Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 32•

•Word Count: 3,000

••••

Brief on the chapter:

Elias thinks he enjoyed Mira's company at the suit and tie event so he plans to arrange for a  trip for the two of them, where he decides to make so much confessions.

On his way there, Elias looks forward to the trip; on his way back, he deeply regrets the whole idea. Why?

••••

Armin spends the first third of the morning trying to convince me to see what's inside the envelope.

Clara spends another third of the morning begging me to open Elias' letter.

I spend the whole morning wondering what could have happened to Élise should the stranger that left me that envelope made a move and actually ended me.

Then again, as I recall, he had the perfect opportunity to do whatever he pleased –deserted streets, darkness, no witnesses- yet he chose to leave the envelope and just watch me struggle to save myself.

In utter regret, I grit my teeth until my head starts to hurt. I wish I never gave whoever dropped me that envelope the pleasure in witnessing my fear.

Distraught, I hold the envelopes in each hand and dramatically drop myself on my bed, contemplating opening either. Following my gut doesn't seem like a great idea at the moment because there's this nagging feeling that keeps urging me to just take Élise and go, to just disappear somewhere and never come back.

Of course, that's not an option.

Attempting to consult either my mind or my heart isn't helping with my indecisiveness; since my heart tells me I should just open Elias' letter, confront him about the mess I've been immersed in and just accept a happily ever after with and Élise, while my mind just tells me I need to seek help since everything's become beyond me.

I think I'm running out of options here.

Clara walks in with Élise on her shoulder, sucking on her knuckle; she drops Élise on the bed next to me and snatches Elias' letter, "I'll do you a favor,"

She tears the envelope open as Élise crawls over to me and pears at me upside down. She smiles so wide that a drop of drool falls into my eye.

I immediately sit up, laughing, "Thank you for the moisture, I needed it,"

Clara clears her throat, looking at me pointedly as if telling me to pay attention. I lean back on my elbows and Élise sits cross-legged next to me.

Clara's eyes quickly skims through the paper before she bites her lip, closes her eyes and shakes her head.

"God!" She breathes, looking at the ceiling and pretending to sniffle, "This species of men is almost extinct nowadays,"

I shake my head at her melodrama, "What does it say?"

She's clearly not done reading because she holds her index finger up, and pretends to breathe heavily as she reads through the rest of the letter. Her mouth opens in shock and she slaps a hand on her chest, earning a chuckle from Élise.

"Quit messing around, what does the letter say?"

She shakes herself out of her trance and clears her throat, again, before deepening her voice slightly;

"A blissful evening at the Rendezvous hotel might have not been sufficient to fill that everlasting hole in my chest.

A hole that, until recently, refused aid from any type of wadding.