Mindful Beauty

11) His Craving

He was only checking in on her, as any normal friend would.

Who was Damien kidding? He hadn't done friendships since after Vincent, and now... he wasn't necessarily sure if he wanted to be Ella's friend. Sure, they spoke informally to each other, but did that really mean he could just visit her at her own house?

Sighing, he forced himself to get a grip on himself and rang the buzzer located outside the gates. At least she had some sort of system in place that made it harder to enter her home.

"Come in." Ella's voice rang through the mini intercom before she buzzed him in. Damien frowned, entering and shutting the gates behind him. Ella was already opening the front door for him as he walked up the stairs.

"You should really check who it is before you buzz them in, Ella." Damien was almost scolding her, and Ella chuckled despite the rawness she still felt in her throat. It had been about four days since the attack, and suffice to say, Ella was feeling much, much better.

"There's a camera on the gate; I could see who it was." Ella smiled, pointing at the gate. "I have to say though, I was quite surprised." Ella invited him in, walking him into her home. "Don't mind my outfit; I wasn't aware I was going to have guests."

"I should've called before."

"Why? Do I look that bad?" Ella teased him further, watching as the tips of his ears turned pink, and her smile widened. He was so cute.

"Not at all." Damien extended the flowers towards her, wanting to change the topic of conversation.

Ella was beautiful, and maybe that was the problem. It seemed as though every time he saw her, she would only get prettier, and that was making Damien uncomfortable. Even now, when she wore some sort of short, tight leggings with an oversized shirt, her dark hair up into a ponytail, she was still beautiful.

"Lavender?" Ella sniffed the bouquet of flowers, spotting one specific type in the mass.

"They kind of reminded me of you." Damien explained, noticing that she was pleased with his selection. Good, he thought. He had even put more thought than when he purchased some for his mom.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Ella waved him over to her kitchen as she placed the flowers into a vase. "How's work?"

"It's... work." Damien didn't know how else to explain it. While it had never been an adventure for him, it hadn't really been a chore either... well, up until these days it seemed. "What's the update with that man that attacked you?" It still very much angered him that anyone would ever touch another person like that, but his anger was truly fueled more so because Ella had been the victim. Ella didn't deserve that.

"As it turns out, that watch is from a special collection, so they traced it back to the store and got a list. They have the guy in custody and are questioning him, but it seems like he was just a worker." Ella explained, pouring water into the vase.

"A worker? With that type of watch?" Damien frowned, thinking. "Is he a hit-man?"

"That's what everyone was thinking," Ella pursed her lips. "He's related to Mr. Vanders."

Damien's fist clenched. It was one thing to trash-talk Ella, but it was a whole different thing to send someone to silence her through the means of death. That was crossing the line.

"We don't know anything yet, though." Ella noticed Damien's expression getting dark, and she was quick to pull him out of his haze. She didn't want to hurt Mr. Vanders' reputation through false allegations. They didn't have enough evidence to blame them. "It's just that their connections are weird, but that very well could be a coincidence." Ella rounded her counter to where Damien was.