Intoxicating Infatuation

Chapter Three:

Chapter Three:

An awkward silence filled the air as Emilia and Dio walked beside each other in the courtyard. Both of them wanted to strike up a conversation but were unsure how.

As they walked aimlessly around, Emilia rubbed her arm as she found herself lost in thought. The girl was curious as to why Dio offered to walk with her. Since he had arrived at the manor, the boy never attempted to get to know her or even speak with her. Most of their encounters were accidental. Although, she hadn't attempted to talk to him either, even though she'd been wanting to. So maybe she was just overthinking things, as per usual.

Dio couldn't help but glance over at Emilia as they walked. He didn't think that getting her to talk or strike up a conversation would be this difficult. From what he'd seen of her and Jojo, they were constantly talking about random things that held no value. But, perhaps she was just quieter than he had originally thought. In all honesty, Dio didn't think that he'd run into her so soon; he was hoping to get more time to think about how to get closer to the girl. The blond had no clue what she was interested in, so he wasn't sure how to start a conversation with her.

"I've noticed how close you and Jojo are. Any particular reason for it?" Dio, of course, already knew part of the answer to his question, after all, Mr. Joestar had told him. However, he was curious as to what her answer would be.

Emilia hadn't realized that she had gotten lost in thought until Dio's smooth voice broke her from it, startling her. Subconsciously, Emilia rubbed her arm a little more aggressively as she decided whether or not to answer him. It was embarrassing to say that she and Jonathan were so close because nobody else wanted to befriend them. What if he didn't want to befriend them either after that? Glancing over at him, the girl noticed that he was watching her intently, waiting for her to answer. Almost intimidated by his intense orange gaze, she began stuttering out her answer.

"Um, nobody wants to become friends with nobles. Jonathan and I learned that the hard way." Emilia tried her best to keep the dejection from slipping through her tone as she spoke, however, it didn't work. The girl felt herself cringing as she heard her voice, a dark flush of embarrassment settling on her cheeks, both from her answer and her tone.

Silence settled over them once again as they continued their stroll down the courtyard. For Emilia, she wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not that Dio hadn't replied to her embarrassing confession. Deciding that it was most likely best that he didn't reply, the girl brushed off the awkward silence and instead began looking around. It'd been a while since she had last gone out here for a nice stroll. Although, if Emilia was being honest with herself, she was enjoying walking with someone else a lot more than her usual lone strolls, even if they were currently walking in complete silence. The girl found silence more comforting anyway; just the presence of someone else with her was nice.

For Dio, the silence was awkward. He was hoping that they would've been able to continue their conversation more. However, looking over at Emilia, he noticed that she seemed a lot more content with the silence. Maybe he really had read her wrong, and she was a lot quieter than he thought. Or was it because she wasn't comfortable around him yet? Either way, so far, befriending her was a lot harder than the boy thought it'd be.

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In the late 1800s, sports were thought of as a good way of discipline, even more so than education was. The victor was often thought of as a hero. Jonathan had become quite an impressive boxer throughout the years. Because of this, on most days he and Emilia would walk down to the ring filled with other kids their age to let Jojo fight. It was the most interaction that they got with kids their age.