The Billionaire's Getaway Tryst

~Chapter 34~

We were huddled up in each other's arms for minutes on as I tried to calm Skye down by rubbing his back with one hand. I gave him the moment to collect himself before speaking anything. Running my other hand at the nape of his neck, I hushed him soothingly. "It's okay, you don't have to say it right now."

"I know," he muttered, breaking the hug and looking in my eyes with an unknown emotion shining in his. "But I want to." At that point, he seemed pretty calmed down but a haunted look was still lingering in his visage.

"Then take your time, hmm?" I gave him an encouraging smile. I went back to my place beside him but this time, I was facing him. Daringly, I reached out for his hand and squeezed it gently in hopes of passing him my comfort.

He looked at our hands with tenderness before clearing his throat. Still not meeting my gaze, he began speaking again. "I was bullied by my peers for being a celebrity kid yet looking so... unappealing in their eyes. I was just an overweight kid to them," he whispered, as if he was... ashamed?

I was about to say something when he continued, "After a certain period, it got really hard for me so I... decided to quit and do homeschooling instead. In college, it wasn't much bad but the rough sniggers behind my back never failed to reach me. Before my senior year of college started, I decided to do something and shut everyone out. I decided to lose weight. I was quite stunned to see what a small body change could do to people's perspective. Suddenly everybody wanted to hang out with me." He scoffed with a dark smile.

"Isn't it funny that they thought I was a freak when they hated me, thinking I was boring. But then suddenly when I changed according to their tastes, it grabbed the attention of almost everyone," he said before looking at me.

My breath hitched as I saw so much sadness lurking in his eyes. "You're much more than that to me," I said in a low voice, putting an emphasis on "me".

Skye's lips parted but they were soon pulling up into a dazzling smile and his eyes widened. From the looks of it, he seemed shocked but he kind of expected those words too. "Thank you, Val."

"Don't thank me. It's true." Winking, I grinned.

For some weird reason, he just kept on staring at me and didn't chuckle or laugh. I squirmed a bit because his stare was intense and I didn't know how to react.

"What is it?" I blushed, tucking a strand of my curl behind my ear.

"You're just the way I remember," he asserted softly.

"Huh?"

"I remember you always smiling at me. You treated me like a... human. You always made me feel special. But then I had to leave and I berated myself everyday for not even trying to talk to you. Though I'd gotten to know a few things from your dad, who for some reason just talked about you in front of me." He laughed, shaking his head in mirth.

My face suddenly felt hot and I avoided his eye contact. "He did?" I saw him nodding his head from the corner of my eye. "Be-because he knew that I had a crush on you," I mumbled awkwardly.

Skye stilled for a second in disbelief. I could see that his cheeks were warming up a bit as well. "You're something else, Valerie Jones."

"Why, thank you, Skye Williams." I beamed.

"But if it makes you feel any better then, um, I had a crush on you too." He smiled shyly.

"Aww, you're so adorable," I uttered, leaning in close to him and fisting his cheeks.

He swatted away my hands with a smile. "Shut up." I laughed at his adorableness. A few seconds passed and he didn't utter a single word. He was silent after that, as if lost in his thoughts.