Zachariah| Major-editing

F I V E

"Your thoughts kill you,

don't they?"

Isabelle

I opened my eyes to only meet with a muscular stomach. I glanced down to see my right hand holding Cyrus's hand. His t-shirt had ridden up. I tried pulling my hand away from his. But I couldn't because he tightened the hold.

I groaned before pulling my hand from him. I looked for the pillow wall I had built between us. Pillows were lying everywhere on the bed. Cyrus turned to the other side and covered his face. He hadn't woken up yet. Thankfully, we didn't roll over. The only thing that happened in our sleep was we held hands. In the process, I woke him up. He brushed his hair away from his face as he sat up. "Good morning."

I blinked and patted down my own hair. "Good morning."

"Where is the pillow wall I built?" He stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at where my hand was. He looked so young when he did that.

"It's a pillow wall, we might've smashed it in our sleep."

"Was that sarcasm?" He didn't say anything but smiled.

I threw a pillow at him and it hit his face directly. I laughed when I saw the stunned expression on his face before it turned into an evil smirk. He threw three pillows at a time, making me fall back on the bed.

"Wow."

I threw all the things I saw and dashed towards the door. My eyes widened in horror when the door was locked from inside. I have no idea how to open it. Damn modern locks...

I looked at him as he trapped me in between his arms. "Ugh, should've thought before throwing things at me."

"You did as well."

"You started."

"Leave me alone." He was too near and it wasn't a good thing.

"Hmm― I cannot leave you so easily."

"What do you need then?" We stared into each other's eyes. I couldn't break contact.

"Maybe a kiss on the cheek?"

"In your dreams, mister." I pushed him away.

"Trust me, ma'am. We did more than that in my dreams." My jaw dropped. I closed the bathroom door and leaned against it as his words rang in my mind.

*

Later, I spent time in the kitchen with Beth, baking tea cakes. She handed me her famous blueberry cake recipe. This is my first time baking. I was never allowed in the kitchen back home. We had house cooks. There was a time when I was interested in learning cuisine but Caroline made sure that I got no access to the grand kitchen.

I didn't try to learn elsewhere. Now learning something with Beth's help feels amazing. Beth was patient enough even when I messed up. I watched Beth and Lilly make lunch. Pablo and Cyrus joined us later in the afternoon.

The lunch went well. Pablo is a great storyteller. He kept me engaged in village stories and about his childhood friends who are now living in different parts of the world. I learned that Pablo came to America when he was a kid with his father. He was a native of Southern Italy.

After lunch, Cyrus asked me to dress up as he wanted to take me somewhere. I was excited about exploring new things. The estate is vast and I can't wait to explore it.

I decided to wear ripped shorts and an army green shirt. I styled it accordingly before running downstairs. Cyrus was on a call. So I spent the next five minutes scrolling through Instagram.

Once, he was done with the call. We walked towards the backdoor. He was wearing an army green shirt. I frowned at the coincidence but pushed it away. Not wanting to point it out. I'm sure he had observed that we were matching colours.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him when we walked into the fields.

"Tried to shoot anytime?"

"Like a real gun shooting?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Don't tell me we are here to shoot." I have only read and watched things about gun culture and usage in movies. We stopped near the garage. I have no idea what he had stored in there. He punched some code on the screen and the garage opened. I didn't go inside. He walked inside and came back with a black box.

"Come on." My gaze went to the gun range which was about 50 meters away from where we were.

"You know how to shoot a gun?"

"Yes."

"Wow, how? Like when did you learn it?"

"I'm trained in defence."

"Ohh..." He took out a handgun, handled it like a professional and I looked at him with awe.

"Come here." I went near him and stood in front of him.

He showed me the gun. "It's not loaded, as you are a first-time shooter you need to be semi-accurate and cautious."

"There are four cardinal safety rules," he started saying― He took around fifteen minutes to explain the rules.

He let me hold the gun and corrected my stance. Then he showed me how to handle the gun and aim at the target. He stood behind me as I aimed my gun.

"Always use your dominant eye when you aim at the target and align your sights. Set your target picture and concentrate on where you want to shoot."

We spent the afternoon talking about guns and how he was interested in self-defence. I successfully hit my target with Cyrus's help. I was able to hear him speak about his best friend Xavier, who helped Cyrus learn how to handle guns.

 It felt good watching him share his stories with his mates. His laugh is melodious. I have noticed that he isn't much of a laughing guy. But when he does, it's the most beautiful sound.