Girl Gone Rogue (The Shadow Hunters #2)

40. A Girl Named Mila

"What are you doing out here?"

I jolted, unprepared to see Mila. I was more than surprised when she plopped down beside me.

"It's cold. Why are you outside?" She asked.

I discreetly wiped my face, "A girl can't enjoy the cold?"

"Not if they're endanger of losing a limb."

I felt her gaze on me. Quiet. Studying. Intense.

There was something about Mila that seemed unnerving.

She kind of reminded me of the wind. Silent and invisible, if that was what she intended, but dangerous all at the same time.

I didn't know her story and I was sure she had never told anyone either.

I shifted beneath her gaze, "Do I have something on my face?" I wiped my cheek, just in case. I didn't know exactly why I was crying outside, in the middle of the night, alone. I had just finished a patrol and Alexei was expecting me home soon. I still hadn't reconciled with the idea that I was now living with him. The transition had been easier than I thought it would be. It was as if we had been living with each other for the longest of times because we had settled into each other's space so effortlessly.

Mila sighed deep, "I apologise for forcing my presence here. I heard you sniffling, and I don't know. I thought I might keep you company until you were ready to go home. Crying alone in the middle of the night outside is something I've never done before, not that I cry or anything."

I laughed, swiping beneath my eyes again. "Now why do I feel like you're lying to me Mila?"

Mila grunted and played with her blonde locks. "Think what you want."

"Have you ever loved someone before?" I asked her.

Mila stiffened, "In what sense?" She asked warily, "There are different types of love that exist in the world. There's a love between friends, parent and child, between lovers-"

"Lovers. Have you ever been in love with someone so deeply, the simple thought of them makes your heart go crazy?"

"Um."

"I've fallen in love." I confessed.

"Uh, that's great." Mila squirmed, looking uncomfortable. I almost laughed at her genuine response to my declaration. She was probably regretting her life choice to sit next to me on this quiet, cold night. "Is that why you're crying? Because you're in love?" She asked after a few long seconds passed.

I laughed, feeling my eyes sting with more tears. "No, not really. I just didn't think I would fall in love with someone. Tonight, I've just come to a realisation that love is fucking scary."

Mila nodded, "Love is poisonous. It either creeps up on you or takes you out without warning. Sometimes you don't even know it's got you until it's too late and has already infiltrated every atom of your body."

"I think you're right." I nodded. "Yesterday, the realisation that I loved someone settled on me. Tonight, something in me wanted to resist the idea that someone out there possesses so much power over my heart and that alone scares me."

"Do you trust this person with your heart?"

I didn't need to think. I already knew the answer. It was unanimous. I was certain Mila knew the answer already. She didn't need my verbalisation to confirm my feelings. The truth was engraved on my face.

"I trust him with my life." I whispered.

Mila simply nodded, "There you go."

I took a deep exhale, allowing the air travel from my lungs. Faint fog appeared near my lips as I shivered from the chilly gust of wind that brushed by. "I can feel you keep looking at me from my peripheral. Is there something on my face?" I asked.