He Came To Find Me

He Came To Find Me
Emilia's POV

(Five days before she travelled back to the Book World.)
Getting groceries with the boys was the last chore I ever wanted to do. They were always so playful and teasing, especially Nathan and Brian. And then Aaron, who should regulate them, will just stand back, laughing quietly while they teased me. 
But even though I don't appreciate them coming with me this time, I had no choice. The press was still crazy about Gabby and me, and the locals and reporters were still harassing us with questions. As much as I don't want the boys hanging around me like bodyguards, I just have to allow it.
Aaron snatched the cart from my hands, pushing it down the aisle between the shelves.
I wanted to ask him to let me take it, and I was already moving to take it back from him. But I leaned back instead, folding my fingers tight and dragging it to beside me. I already know he wouldn't give it back to me. They had always pampered me as the baby of the family, the princess, and since I returned, it had been worse; I had become the most protected woman in history.
I wished they were this same kind, loving, and jovial as brothers in the book world; then I would have been with Sebastian right now. I would have been with the man I love, looking into his beautiful ice-grey eyes, waking up in the unique comfort of his arms, listening to his smooth velvet voice…
I shook my head, pushing back the memories and longing for him to the recesses of my mind. I was perhaps never going back to Sebastian. So I needed to finish forgetting and try to livea life where I am wanted and loved, and not one where I am constantly hunted by the faces of my own brothers.
Nathan leaned onto the shelf near me and casually dropped another box of cereal into the cart like he was building a fortress. “Do we really need three boxes of cereal?” I muttered, following his outstretched arm as he dragged another one into the cart.
“Yes,” he said, forcing on a deadpan look to tease me. “One for each of us. You can survive on toast.”
“If you have forgotten, let me remind you, I am the one doing the grocery shopping; you three are the escorts. So only I get to decide what goes in, and this…” I reached for one of the boxes of cereal and leaned to put it back on the shelf while Nathan watched me quietly, submitting to my authority as the shopping executive. I was halfway to pushing the extra box of cereal when Brian swooped in like a hawk from behind me and tossed two more in.
“Hey!” I protested, turning sharply to him. 
“Relax, munchkin,” He smirked, flexing his arm like some wannabe superhero. “We need protein to keep our strength up. Who’s going to keep the creeps away from you if we don’t bulk up?”
I rolled my eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t get stuck. “Yeah, because every criminal in town is terrified of your serial muscles.” I responded.
Nathan suddenly popped up in front of me with a bunch of broccoli. He held it out like it’s a bouquet of roses. “Eat this, baby sister. You’ll need all the energy you can get if you want to keep up with us.”
I snatch the broccoli and shove it back where it belongs. “Not happening. And stop calling me baby; you should reserve it for the girl unfortunate enough to date you.”
Nathan was preparing for a counter. When Aaron's voice boomed from behind me, causing me to turn to him. 
“Fine, Emilia,” he said, joining in the attempt to get on my nerves. He leaned against the cart with his right arm, that smug older-brother smile playing on his lips. “Kiddo. Munchkin. Baby. Take your pick, Emilia. What do you want us to call you? Choose wisely; whatever you say now, I will make the boys follow.”
I looked from one to the other for a moment, my eyes bouncing off their grinning faces. “How about you just call me by my name?”
“Wrong Answer.” Aaron said, chuckling as he turned back to continue pushing the cart down the aisle. “The boys have my permission to continue calling you whatever they like.” He added.
“You see, baby sister. We won.” Nathan giggled, and he threw his arm over my neck. I smacked his arm off me, which only made him laugh harder. I grunted, my jaw tight, yet my eyes laughed with him as he walked away.
It was rather ironic that while I hated them teasing me, I also loved it as well. But I’ll be damned if I accepted I do.
I grunted mildly, scolding them with my eyes before turning to reach for a pack of toothpaste from the top of the shelf, straining up on my toes to get it.
Brian came again then; he just was never tired. He threw an arm around my shoulders while simultaneously helping me get the pack of toothpaste from the top of the shelf. 
He said in that fake-soothing voice. “One day, baby sister. You’ll grow tall enough to reach the top shelf without standing on tiptoe.”
“Until then,” Nathan added. He walked closer, and he ruffled my hair. “You’ve got us. Your personal bodyguards slash ladder substitutes.”
I groan, but there’s no stopping the smile tugging at my lips. “You guys are impossible.” I yelled at him.
“And we are your brothers.” They both said together in unison.
My lips parted to reply to them when my eyes suddenly caught something far behind them, behind the glass walls of the grocery store. A sudden wave of fine tremors drilled through me, and I pushed through their middle, stumbling past them. I ran down the aisle fast to get a better view of the image.
The more I neared it, the more the features resembled him more and more. His doublet of midnight blue hugged his frame with aristocratic precision, as it always did in the book world, but now it was torn and dirty and looked soaked in rain and mud. Even his knee-length velvet breeches were dirty and tattered, just like his hair, usually tied in a ribbon but now unmasked around his head. He had on no shoes; his feet were completely bare, dirty, and muddy.
“Sebastian,” I screamed with every bit of air I could scrounge out of my lungs.
His back was to me before, but then he spun around fast, his eyes searching through the glass for me, eager and fast, the icy grey orbs glinting under the bright light of the store, just as the moonlight bathed him with a suffusion of rich silver glow outside.
I gasped out every bit of air in my lungs, and I covered my mouth with both of my hands, smothering my scream. The tears burning hot behind my eyes eventually spilled, trailing down my cheeks, as I watched him hunt for me in the store with his eyes. He was real. He was really real. I wasn't dreaming this.
His eyes found me, and he began beating the glass walls of the store, yelling my name from outside. I found the courage to get my feet moving, and I ran fast with strength outof the store before he could break down the glass walls of the store to get to me.
I pushed the double doors of the store, and I ran fast outside, spilling into the moonlight. The sight of him so dirty and unkempt sent sharp pain slicing down my heart from the inside; I covered my mouth with my hands, muffling my sob. I should never have left him. I shouldn't. This was all my fault. Now he was so dirty and unkempt and miserable, all because of me. 
He stopped beating down the glass walls when he found me outside, and he sprinted madly for me, his bare feet slapping hard against the concrete tiles.
He snatched my waist and pulled me fast into his arms, enveloping me in that soothing, comfortable warmth I had missed like life itself, squeezing me so tight in his broad body. He smelled as bad as he looked, but right now, I didn't care. Right now, the only thing that mattered was being in his arms like this and feeling the world fade away around me.
“Emilia.” He breathed against my forehead, kissing me gently there.
“I am sorry, Sebastian.” I murmured against his chest, letting the tears flow now, letting them soak his already soaked jacket. “I am sorry for leaving you. I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have…”
“No,” he yelled, his voice scolding me a little, and he pulled back a little, staring straight into my eyes. I watched his heart break through his eyes as he glimpsed my tears. “You had the right to leave then, Emilia. I was at fault then. But you must listen to me now, Emilia, and you must do as I say now.” 
“Okay,” I answered; the last thing I wanted to do was argue with him. 
He cupped my face in his hands, raising my face so my eyes settled directly on his. “You mustn't return, Emilia. Whatever you do, you mustn't return. This is the 100th time I am coming here, and this time I don't know when I will leave. But you must listen to me; you must not return to my world. You will only trigger the cycle again, and then I will have to watch you die again and blame myself for it. The guardian of the portal said you shouldn't return. She said…” He was still rambling on when Aaron's voice boomed from behind us.
I turned to see him, Nathan, and Brian glaring up at Sebastian. “Who is this, Emilia?” He demanded, his tone sharp as he took in Sebastian.
Sebastian had just one glance at the three of them, and I saw murder flash fast into his eyes. Cold shivers gripped every inch of me as I realized—he doesn't know that these versions of my brothers are good.