Love At The Headington Hill

CHAPTER 16 - Snowflakes.

Valerie's cheeks were slightly pink and her brown irises looked almost black. Her eyes gleamed in the morning light, her hair was tied loosely in a single braid.

His cheeks were heating up. He cleared his throat as she approached.

"So", was all he managed to get out.

"So" She narrowed her eyes.

"Uhm- Valerie, I'm really sorry."

She frowned, he continued, "What happened last night, it was not what I intended. I just wanted to hand you the  paper. I was not on my right mind. It- it was a mistake."

"Hmm" She merely nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait- Valerie!" He caught her sweater instead of her wrist. She turned, a questioning look on her face. " Look, can we just walk around or something...I need to explain something more. "

She nodded again.

They set off towards the gate, the fresh morning air filling in Sebastian's lungs. He stopped in front of the gate and opened it, after both of them had made it out of the Davies's, Sebastian speaks up.

"So, did you talk to Nova?" Sebastian turned to her.

Valerie looked into his eyes, then spoke in a voice that was merely above a whisper, "Did you know? About me and Julian?"

"I did, but it was wrong of me to force my feelings onto you, the very next day." Sebastian replied, eyes travelling at his feet, then hers.

"I never said, it was a mistake." She spoke quietly. Sebastian's head snapped up towards her direction. She continued, "I thought I was at fault, because you were with Nova, but now I know it wasn't a error in that case. But you still needed time."

Sebastian shook his head. Then without a second thought, grabbed her hand in his and entangled their fingers. The snow covered pavement pressed underneath their feet. They were standing near a park now. Valerie moved over to the iron gate and pushed it open. The ground was huge. It was mostly green at times, but in this weather, even the slides, swings, Merry-go-round, everything was covered in a white foam.

They dusted off a bench and sat down. Hand in hand. Silence stretched between them.

"Can I ask you something?" Valerie's voice interrupted the stillness.

"Hm?"

"Do you really feel the same way?" Her eyes were rather demanding than calm.

He answered swiftly, "I do."

Her expression softened instantly, Sebastian thought that maybe just for a fraction of a second, he saw something more than just love in those ebony irises. A haunting desire. But then again, he might have just imagined that. Her eyes were more like a maze full of dangerous games and for her, he was ready to play them.

He brought her hand upto his lips. Then pressed a feathery kiss to her knuckles. Just a small brush of his mouth. She shuddered slightly.

When he turned to examine her face again, he caught her gaze. Her cheeks were heated.

She brought her other hand upto his face, settled closer, then whispered a kiss to his bottom lip. Then his arms were around her body. She was giving into his touch. She snuggled her face into his chest.

He knew there was no going back now.

This was just the beginning.

☆♤◇♡◇♧☆

Felix kept his gaze on the computer screen. All the search results were nothing but a repetition of the incident. But one interesting thing had taken place after last night.

All the photos of James Bryant had been deleted from every site. No single photos, no group photos. Infact, most of the article now states that James Bryant was never seen, but his signature was available - but it was under the controls of the Australian organisation with which he worked. Australian institution of Physics and other Sciences.

But a very new article had been uploaded. Not very famous, but certainly very informative. It was from a student seeking a PhD in Aerospace engineering in the University of Cambridge along with his friend studying Journalism.

The article claimed that a Professor in the University of Oxford had been identified as a doppelganger of James Bryant, but the pictures were not used due to the newly applied restrictions. Someone was definitely paying these people to hide the photos.

And surprisingly this article was supporting the said culprit - F.O.

Me. A voice screamed inside him.

He took off his glasses and got up from his seat, rubbing his temple.

He filled a glass of water, pushed the liquid down his throat, then sat down again. He would keep scrolling until he found something useful.

After another ten minutes of researching, he found some numbers gathered up in a corner. A phone number.

His spine tensed. He quickly grabbed a pen and wrote it down. The phone number, most likely belonged to the author of the article. Beside it, a signature was placed.

Felix tried to make out the words from the excessively cursive writing. Whatever the person's first name was, it was hard to be identified, but the surname stood out - Bryant.

Felix took the plug of the charger off his phone and saved the contact.

He was going to need this.

After another hour of searching and scrolling and failing to find any more information, he decided to call the number. He took off his phone and dialed the number. Opening the window and looking out of it.

The person didn't pick up. He dialed again, watching the snowflakes fall slowly from the skies. This year the winter was a bit too harsh.

Now the person on the other side, picked up on the third ring.

"Hello, this is Arthur Bryant, how may I help you?" A soft voice came from the other end.

A smile stretched on Felix's lips, he replied, "This is Felix Osborne, I guess you will be glad to help me catch your father out Arthur."

He just knew what he had to do now.

A/N :

YAY! I finally finished this chapter too!

Thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to reach 1k reads. And thanks again for voting on this story. Make sure to stay tuned if you want to follow up on the future of Valerie and Sebastian and Felix. 

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Bye! :)