sebastian.

It was the morning of Thanksgiving, after today she will be leaving for good.

"Hey," Sebastian called, his voice surprisingly low.

"Hey" She said sternly.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Alright? I didn't mean any of the things I said the other day." He exhaled, finishing.

"Good," Valerie said, half-surprised.

Unknowingly, they both started pacing up the grassy field. The leaves were falling out of trees. November air howled around the place, freezing the two humans out in the yard. They kept up with the silence until Valerie spoke up.

"Can I see your library for once?"

Sebastian seemed to awake from his whirlpool of thoughts for he shook his head and replied, "Of course, let's go in then." Valerie followed.

The two of them entered the house and went up the marble staircases. They met with Ivory upstairs who greeted them with a small, "good morning". Then Sebastian opened the door to a giant room, filled with bookshelves made of Mahogany wood and at least five thousand different books.

That's when Valerie lost all her self-control.

It seemed as if God had blessed her to be the luckiest person alive. Sure she had seen much larger libraries, but the thought of someone she knew having this much books was crazy.

She ran around the place occasionally stopping to check out some of the authors she knew.

Then she heard a chuckle. She swiped her head towards the door, Sebastian stood there observing her, the action felt almost intimate. The kind she was not sure Julian would have liked.

"What are you looking at?" Valerie asked, still amazed.

"Nothing" Sebastian shook his head and added. "I was just wondering how fast you could finish all of these books."

Valerie arched up her left eyebrow, "Are you questioning my abilities?" She asked.

"Nah, it's just a thought. Anyways," he said turning to the door, "I will be at my room, it's just beside this one, call me if you need anything." Then he left.

Valerie could not remember how long she sat there, reading.

For all she knew, she was called for lunch which was in ten minutes. And she was still confused about the incidents in Wuthering Heights. Although she had read it a hundred times previously.

Finally Valerie got up.

Only to crash herself into a tower sized homo sapien.

"Ouch, what the fu-"

"How come you still haven't moved an inch from this place?" Sebastian's voice asked her.

"I was, until you barged in."

Sebastian sighed audibly, then said, "If you do not come down for dinner on time today like this, I swear to god I will lock this-"

"Okay!" Then Valerie rushed downstairs, almost tripping on her way.

Lunch was served, mostly by Ivory and their cook.

Julian kept glancing at her with a "where-were-you-this-whole-time?" look throughout the meal. While Felix had his usual quite attitude towards everyone and occasionally he would engage in some conversations with Fred. Sebastian was surprisingly stiff as compared to his attitude upstairs while Ivory kept discussing about dinner and desserts.