Hauntingly Beautiful

Hauntingly Beautiful Ch. 20

*waves*

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Sang's POV

On my cheeks. Over my closed eyelids. On the tip of my nose.

Gabriel's lips had been trembling as I'd felt them ghost across my forehead, leaving a warm trail of small kisses all over my face. I had gone stiff when I'd felt his hands cup my face on each side.

"Sang," I thought I'd heard him whisper against my cheeks. Gabriel's voice had been so soft, I was almost certain it had been a dream. Then again, I could also be imagining things. The situation felt unreal.

Afraid to open my eyes and take a glimpse of our current situation, afraid to bring this dream-like fantasy crumbling down, I could only wish for it to last longer.

After trying my best to live a normal life, whilst still receiving punishments when I'd done nothing wrong, I thought I deserved this. To be held in somebody's arms, I thought. I needed this.

Those passing thoughts had washed away in an instant when his lips had grazed the corner of mine. Together, we'd frozen.

I felt it. The embarrassment for having those selfish thoughts... The embarrassment of feeling so stupid, thinking that he might like me enough to plant his lips on mine... The embarrassment of thinking that he should kiss me...

Slowly, I pulled my face away from his. His hands had refused to let me go, not relenting until I tilted my face to avoid his gaze. "Gabriel." I let out a raspy whisper, almost begging.

I was unsure of what was going on between us. And there are the others too.

His hands, even after releasing my face from their grasp, had wound under my arms and settled on my lower back, holding me tight against his body.

"I'm sorry, Sang." Hearing him say my name again gave me the shivers. Resting his forehead on my shoulder, he mumbled his apology again. "I'm so sorry, Sang."

I started to wonder if he was about to rip my heart out, afraid that I had no way to stop him.

"Gabriel-" Flustered, I started stuttering my words out. "N-no. Y-you... It wasn't..." Honestly, I had nothing to say but, the moment he started apologizing, I thought he'd let me down. That he'd tell me it was a mistake. That comforting me like this was way too much, with us being friends. It was selfish of me. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't.

"I'm sorry I was late," he blurted all of a sudden. Then he started sniffing.

"W-What?" I gulped, clearing the nervousness from my voice, then asked him again what he was sorry about.

At first I couldn't hear his muffled voice, because he had his face pressed against my shoulder. It almost looked like he was ashamed to look me in the eyes.

When he finally did, I wished he'd look at anything but me, because all I saw was sorrow and guilt. "Inside the locker room. When I saw you kneeling on the floor with your head down, I thought- I thought they did something really terrible to you, Sang. Trouble... I-"

All my previous thoughts about him peppering kisses all over my face seemed like they paled into insignificance, compared to his concerns now. I had never seen him like this. "Ssshh," I started to say. Facing him now, I still felt a little sheepish for letting the two of us get to where we were. I continued. "None of it was your fault. Please don't blame yourself."

In fact, it hadn't been anybody's fault. Why must they feel this way?

"But, still. If I had gone inside much earlier, checked what had taken you so long, you wouldn't be in here... with me now." Now he was mirroring the same flushed face I probably had. Clearly, I hadn't been the only one embarrassed by the little moment we'd just had.

Retracting his right arm from underneath my arm, I felt him caress the side of my face. He gazed at the side of my face with so much sadness that I couldn't help but reassure him that it had been nobody's fault. Then he began to gently pull on my hair. Only then did I notice, in my peripheral, what he was holding.

There were uneven strands of hair falling onto the side of my face.

"Your hair." He gulped. "I need to fix it."

Luke's POV

After witnessing Doc chase after North outside the house, I headed towards the kitchen to get a plate of food.

When Mr B and Mr Stewart had come back to the house to check on us this morning, they'd left a couple of takeouts for us to eat whenever we got hungry.

"Tomorrow night, we'll gather in Mr. Morgan's house for our monthly meeting. I also need to check in with you for future assignments. Lastly, I'm sure everybody's curious about Miss Sorenson's case details." Mr. Blackbourne had swept a look over everybody, excluding Dr. Sean as he had been tied down with his doctor duties at the hospital. "With permission from the Stewarts, I will be disclosing their family's details to everyone tomorrow." This had earned a few sighs of relief from the group. At the very least, we'd be able to know more about their situation.

Afterwards, they had left again, to discuss private matters with Dr. Roberts.

Now, I was starving. Last night, I hadn't been able to swallow much food, remembering Sang's face as Nathan carried her back to the house from the car. It had been all scrunched up, like she was dreaming. Or, most likely, having a nightmare. I knew I'd had my fair share.

I knew that Gabriel was with her now, upstairs. I also remembered telling myself that I'd give them space, but still found myself ascending the stairs instead of going to the kitchen. The food would have to wait.

"I need to fix it," I heard Gabe telling her. He had to be talking about her hair.

Inching my way towards her doorway, I knocked twice. The voices cut off, leaving only silence inside.

Sang was wide awake. Gabriel sat sideways on her bed, showing her the small box that contained her severed locks.

"How's my gorgeous cupcake? I heard you're getting a new hairdo." I sent her a wink, then glanced in Gabe's direction, gauging his reaction. He didn't seem to mind my presence too much. "I think you should go with the 'Luke' hairstyle. It's very stylish." I blabbered on, as I made my way to her.

As I plopped down beside her, I engulfed her in a tight hug, shielding my face from her perceptive gaze. I didn't want her thinking that she was causing us a lot of trouble, seeing me hurting for her.

"I think I'd like that." She giggled.

Relieved, I placed a small quick kiss on the side of her head before releasing her.

As I ended the hug, I received a quick chop on the head, courtesy of Gabe. "Shut up! You think I'm styling her hair like yours? Dream on."

"Eh, why not? I have the sleekest and prettiest hair among us. Do you think she'd like Nathan's ginger hairstyle? Or Mr. B's no-style, perfection hairdo? C'mon now. That's boring. Plus, mine's the longest. She-"

I had to pause, as we heard her let out a hearty laugh. First mission: accomplished

***A/N: *waves*

Okay.. okay.. put the pitchforks down. Anybody who wants a GabexSang kissy chapter, please proceed to my Academy Oneshots book (...love, Sang).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. It's short than my usual, I know. I'm slowly trying to get my writing spirit up so please bear with me.

Thank you for reading. *sends virtual kisses*