Love At The Headington Hill

CHAPTER 19 - Open Wound.

He had wondered once what it was like to feel this way about someone. Not just attraction, not just knowing their body. But their souls. Knowing so much about them that you knew their deepest secrets and their weakest spots. Their strengths and their purposes.

Not a forced relationship, not just a fling. But love.

The one thing he had waited for, for so long.

Valerie pulled the sheets around them. Sebastian was kissing a path down her neck now. Her breaths were heavy.
She gasped as he nibbled a familiar spot on her collarbone.

"Sebastian, hey" he looked up. "What time is it?"

He turned on his phone. Then muttered a few curses under his breath.

"Shit, we should really finish packing first, or-" he was cut off by an abrupt knock on the door.

"Valerie, Sebastian, are you there?" Dahlia's voice.

They both started cursing audibly now.

Then got up and composed themselves as fast as possible before throwing open the door. Dahlia seemed to take in their features for a minute, realisation sparking up on her eyes. Then she gave a sly smirk.

"Come downstairs after packing, we have important information about Bryant." She announced.

Valerie gave a slight nod, then she closed the door as Dahlia left.

She turned to look at the man, only to find his hazel irises lingering on her. Sebastian took in her swollen lips, holding himself together. Then he sighed.

"Come on, let's finish up the packing." His lips perked up in the barest hint of a smile promising a warm sunshine.

☆♤◇♡◇♧☆

"So your guess is that Arthur Bryant is the son of James Bryant?" Valerie questioned Audrey, who was typing away something on her laptop.

"Yeah, the results show that he was born on 1996, a pretty big age gap for a sibling. My guess is that either of them cut ties off with each other or Arthur Bryant won't be ranting accusatory claims about his father randomly on the Internet." She scrolled through some page, then squinted her eyes at the screen. Then shrugged off the random thought that had popped up on her mind.

Valerie turned to the others, who seemed to agree with her.

When her eyes met Sebastian's, she knew something was brewing on his mind. Something he was not ready to announce yet. He gave a slight nod to her, saving up their conversation for later.

"When are we leaving?" Trevor broke the silence, changing the subject.

"Tomorrow five o'clock in the morning. Don't be late." Sebastian said, rising from his seat, then added, "Go to sleep everybody, we'll have a lot to deal with anyway after entering Oxford again."

Later when Valerie was lying in bed at night, staring up at her phone screen, reading the same article over and over again - a soft knock floated from the door. She raised her voice a bit,"Come in."

A tall figure entered the room, Sebastian approached her bed.

She turned on the lamp on her bedside table. "Sebastian? Weren't you sleeping?"

"I can't." He replied, his voice just above a whisper, loud enough to be heard by her. The sudden memory of a few hours back, lingered on the back of her head.

She nodded, "Me too." Then added, getting up from the bed,"What did you want to say when we were downstairs?"

"Yeah, about his supposed son. I think Audrey's right. When you were in the field today, Felix called me, he said something about finding a person close to Bryant who can help us bring him down, but it required a cost. And I'm quite sure he is fulfilling that 'cost' himself."

"Why is Felix doing so much for me? I mean, he doesn't even know me that well." She asked him.

"No idea, but I belive people either help others when they themselves want to be helped, or when they don't want others to suffer the way they did. Maybe Felix has something going on which I had previously failed to understand." Sebastian finished in one breath, then added, shaking his head, "I don't think those two years were nothing, I think I had misunderstood him. Maybe because of father's passing, I refused to be realistic."

Valerie rubbed a hand along his shoulder blades, then wrapped her arms around in a soft embrace. He smelled of rosewood and herbs. She patted his back, too scared to make it look like she was pitying him, but too worried about what would happen if she let go.

He hugged her back.

This time, Valerie realised, she wasn't the only one feeling like an open wound.

A/N :

Well hello again! I'm so happy to be able to finish two chapters in a day! My head is overwhelmed with new ideas. I hope to look forward to your feedback. To the readers (who are still giving this a chance) thanks a lot for bearing with me for all these chapters!

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Have a good day/night.