Chapter 83 I wanted to die!
Chapter 83 I wanted to die!
REBORN TO RUIN HIM
Daniel starts the car.
The engine sound is low and evenly purrs as the car pulls away from the cobblestones with unhurried smoothness of something built specifically for comfort and speed together.
I stay curled against my window.
Daniel Ashford glances at me for a second before returning his eyes to the road in front of us
"Are you hurt?"
His voice rolls off his tongue like buttery cream.
I keep quiet, choosing to look at the buildings moving past outside fast.
How far did I walk?
We seem far away from the hotel.
"Sera."
He calls out again. His voice is firm not hurting with yelling but not willing to take quietness for an answer.
"Are you physically hurt?. Yes or no."
I press my lips together.
"No, I'm not."
I answer without turning my head.
"Good. Do you need to go to the hospital?." he asks.
I shake my head in reply, then open my mouth when I remember that he's eyes aren't fixed on my curled up frame.
He says nothing in response and the car just glides across the street.
I count the buildings passing by.
"What were you doing on that road?" he asks suddenly.
I shrug, refusing to turn away from the window, "I was walking."
"Walking requires an awareness of the environment you are walking through.”
“What you were doing was moving across the road with no awareness of it whatsoever.”
“And this makes it a second time. Is this a common affair for you?”
I turn slightly to him, my body still facing the window, but my head tilted towards him.
“What do you mean, I ask?”
“How many more moving cars do you walk into?”
I frown but keep my lips shut, saying nothing.
“If this is a common affair, then you need to get help.”
I tense up.
“I am not in the business of looking for moving cars to run in front of. Meeting you twice, no, three times is a blessing I don't want.”
I scoff.
He glances at me, pulling the car over to a curb.
“A blessing you don't…” he trails off.
“Being sarcastic with me will get you nowhere.”
He pauses, only to continue when I do not reply him.
“It is best you hit my car instead of a stranger's.”
I eye him from the corner of my eyes.
Who was it that said I should disappear from their radius?
I want to reply him with that, but the image of Pierre kissing that beautiful lady rushes into my memory again.
I curl up even further, wishing everything and everyone disappears for even a moment.
I am the one Reborn, yet I have no advantage.
People are still using me, I'm still broke and I'm hurt once more.
Daniel's voice is softer this time.
"I am going to need you to tell me what happened." he says.
"Nothing happened." I reply.
"You were crouching down on a road bending down in tears."
"That is not nothing. It's worse than a scam.” Daniel adds.
I sigh.
"It was a personal matter." I say, my focus still on the window.
"I gathered." he says.
"I am asking about what could have possibly made you break down in the middle of the road. In traffic."
"There was not very much traffic." I say.
"There was my car." he says.
"You stopped." I shrug.
"Two inches from your legs." he says.
"You have good reflexes." I say.
A pause.
"I have good reflexes." he repeats my word, a groan slipping out of his lips.
"Yes." I shrug again.
The car turns onto a wider street.
I watch the buildings change scale.
"Are you going to look at me at any point during this journey?" he asks.
I bite my lower lip and shake my head, "No."
"Why?” He asks me.
I press my forehead against the cool of the window glass.
I frown, "Because I do not currently have a face."
I hear him chuckle next to me.
“You have a face, Sera."
"The working version is temporarily unavailable."
I hear a chuckle that gets muffled instantly.
"Alright." he says and does not push further.
The car continues to move.
I stay still against the window.
Outside, Paris keeps being Paris.
\---
We stop at a traffic light.
The light is red.
I count the seconds.
One.
Two.
Three.
"The personal matter." he starts again.
I frown.
When did Daniel Ashford become so talkative?
The Daniel Ashford I know only spoke his mind, and kept unnecessary words away from his lips.
So, why does he keep pressing me to answer him?
"Is it something that is going to send you back onto a road." he says.
"No." I say.
"Are you certain." he says.
"I am certain." I say. "I was not trying to be on the road. I was not paying attention. I will pay attention going forward. It was not intentional and it will not happen again."
"You said that after the van." he says.
"There was no van." I say. "The van was California. This was a Bugatti."
"The principle is the same." he says.
"The principle," I say, "is that I have had a bad afternoon and I was not looking where I was going and your car was there and you stopped and it is over. It does not require further analysis."
"You were crying before the car." he says.
I look at the buildings.
"Yes." I say.
"On the street." he says. "Before you stepped onto the road."
"Yes." I say.
"How long had you been walking?" he says.
"I don't know." I say.
"A minute."
"From where?" he eyes me curiously.
"From the Seine." I say meekly.
“Or near the Seine. I walked past the Seine and kept going."
"You walked past the hotel." his eyes goes wide.
"I know." I say.
"You did not notice." he says, his eyes still wide, like he doesn't believe my words..
"I noticed after." I say.
"And you kept walking." he says.
"Yes." I say.
"Why?" He asks, repeating his words.
I look at the glass.
My own eyes stare right back at me, the ghost of a face that is indeed in the state I described, the remnants of something that has been through things this afternoon that faces are not supposed to be put through.
"Because I wanted to die."