Chapter 128

"How long are you going to keep talking to yourself?"

I lifted my gaze.

"What? I’m not talking to myself."

"You mumble like you're praying. It’s weird."

"You’re rude."

He raised an eyebrow, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

I decided to pick up the book instead of giving him attention, but it was in vain. He got up, slowly circling the table until he reached me. I kept my eyes fixed on the book.

His scent seeped into my nostrils, and I wondered if my scent was as sweet and marked as his was intoxicating and a complete addiction.

His chin touched my neck, and his breath was so soft and discreet, unlike mine that pulled in all the air.

Then, his hand went through the pages, and his finger pressed on a line.

I dodged, pulling the chair. "Sit down."

A laugh bubbled out.

"Bossy."

He sat next to me, and even though I had pulled my chair to the side, Dante gave me a strange half-smile and dragged my chair closer to him with just one hand.

I squealed, surprised. Even though he was skinny, he had absurd strength.

I gave up on competing for the distance. Faulkner clearly hated losing as much as he liked seeing me nervous.

"Why does your ridiculous school want you to read Shakespeare?"

"My school isn’t ridiculous. The teacher wants us to dive into other classics. Shakespeare is one of them."

"What’s so special about him besides being romantic and tragic?"

"He’s not just romantic. It’s a way of life."

Dante sighed as if he were bored.

"It’s nothing special."

"You only say that because you don’t know how to read," I retorted, regretting it later, but Faulkner didn’t seem offended.

"Ouch. I’ll accept that answer."

"You’ll like it."

He shrugged.

"Then, start."

I kept wondering why he had agreed to be with me and let me teach him to read when he didn’t seem excited. It was like I had forced him.

"How do you want to do it?"

"It was your suggestion. So, you choose."

Okay.

I was starting to get nervous.

"Do you want me to..." He raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to finish. "For you...?"

I exhaled nervously. I was embarrassed to ask. I don’t know. It didn’t seem wrong, but it also didn’t seem like something my parents would let me do.

His lips curled at the corner.

"What for me? I didn’t hear you. Repeat."

I spread my hand over the book and avoided looking directly into his eyes.

"Do you want me to..." I swallowed dryly. "...you?"

"Are you asking me to kiss you?"

"No!" I shouted, startled, pressing the book to my chest.

"Why are you swallowing your words? You don’t eat them. Speak loudly." Dante pulled the chair even closer, his cologne hitting my senses, warming my cheeks. "Repeat."

"Do you want me to share the book with you?!" I yelled.

Dante examined me, and when I opened my eyes, I saw his face showing confusion. I hated looking like an idiot in front of him. I just wanted to be a pretty, smart, and funny girl. But it was so weird.

"I know it’s obvious, but I wanted to confirm because I don’t want you to think I’m annoying and..." I started nervously, worried that he’d think I was a fool from the start.

However, instead of paying attention to what I was saying, his movements were to grab my book and open the page. Then, he turned to me, and his finger pointed to something.

Letters.

P. U. L. C. H. R. A.

"Don’t you know these letters?" I asked, still trembling.

"Pulchra."

"What are you saying?"

"It’s a word."

"Which clearly doesn’t exist."

Dante didn’t react.

"Yeah. It doesn’t exist."

Dante tapped the book lightly. It was so strange knowing someone who didn’t know the words and letters but still felt like he knew better than me.

Despite the doubt, I stored that memory.

"Now you can read to me, but no strange voices."

I furrowed my brow.

"Strange voices?"

"Yes, Gray, strange voices. You look like you ask your parents to imitate a cow when they read a bedtime story to you."

I blushed instantly, but for embarrassing reasons.

"My parents don’t read stories to me!" I retorted. "And there are no cows in Romeo and Juliet!"

Dante laughed softly.

I shook my head, the energy popping through my blood.

Faulkner laid his head on the table, his arms supporting it, and his focus landing on me. My nerves tripped over my initial words, but I managed to focus my attention on my voice, and before I knew it, I was more thrilled by the prologue of the book than by Dante’s turbulent breath.

The twists of this doomed love and the stubbornness of the always-exalted parents, which ended in that sad fate, would soon be represented in two hours.

***

Seven years ago

I got out of bed with an insane amount of energy. I turned on Spotify at the highest volume possible and let my favorite songs play.

I experimented with new hairstyles, searched my wardrobe for a dress or a skirt that would make me look good. Today, I would have a few classes, which was great. I’d have time to be with Dante in the orphanage library, and I could barely wait.

He was a first-class jerk, but I enjoyed his company, despite everything. Faulkner was like a magnet molded into a pretty face, and I was easily drawn to him.

When I asked Dante if he wanted to keep spending our afternoons together, I only got a pinch on my nose.

He liked it.

And several more days went by, marked by some readings together.

Before heading downstairs, I fed my guinea pig. He still didn’t have a name, but I would eventually decide on one. I liked him because he was small and cute. He didn’t make a mess and listened to my craziness without judging me.

As I said goodbye to him and ran down the stairs to the kitchen, familiar voices crackled through the walls.

They hadn’t slept at home the previous night. They had had dinner with some important people from the city. These kinds of late nights always happened. I never went, but I was curious about why they always came back on the verge of divorce.

“Mom, Dad, good morning,” I said, opening the space in the kitchen and receiving their angry looks, which melted into affection when they saw me.

They didn’t get mad at me for no reason. In fact, they were amazing with me. I loved them very much. It just seemed like sometimes there was something wrong with them.

“Good morning, darling!” Mom was the first to come to me and plant a kiss on my forehead. She ruffled my curls and smiled. “What would you like for breakfast? I’ll ask Mrs. Fiona to make whatever you want.”

I shook my head.

“I’ll have cereal.”

I moved away and went to kiss my dad on the cheek. He made the same motions as Mom, touching my hair and smiling.

“We didn’t wake you up, did we?”

I shook my head, but it was stuck in my throat that I had already been woken up many times by their arguments after their dinners.

“The auction was heavy yesterday, and your mom and I made some mistakes, but we’ll sort it out. Don’t listen to what your classmates say today.”

He kissed my forehead again, and I nodded.

I didn’t quite understand when they said this. My classmates never commented on anything, but I knew their parents were also friends with mine. They were always busy with Othello Hospital. My dad was the director, and Mom was a successful surgeon. They had busy lives, and I understood that.

“Be careful, darling. Don’t come home alone, okay?”

I nodded before leaving the house after eating quickly. The disappearances had decreased, but still, there was a constant alert for everyone’s safety.

When I left the house, I saw Kayleen at the gate.

“Lia! Finally!” she exclaimed when I walked down the stairs from my house.

“Sorry. I had to repeat the cereal twice,” I apologized, hugging my friend. She hated hugs, but she tolerated mine.

“Okay, that’s enough! Where were you this weekend?”

I swallowed hard, tying my fingers in knots.

Kayleen didn’t know about my reading sessions with Dante. She would be pissed because she thought he was dangerous.

“Studying, of course. And you?”

“You won’t believe it!” Kayleen Cullbert exclaimed, grabbing my attention and that of some other guys walking with us to school. “Arya is alive!”

“Of course, she is,” I muttered.

“You don’t get it, Lia. She’s living in Germany! Her! Since when does that fake speak German?”

Arya had been our best friend. We were a trio until six months ago. Arya humiliated me in front of our classmates for an inexplicable reason. The next day, she was gone from school. Apparently, her parents moved, and so did she.

I never had time to understand what happened. My parents told me it was jealousy. Kayleen said she’d always been a snake, and on that day, her skin showed. I didn’t believe any of that, but there was nothing I could base myself on. So I preferred to have a blank spot in my head about it.

“How did you know?”

“Daniel showed me. He shows me everything,” Kayleen said proudly.

“He likes you. That’s for sure.”

My best friend shot me a look, stealing a laugh from me.

“I don’t care about his feelings for me. I just want to know how Arya didn’t suffer any consequences,” she snarled angrily.

I shrugged.

“I don’t think about her much.”

“Good, because if Arya ever shows up again, I hope you don’t even look at her. She doesn’t deserve it,” Kayleen warned, her brown eyes completely filled with rage.

If there was one thing I loved about my best friend, it was that she always took on my pain. Always.

I felt like if I died in front of her, she would find a way to bring me back to life. And then kill the murderer, with all the lack of humanity in the world.

Kayleen and I had been together since birth. Our parents met because of work. They were both surgeons and worked at the same hospital for several years.

We always joked that our fate had been sealed so we’d be together forever. We had a pact to die together, buried side by side. Morbid, but we didn’t care. Our friendship was intertwined forever, even though we argued a lot. And Arya had caused some disruption for a while.

“Alright. I promise,” Kayleen said, clapping her hands and planting a kiss on my forehead. “Do you have gymnastics practice today?”

Cullbert sighed, tossing her dark hair. She was beautiful. Her brown eyes, with greenish tones that exploded with color in the sunlight, her pale skin, and long hair down to her elbows made her look like an angel.

My friend had many guys chasing her. It was unbelievable how every Valentine’s Day, the room was filled with cards just for her. But Kayleen didn’t like any of them. Her mind was only occupied with gymnastics, classes, and, of course, me. Arya had once been very important, but now she was on her hate list.