Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 83: Flashback

Chapter Eighty-Three: Flashback

It didn't take Ella very long to find Xaphile, but when she did, she was a little surprised to see him sitting curled up in a huge tree.

She stopped at the foot of the living monarch, feeling uncomfortable.

Arms wrapped around his knees, he was sitting on a thick branch, staring off at nothing and since she didn't know how to begin, she decided to say the first thing that popped into her head.

"I know you most likely will not believe that I am being sincere about this," she called, folding her arms and worriedly tapping her foot, "but I really did not mean to strike you earlier. That was an accident. I didn't realize you had leaned down and I am very sorry for doing it."

His tail twitched and his ears flicked for a few moments, but aside from that, he didn't move.

Not even to look down at her.

Ella sighed, then lowered her head and pressed a hand against her face.

"I am very awkward with things like social interaction," she reluctantly admitted. "Even more so when people I happen to respect or think highly of get too close to discovering my fears. I admit that there are people I truly care for, but deep down I'm afraid of letting them have power over my heart. And you... you already have a lot of power over it."

It was here that he turned and looked down at her.

"Then... you're afraid of me," he said simply. "Is that it?"

She threw her head up, startled.

"No!" she snapped, but her attitude faltered when he narrowed his eyes. "I'm not... afraid of you. I trust you with my life, Xaphile, and I assure you, that trust didn't come easy."

"Then what you said doesn't make sense," he growled, clenching his jaw. "It contradicts your behavior and everything you've said up to this point, and I don't understand why."

Ella lowered her arms and looked him dead in the eye.

"I am not afraid of you," she told him, speaking with absolute conviction; then her fierce expression fell and she swallowed, "but things between us are still very rocky... and that is what scares me."

He blinked.

"Why?" he asked, shaking his head in exasperation. "Things have been tense between us from the start, so why are you suddenly afraid?"

"To put it in a simplistic manner," Ella said softly, not breaking eye-contact, "I've somehow come to care about you deeply. When it happened, how it happened, I am not exactly certain, but I truly care for you."

"And why does that scare you?"

"Xaphile," she sighed, clenching her firsts. "I care about you to the point where I actually desire to change a few of my ways and become a person that you can respect. A person you can come to when you are hurting, or uncertain, or doubtful of things. And it scares me, because I am never certain I am doing things right. I am never sure if what I am doing will drive you away."

His face went slack for a moment, then, letting out a sigh, he jumped out of the tree and landed heavily on the ground.

His muscles rippled when he stood up and walked over, but Ella swallowed when he stepped close, his eyes suddenly going dark with an emotion she couldn't name.