Melissa Crumpton is a ruined remnant of the once-angelic girl. Contrariwise, Kevin Archer decamps the drudging slavery to grow into a small rate successful artist.
When the artist lays his eyes on a ruined redolent young woman, he thinks of bringing...
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Melissa's PoV:
I felt water battering my face and I thought someone had put me into a torrent of water.I opened my eyes shielding them with my hands from the water that could assault my eyes if given chance. Though my eyes were opened and I found there was no battering of water, it took me a little while to gain consciousness.
I was lying on the floor as Austin was kneeling beside me with an emptied water bottle in his hand and a worried expression on his face.
"Mel," he called tentatively while I was trying to strain my memory for the context where I fainted. It took me a minute or two to gain the faint-faded memory. Remembering that Austin wasn't a human, I backed away from him in a sudden jerk.
"Sorry Mel, I was just kidding," Austin said in shame.
"You what?" I was to wrangle about it. But I didn't have the tenacity to that then. I was still in trance. "You haven't been there to the Screaming Woods?" I asked with the expectation that he would agree. Dering Woods was also named the Screaming Woods in order to give credits to its eldritch screams.
"That part is unfortunately true. It led to all sorts of hoaxes in the air about me being a ghost-hunter or a devil itself. But nothing happened. I'm normal and not possessed or anything. I swear in the name of God that I'm a man," he explained.
I thought about it for a moment. My cheeks burnt in shame for I believed in a stupid falsehood about Austin. But what was so shameful was that I had showcased how weak I was. I felt humiliated to the extent that I wanted to run away from there.
"Sorry, I just... I was..." I swallowed slowly and continued. "I just don't know why I freaked out. I must be stupid."
"No, it's my fault. You've already told me about your fear. I'm such a brute to play with one's weakness," he cursed himself for everything.
I rose with my elbows and sat straight. "No, it's just my childhood fear taking a toll on me. I will be okay," I said as I looked around. Seeing that I had broken the costliest cup and saucer into pieces, I felt bad. "Sorry Austin, for that too," I said pointing towards the shattered pieces and spilt coffee.
"That's fine. It isn't a big deal," he said waving off that matter. We both were silent for a few minutes and that went awkward soon. To escape that moment, "Shall we better go start working?" I asked.
"Sure, we shall," he said.
••○•○••
It wasn't always necessary to have to go to his place. Other days, I would return home to either cuddle myself up in a corner and daydream or work on some painting for a sale. I was proud and content about the progress in our project. Austin deserved to be a junior scientist since he knew a lot and was truly knowledgeable. Even during the project work-time, it wasn't always about work.
