When Storms Collide

~9~

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

~~

I was in trouble.

Big trouble.

I'd been in trouble since the past week but had refused to accept it.

But there was no use in denying it now.

I was developing feelings for Sebastian.

Too soon and too fast.

The outcome would be horrible. I would probably get hurt.

I knew that.

But I still couldn't help it.

Why was falling for him so easy?

Why did it feel so right even though I knew it was wrong?

I had no idea when it had started but by the time I had realized it had already been too late. Sebastian wasn't someone who expressed emotions easily.

It was the small things he did that really got to me. The things he thought I wouldn't notice.

Like how the fridge always seemed to be stocked with Dark Chocolate ever since I told him it was my favorite kind.

Or how a thick stack of cookbooks had mysteriously appeared in my bedside drawers and how he'd pretended to not know anything about them when I'd asked.

And how everything had suddenly been shifted from the higher cabinets and shelves to places I could reach easily

Or how one night I had almost tripped on a loose floorboard in one of the stairs and found it miraculously repaired the next morning.

I sighed.

And it wasn't just the things he did for me.

I could see his kindness, even though he couldn't. I had seen the way he had interacted with Marie and Adam. How much he hurt for them, how much he cared.

He was a good man who had been forced into a cruel world.

A world where he didn't want to be but could never leave.

~~

I was making my way downstairs for breakfast when I heard the voices.

One of them I recognized easily as Sebastian's. The other one which I didn't recognize belonged to a woman.

I halted at the last step. Their voices came from the kitchen. If I stepped forward I'd enter the living room and they would definitely see me since the living room and kitchen were connected. I didn't want to barge in and interrupt.

I started to move back upstairs when I halted.

"Must you leave so early, Tesoro? (Darling)" Sebastian's voice murmured softly to the woman. It wasn't his words that had halted me but the way he said them, his voice held so much adoration, so much . . . love.

I swallowed. I tried to move away but my legs remained glued to the spot.

I shouldn't be listening.

This was undoubtedly an intimate moment. I shouldn't be invading their privacy like this.

"I'm afraid I must. I have to catch my flight." The woman sighed. "Adrian misses you, Sebastian, your son misses you. You have to come see him soon."