Fears nothing.

 

“One cannot jump to a conclusion unless one hears the situation.”

Sophie has decided not to go to college the next day. However, she realizes that if she sits in her room, she won’t be able to resist not talking to Damien. So, she quickly gets ready and drives to school. While her eyes are searching for Damien, she pretends to be normal at the same time, lest he catch her steady eyes moving around. Diana is the one who catches her instead, shouting alongside Sophie’s ears, “hie,” making her jump.

“Hey! what are you doing?” Sophie asks.

“Mmm, in case you forgot, we all attend the same college,” says Diana.

Sophie smiles, but there is a line of tension visible on her forehead. Diana takes a deep breath. “What is it, Sophie?” Diana asks. 

Sophie did not want to answer her but she could not hold any longer the anger she had been hiding since the day before. 

“Where were you guys, where was Damien the other day?” she fiercely asks. Diana looks around and swallows the spit that she almost gets choked on.

[Silence]

“Hello… I am waiting,” Sophie says.

Diana holds her hand and takes her to the side to talk. 

“Damien and I snuck into Mrs. Chambers, a lady from that day, the one who took the book.” Sophie widens her eyes listening to this and asks, “Why?”

Diana replies, “We both care about you. I mean, of course, not more than my brother,” Sophie gets a bit reticent, “Yeah, I do have an idea about you two. Anyway, we just wanted to know what they have been up to. Sophie, we know what these people are capable of, we are not safe though they are our people, they are our family still I am scared to death of them.”

Diana pauses and keeps looking at Sophie. Sophie is still waiting for her to tell more. “Okay then?” she asks. 

Diana gets an idea that Sophie does not let go of things that easily, so she had to tell her everything that happened in the castle last evening.  

Damien is hanging out with his friends. Kristen is one of those friends. Sophie and Diana enter the hall. Sophie looks at Damien and starts to wonder about the break-in at her house. She then sees Kristen right beside him, and then she wonders about the night they both were together. She walks towards the group with Diana. She stops by Damien, keeps her bag and books on the table, and holds Damien by his waist. She is very close to him, leaving Kristen’s heart beating fast. Sophie with her sensational voice says, “I need to talk to you, it’s urgent, please meet me after school.”

Damien takes her hands off his waist and looks around, “Sophie, I will meet you, you go to your class for now… please.”

Sophie can feel that Damien does not feel comfortable with that act, but she is positive that Damien loves her. She grins and steps back, picks up her stuff, and leaves the group.

It is 4 in the evening and it is time to go home. Sophie’s eyes are searching for Damien, of course. She is coming through the hallway out towards the main gate. While she is smiling, thinking about Damien, looking for him, she passes Damien. She stops abruptly, wondering what she saw passing. She takes her steps backward and looks into an empty classroom through the door’s window. She sees Damien embracing Kristen and making her understand something. It is clear that there has been an intense conversation filled with love and care. Sophie tries to calm herself down while she starts walking. In her mind, she is thinking that Damien might be letting Kristen know about his relationship with her and that he is in love with her. However, she also stresses herself by thinking what if he is not over Kristen and he is confused. Possibly, he has a relationship with both of them or Kristen is not yet ready to let him go. She rushes into the bathroom and cries uncontrollably. 

Damien is in the garden area looking for Sophie because she wants to talk to him and also so that they can go home together. He sees Sophie walking down the stairs, but her face is strawberry red, so he jogs her. Sophie is looking at him but only sees him in Kristen’s arms and what else they might have done in that empty classroom. Thinking about the hug, what if it had come after the climax? She ignores him and with a billion thoughts in her mind she rushes towards her car. Damien runs behind Sophie, “Sophie, you wanted to talk. Wait what is wrong, what happened?” 

Damien doesn’t stop until he reaches her car, banging on the car’s window requesting her to stop. 

Sophie took an impulsive move there. At the very least, she would have stopped and listened to him. One cannot jump to a conclusion unless one hears the situation. Sophie got filled with sentiments as she always does. 

While she is driving back home, she sees a flash passing through her and a figure standing in front of her car in the middle of the road. She stops 2 meters before and recognizes Damien. He looks so angry. Sophie is still sitting in her car. Damien flashes towards her and waits for Sophie to unlock her car’s door. She couldn’t move as she stared into his bright eyes. Sophie unlocks her door and within no time Damien takes her out and runs toward the river.

In the middle of the river, he makes her sit on the stack. Sophie sees there’s nowhere to get out. Damien says, “Yeah, that’s right. Now you can’t run like you always do. I kept calling you, you did not stop, not even once. Everyone laughed at me but you know what? I do not give a damn, but your attitude; if that is what you want to be like, I am happy on my own.”

She could feel the anger in his looks and touch, for he was too angry with her behavior.

“Of course you are, you got your friends, and Kristen, why would you want me?” Says Sophie. 

Damien is scrambled, “where did my friends come from, what are you picturing here? “What is it you want to know? Tell me I will clear everything, but do not walk away from me like that.”

“Clear me, alright then let’s start from what happened yesterday. Diana told me everything, you chose me over your family book,” says Sophie.

“So, is something wrong there? You are what matters to me, not the book,” says Damien.

“Why?” Sophie wonders, hoping to hear something from Damien, like he loves her. 

Damien looks deep into her eyes and says, “I don’t know, maybe because you are something to me, I feel happy with you. Maybe it’s just the selfish reason that I want you over everything.”

Sophie smiles, “So, does that mean you are confused, do you still miss your ex [pause] girlfriend?” she asks. 

Damien laughs out loud, “what? Ha ha ha… What made you think that? Where did Kristen come in between all this?” 

Sophie saddens her face, “I don’t know, you tell me. I saw you hugging her in that empty room.”

“You assume a lot, you know that,” Damien says, with one hand stroking the back of her neck through her hair, and the other at her side. It was nothing but she is still my friend and because she is also one of us, she knows whatever happened and why I refused to take the book. She still cares about me, Diana, and every one of us, which is why she tried to make me understand that I was putting my life in jeopardy. I told her that what are you to me and that she should not think anything more of me and her together but friends.”

Sophie hears him and realizes that she was partially right, but the negative thoughts took over her. At the side of her neck, Sophie holds his hand. She kisses his hand and asks, “Why am I so important to you? I want to know.”

Sophie wants to hear that he loves her from his mouth.

Damien does not say anything, he kisses her forehead, takes her into his arms, and flashes off to the car.

He drives Sophie back home. Sophie looks at him, “Damien, somebody broke into my house and was searching for something in my grandma’s trunk.” 

Damien already knew about the break-in that she was talking about. “Did he take something?” asks Damien

“No, looks like he was looking but couldn’t find,” Sophie replies.

Sophie looks at Damien, “Damien, do you know something… you were there last night?”

“Sophie, I saw a man last night but could not see his face. I think he was there to find something about your family or something to use against you. However, by the time he could find something in that trunk or anywhere else he was thinking he would look, I interrupted him and he ran off. This is the reason, I wanted to know who came to your house and what is there that links us to you or your family. That is why we rushed to Mrs. Chamber’s villa and wanted to get that book, but the rest you know,” says Damien. 

He continues, “I think it was someone from that villa or maybe Mr. Chamber sent someone to your house.”

“Is my mother also in trouble?” asks Sophie in her flat voice. 

Damien holds her hand, “Hey, I will not let anything happen to you and your mother I promise.”

Sophie smiles, “I believe you.”

They both exit the car, Damien holds her hand and drops her at her door.

The keys to open the door are tangled in Sophie’s fingers. Damien is looking at her, thinking how cute she was looking. She opens the door, smiles, and waves at him, “bye-bye.”

As she walks in, Damien pulls her towards him and kisses her holding her tight against him.

Sophie feels at ease, comfortable, and protected whenever she is in his arms. She fears nothing at that time.