Valerie couldn't stop talking.
Sure she was placed in the second position, but that didn't stop her from sharing her experience.
Their riding instructor would be proud.
Sebastian was smiling throughout the journey back home, the Davis twins were bickering again, Dahlia was trying to simultaneously text her girlfriend and manage them at the same time and Julian was peculiarly quiet.
"-and when we were nearing th-" Valerie's sentences hung in the air as she stared at Julian.
"Hey Julian," She stared, her voice a bit too sweet. "Can I have your headphones?"
Julian remained silent, staring at the black mole on his left foot.
"Hello?" Valerie said in a singsong voice. A bit louder this time. Julian still remained non-responsive.
"Julian!" Her voice tore through Audrey's shrill voice, abruptly pausing their argument for the time being. Julian jumped and stared at her.
"Well?" It was Sebastian who shot him the question.
"Well what?" Julian finally spoke, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat.
"Something's bothering you, what's wrong?" Valerie squinted her eyes at him.
"Nope, everything's great." He replied.
"Then tell me, by exactly how many seconds did I lose by?"
Julian stared at her dumbfounded. "Uhm.., sorry, I zoned out."
"You can tell us if anythings bothering you, you know..." Valerie lowered her voice.
Julian shook his head, "If there was anything, I'd be the first to let you know. Trust me. Now go on." He nudged her with his elbow. In the front seat, the twins stared bickering again, whereas Dahlia had fallen asleep on Sebastian.
They both smiled at each other, knowing the good days were the result of their own effort, knowing that the days to come will be better, if they were together.
Her heart didn't have time to worry now, lest the mild peace she still had would also vanish in thin air.
☆♤◇♡◇♧☆
"Valerie?" Sebastian's voice echoed through her hotel room.
He rubbed his temples, where the hell was she? He had been searching for her for almost an hour now. He raised his voice again,"Hey, I swear if you don't respond this time, I'm going to leave you in London for a month now. Don't you want to return?"
Still no response. She wasn't even answering her phone, damn this girl.
He looked for her in the kitchens again next, and sure she was there, perched up on the counter. Consuming what looked like a whole jar of peanut butter.
"The last time I checked, you weren't here." He stated, folding his arms.
"And when was the last time?" She asked, swallowing a sickening amount of peanut butter.
"I don't know, maybe an hour ago?" He asked, raising his left eyebrow.
"And you think I will sit still for an hour?
"First of all, don't consume that much of peanut butter if you value your digestive system. Secondly, do you remember that we were supposed to return?" Sebastian asked approaching her and grabbing her shoulders.
Valerie swiftly ignored his first statement and nodded. Sebastian plucked out the jar from her hands.
"Hey, give it back!" She almost jumped on him.
"Nah. Have you packed yet?" Hovering the jar a a feet over their heads, out of reach of her.
"I will! Later..."
"Now." Sebastian said with finality.
"Alright I'm going." She replied, giving up, muttering under her breath.
Sebastian gave a silent chuckle, then tagged along with her.
When they entered her room again, there was a lot more to do than he had imagined. Turned out, Valerie hadn't even unpacked properly after their arrival. He sighed and said, "Come on, I'll help you."
They started off with her clothes first. Valerie was packing off every piece of fabric around her, or rather, stuffing her suitcase with them. Sebastian remained quiet this time, it seemed she was enough bothered already, so he just occasionally arranged her other stuff.
When they were almost done. Valerie threw herself on the single bed. Sighing.
"We're not done yet" Sebastian said.
"I'm tired, I need more peanut butter." Valerie claimed dramatically. She turned to look at Sebastian. He looked like he was barely holding his laughter. The corners of his lips pulling up with the hint of a mischievous smile.
She sat up. He seated himself beside her next. He still looked funny.
"Am I a clown?" She asked. This time, he really did laugh, and Valerie's expression was so worth it. He wrapped and arm around her, then kissed her shoulder blades.
She tuned to him, a rare glint in her eyes.
She cupped his jaw, whispered a kiss on his lips, he could feel her smile. "In all honesty, I don't want to go back to my so called 'life', if living felt that way. For me, living is like fresh air, filling your lungs. Living is just being with your closest ones."
That, he realised was enough to get his heart thumping erratically
Within seconds, Sebastian's hands had reached behind her neck, tangling his fingers into her messy crimson hair. Then he kissed the corners of her lips.
Immediately their lips found each other. The kiss starting off as any other. But soon they were overpowering each other, leaving them both breathless by the second.
Sebastian could feel her increasing pulse rate, he could feel his own heartbeat ringing in his ears. She pulled away and kissed just below his jawline. Trailing kisses down his throat.
Sebastian tried to form words, the whole English language had seemed to vanish from his mind except her name. He whispered,"Valerie"
"Hmm?" She hummed in response, not looking up. He lowered her onto the bed. Her hands tangling in his curls. Their lips crashed again. The kiss deepened, tounges trying to take control.
His whole body was on fire. He moved her t-shirt over her head. Her hands were under his shirt, tracing lines on his chest. Leaving them both in a state of utter vulnerability.
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!
Don't forget to vote and share!
Have a good day/night.