The Duke and the Deal

09. Mixed Emotions

~Not Edited~

Ella stood her ground, still and with no motion. Time seemed to stop as Ella looked up towards him. Aye, his identification could only be known as him, for it has been a long matter of time since their last encounter, which was unfortunate to the count.

Little by little as they stood there staring into one another's eyes and with no words to say, Ella's past memories crashed within her with so much distraught. These were memories she chose to lock away deep within her forever and never go back to them, but fate had a different path for Ella and it was eating her up inside.

However, it was just a mere second as they stood with such stillness until Ella finally returned back to reality as she turned her gaze away from him and walked passed him as if he were just another stranger walking by.

Him, however, not surprised at all by her reaction, turned around and grabbed Ella's right forearm with calm but determined force making her stop in her tracks and Ella abruptly turned around to face him once again with an angered expression. Ella tried to wriggle her forearm free from him's grip but came to no avail as he was determined in not letting her go.

"Let me go!" Ella exclaimed with calm but obvious fierce expression, noting that it was her first words she'd ever said to him since a moment ago.

With ease, sorrow and sincere forming at his tone, him replied:

"Ella...please..."

Before when him would call her name it would bring her into her dazzled and dazed moments with so many butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. But now, him saying her name again after that incident, Ella only felt revolted and disgusted.

"Just don't," Ella replied with no emotion.

"It's been a long time," Him began once again. "Can we at least talk?"

Ella couldn't contemplate what she had just heard.

Talk? Really? Ella thought with astonishment.

"You want to talk? Fine." Ella responded with ease but such fierce supreme.

Ella finally managed to escape from Him's grasp as she said before turning to go:

"I don't ever want to see you again. Period."

Ella made sure that before she left Him would get the message and it looked like he did by his saddened expression.

With all the courage Ella had gained these past few years, Ella turned around and left a lost Him standing alone.

It was an enveloping scenario because not far from the distance the duke himself witnessed everything and what he saw wasn't satisfying to describe how he felt at that moment.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Not one word was said after Ella and Amos were making their way back to the castle. The atmosphere around them was awkward and yet tense with their own unexplained mixed emotions.

After the encounter, Ella had stumbled upon she felt like taking back on her deal with the Duke but couldn't because she had no choice. She couldn't risk losing the only family she ever cares for.

Rage gathered up within her. It was like hell inside of Ella but she was good at not showing it on the outside. It was all too sudden her encounter with Him. She never thought much about her past until now and the thought of it only led to Ella feeling, even more, despise towards nobility.

Amos, on the other hand, felt a sting of pain flicker at his chest every once in a while whenever he stole a short, swift glimpse of Ella who retorted silently in her little corner looking out into the midst of the moving landscape before her. He couldn't contemplate why he was feeling that way exactly. It was all strange and yet annoying to Amos's thoughts. It seemed as if whenever he thought about Ella's encounter with the mysterious man that he witnessed not so long ago, he felt something peculiar and it was ringing at his chest. It was definitely a pain but a strange kind of pain he has never felt before.