Chapter 75: 59|'How are you feeling?'

"You owe me something, duckling." "I do?" "You do." I grinned slightly and he tugged me towards the floor. I wounded my arms around his neck as he snaked his arms around my waist. No words were exchanged for a long while as he kept studying my face and I kept fidgeting as I looked anywhere but him. "I missed out on such a big part of your life." he whispered, suddenly and I was forced to look at him. "Everyone did. Hell, even I did." I bit the inside of my cheek as I cursed myself for saying that and then came the word vomit to avoid awkwardness. "You have nice hair." Cue 1000 times more awkwardness. I closed my eyes and shook my head as I muttered profanities under my breath while he laughed. "Still the same, duckling." I glared at him half-heartedly, dazed by his grin. "Let's play 20 question, okay?" I wanted to protest but whats the point? He will convince me anyway. "Okay." "Great." He grinned. "Favourite colour?" "How original." I bit back sarcastically. He gave me a blank look. "Black." "Like your soul." He teased "Hardy har har." I faked a laugh. "Um... how did you know where to come?" He smirked at my straight question. "Cedric told me about your kidnap but Elliot contacted me to come. He said that someone in Cedric's team is working for Cross and Elliot was commanded to get Cedric's whole team. He had no option but to do that in order to find the betrayer. I was already ready with my team for the rescue so I told him to go ahead." I nodded. "Um, do you have a boyfriend?" "He died so I don't know." I mumbled and his smile dropped. "I am sorry-" "Don't be. He was Logan Hunter." His eyes widened in a comical way and he cleared his throat. "Why were you and Rose sent out of country with Alex? Why did you not chose home?" "Can we... can we not talk about it?" He placed his forehead on mine and I could feel the emotional exhaustion radiating off him. I stayed silent and unmoving as I waited for him to move back or break the silence. When he didn't, I cleared my throat. "Are you an agent?" He nodded, slightly taken aback at sudden topic change. "I am. I work for a secret agent company and I am their youngest special agent." I shook my head with a smile at his proud grin. His mood instantly lightened and we fired questions at each other like this for a while. He kept asking stupid ones and I kept asking serious ones but then my eyes fell on Aiden again and I excused myself. "Hey." He was frowning at his drink when I broke his daze. "Hey." "What happened?" I frowned as he sighed. "Liz. She is upset and she ran away saying that she needed space. I don't know-" "You really like her, don't you?" he sighed and gave me a soft smile. "Yeah. But-" "She will come around, Aid. Give her some time and space to move on, okay?" he nodded and I excused myself to search for Liz. ~~~~~~~~~~ I huffed and stopped wriggling my toes as I half-heartedly got up to address the knock. The moment my feet landed on cold marble, I cursed. Heels are death traps. Period. Unlocking the door, I threw it open only to be greeted by Ian Abel Knight in his perfect glory. I frowned in confusion. "Alex's room is across mine." He smirked and shook his head. "But I am here for you, duckling." I glared at him and crossed my arms as I blocked the doorway. "What?" "Won't you invite me in?" he pouted and it took physical effort to stop my eyes from wandering down to his lips. What? Don't blame me! I maybe a princess but I have raging teenage hormones too! "No." His smirk widened as he took a step closer. I gulped. "So, you won't move?" "No." Thank the heavens that my voice stayed strong because damn, my heart was going weak. "Not even now?" He took another step closer and I felt his breath on my face. I held myself from stepping back. "N-No." There goes my voice. "Are you sure?" He leaned down and I effing gave up. "Fine!" I shouted and he hissed before rubbing his ear. "Damn." I stuck my tongue out and marched towards my bed as I took a seat on edge. He rolled his eyes at my behaviour and begrudgingly took a seat on couch opposite to the huge king size bed. "How are you feeling?" I was a bit taken aback by his question but I shrugged as he interlaced his fingers on his knees and leaned forward. Don't look at the veins in arms. Don't look. "Tired? I mean heels suck." I played it cool. He shook his head as if disappointed. "Did you came to some conclusion recently? About yourself?" I sent him a funny look but gave the question a thought. My eyes widened at my realization. "Yeah." He frowned in concentration as if I was about to tell him my deepest secret. "A year ago, I used to think that I am a tomboy but today, I realized that I am not. I am not the girly type too. So, that means that I come somewhere in between." I nodded in satisfaction and he face palmed. I eyed him as if he lost his mind and he sighed before getting up and sitting next to me. "Don't." I frowned and opened my mouth but he beat me to it. "Don't try to hide or pretend, swan because we know. We know that you tasted a severe betrayal recently and nobody expects you to be normal or happy. Because trust me, every single person who loves you knows that you are putting up walls and pretending to be fine when you are not. Talk to us. Vent it out. I know that you've tied a lots of loose ends with your family and friends but some scars of backstabs are still fresh and the worst part is that you are not even giving anyone a chance to tend to them. You are faking and as far as I have heard from your brother, his sister wears her heart on her sleeve. She is not afraid to show what she is feeling. So don't change, Cygnet. These people just got you back. Don't make them lose you again. Maybe not physically, but emotionally and once they lose you emotionally, they won't ever get you back." I was wide eyed by the end of his rant. Not even once did he break the eye contact and I was captivated by the depth of his words in his eyes.