SGE His Broken Heart (Sequel to His Darkened Heart)

Chapter 23 The Sweetest Poison

While the Lady of the Lake had been the one to give in to Japeth's advances, allowing him to envelop her lips with his own, Sophie was the one taking the lead this time around. She moved her lips as if pursing them, brushing them against Japeth's tentatively as Japeth sat there, too shocked to move.

He should've pulled away, knowing this whole thing was terribly terribly wrong. It was a sin after all to have Sophie kiss him. She belonged to Rhian still, even if Rhian was dead and she couldn't remember a thing about him. Sophie loved Rhian. Sophie should've been kissing Rhian, not Japeth.

But the wrongness of the act didn't seem to register in Sophie's mind, but she did eventually draw back, halting her advances after taking notice that Japeth was as stiff as a statue. She looked crestfallen in that moment, looking like she wanted to scold herself for doing such a thing, for kissing Japeth despite knowing the vulnerable state of mind Japeth had been in just seconds ago.

A heavy silence fell between the pair. Japeth wished to say something, but he was left speechless still by Sophie's sudden act. He didn't know what else to feel other than shock and disbelief.

Muttering a hasty apology, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment, Sophie moved off the bed to make her exit from the bedroom. But as she quickly bent down to smooth out the wrinkles in the skirt of her dress, Japeth suddenly caught sight of a figure silhouetted in the doorway, and he flinched, knowing who the figure was immediately without having to glimpse their face.

"Sophie!" Japeth blurted, swiveling his head to the blonde girl who was unaware of his deceased brother standing in the doorway. Japeth was confused as to why he'd cried out to Sophie as if he expected her to see what he saw, as if he expected her to share in his madness.

But Sophie saw nothing. She looked up at Japeth, her eyebrow arched in question. Before Japeth knew what he was doing, he was reaching for Sophie to pull her back onto the bed without warning. Sophie seemed like she was about to ask what Japeth wanted, but no words came out of her mouth.

Japeth didn't dare look back over at the doorway to check if Rhian was still there. He didn't have to actually because within the blink of an eye, Rhian was right by the bed as if he'd magically teleported to that spot, right behind Sophie. Japeth, instead of focusing upon his dead brother, turned his attention upon Sophie.

All Japeth wanted in that moment was to get Rhian out of his damn head and to find a way to make Rhian stop haunting him like a ghost. He recalled that single moment Sophie had kissed him, and he realized that Sophie's kiss had made him forget for a while about his worries. Sophie's kiss had made him forget about the fact he was falling into a hole of insanity.

In a way, perhaps Sophie's kiss had even made Japeth feel the tinniest bit numb. It was a numbness he welcomed, because with that numbness, there was no anger or grief. It was just pure nothingness. A nothingness Japeth would rather fall into than become lost in his own head where Rhian's death plagued him nonstop.

So, Japeth wrapped his arm around Sophie's back and with his free hand, he cupped her smooth cheek. Sophie's emerald eyes flickered in surprise and Japeth heard her suck in a deep breath. It didn't matter in that moment that it was Sophie who Japeth was holding so close. It didn't matter that Sophie was gazing into his eyes with such adoration and devotion, willing to give her whole self to him without question.

All that mattered in that moment was fighting against the darkness threatening to overcome Japeth's mind. All that mattered in that moment was casting the memory of Rhian back into the grave where it belonged.