ContractxFamily

Chapter 20

A bit of Manga spoilers in this one

Damian pov

I've never been so pleased to have bedroom in the West Wing, I try not to stare as the sunset makes Anya's skin glow. 

She dips her tea cake into her teacup and starts eating as sip my tea. 

The silence was comfortable but I didn't want it to be. 
I wanted to chat, catch up on life let alone the past few weeks. The next magazine is coming out on Monday, after that we'll be hounded by reporters more than ever. 

I just want to talk whilst it's peaceful.

Like now.

But what do I say?

I've forgotten how to start a conversation.

I've forgotten how to breathe.

"Damian," Anya's voice echoes through my mind and snaps me back to reality.

My eyes clear and her green eyes, filled with concern pierce me. "Damian," she calls out to me again. "I went to that peanut stall today, the one you didn't let me buy from?"

"Really?" I ask. "How do you know it was the same one?"
She laughs slightly as she recalls the peanut seller recognising her from the day of our picnic.

Memories of Baer doting on her fill my mind but I wave them off by asking Anya about her day.

She continues to recall about her surprise visit to Blackbell manor then her trip through park, it seemed she was skipping on certain details but it was probably time she spent doing 'girl talk' with Hildegarde and Blackbell.

"Was work hard today?" she asks me suddenly.

I look away, "didn't go in today..." I mutter.

"Sorry?" she asks. 

"I had the day off today," I say shrugging. "I just stayed in my room reading all day."

Her eyes widen, "Why didn't you tell me? We could have gone out somewhere to eat or something."

"You went out with Hildegarde," I shrugged. "Can't exactly tell you, I don't want you to go out, I've got free time tomorrow."

"Why wouldn't you say that?" 

"One I forgot," I laugh. "Two, last I checked we aren't married when we're on this side of the building."

"So what are we doing having tea together at sunset?" she asks.

Did she forget that rule?

"Imperial Scholar reunion," I say more confidently then I've been in the last two hours.

"Oh," she says as her fingers wrap around the handle of her tea cup and she lifts it to her lips to take a sip.

"You can't read me anymore right?" I ask as she puts the cup down again.

She shakes her head, "No, only when you let me or your guard slips."

"So can you read your parent's?" I ask as she mouths not to say mind reader out loud.

She nods.

"Even your dad's"

She nods, "He doesn't know he needs to be guarded so he isn't." 

"My dad's?" 

She nods again, "It's actually pretty easy with him, he's very one track."

"Am I the only person you can't read?" I ask surprised.

"Sort of," she gestures. "When you were younger I couldn't, now because of your efforts, I can't..."

"Good to kno..."

She cuts me off, "It's the opposite with Demetrius," she explains. "I could barely read him at all back then... now, I think since Hildegarde, he's an open book."

I shake my head, "Yes, even I can tell that."

My eyes soften towards her as she looks out at the moon that had begun rising, "Would you prefer it if I let the walls down?"

She looks back at me, "It's nice to have silence sometimes," she whispers. "It makes it more comforting when you let me in on those odd occasions."

She gives me a shy smile, "You didn't believe me when I told you at the Gala," she whispers.

Memories flood back of when we danced together at the End of class Gala, Anya wearing her pretty black shoulder less dress when she one the competition to dance with me. One of the few times I've seen her without her hair ornaments.

I wanted to dance with her so badly, especially after she'd nonchalantly asked me to go with her in the first place and I ran away and she won that day by reading my mind.

That's the first time she told me she could read minds.

I'd questioned it before, so many times, but my naiive young mind didn't believe her even when she said it to my face.

I didn't clock on till two years later.

I chuckle, "Well I was an idiot back then, wasn't I?"

Her smile widens, "You said it, not me."

"Well at least I grew up from being an idiot," I say.

We start bickering, falling back into our old ways so easily. I start laughing midway then she crosses her arms, "What are you laughing at?"

I lean forward and brush away the few strands of hair that fallen over her face, "I've missed this," I whisper, I sit back down then say louder, "Just bickering with you, takes me back."

Her faces starts glowing red so she looks away, staring at all the stars that you can see from the window.

Another silence sits between us, as she looks at the sky and I look at her.

After a few minutes she turns back to me and whispers, "Were you really upset when I left?"

This time I start blushing, "Nnn...no," I fumble. "I just needed time to relax my mind for a bit, I was fully prepared for another day of mental walls then Blackbell turns around and says you left Eden."

Yes... that's how to describe the worst year of my life to the cause of it.

"Hildegarde told me you barely spoke to anyone for a whole year afterwards," she whispers.

I stand up and walk around the table then hold my hand out to her. She hesitantly takes it then I pull her up and whisper in her ear "Getting over a broken heart isn't easy, you should have been more careful who you played with."

"I'm sorry," she whispers back tears glistening in her eyes, surprised I let go of her hand then fall back onto my bed.

"Since I'm still here, alive and kicking, it's all well," I shrug.

Anya wipes the from her eyes, "I'm going to bed now," she announces.

I feel the smirk on my lips fade slightly, "Goodnight."

She runs out of the room, leaving the door my door open. 

I lay down on the left side of the bed with plenty of room on the right where a wife should be sleeping peacefully but is in an entirely separate room, alone as I am now.

This is the first time I regretted Anya having her own room. A bitter memory of that first night after Anya left Eden were this empty room started to feel freezing cold, chilling me right down to my bones, like my soul had ripped from my body.

The fear that I'd never see her again overwhelming me.

I didn't mean to tell her.

Stupid Hildegarde.

And probably Blackbell too.