✔𝚨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 ➳ 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

Chapter 28: The Days Before

Rae let the droplets trail their way down her naked body. A relaxed feeling spreading through her as both of her hands ran through her hair. She should really get a haircut sometime soon, but it always felt like such a hassle. 

Blaise had been the one to cut her hair the last time. It was before summer started, and her hair had gone beyond her waist back then. The shorter hair was much easier for work, and it didn't have the same annoying tendency to get in the way like it did whenever it was long. 

Jack and Cassius had sent her a few letters telling her that everything was going fine with the shop and the plants in her own flat. Cassius had taken the liberty of moving into her flat for the time being, and she didn't really mind it. He was probably one of the people she trusted the most, and he had definitely earned it. 

Rae started massaging the shampoo into her hair, focusing on her scalp as she tried to clean herself of the salt from the water they had spent most of the day in. More worried thoughts soon entered her mind. Would the owner even tell her where who she thought to be her dad lived? There wasn't much of a reason for him to care. 

Everyone else here had been more than friendly, so he would probably be the same... she hoped. What if he wouldn't tell her? Rae would then know that the man was in the area but have absolutely no idea as to how she should find him or figure out where he lived. 

Hopefully, some kind of idea would spring to mind. If not, she would have to come back next summer and hope that he would be somewhere in the area. 

And what if the owner agreed to show her where the man lived? Agreed to take her to wherever it was? What would she say to him? What could she say to him? It was probably better to not be too upfront with it. 

She couldn't really lead with 'Hello, are you my dad?'. Maybe she could just go back home. Forget about everything that had happened and continue with her life as it was going. Maybe it could've worked out, just not with Fred here. He would never allow her to, in his words, give up and not find any answers to the questions she had come to ask. 

Rae cowered slightly as she felt a pair of hands snake around her waist and a set of lips placing a kiss on her shoulder, moving inwards towards her collarbone. 

"You're beautiful," Fred mumbled against her skin. 

"Thank you, but weren't you going for a walk?" She chuckled, wrapping her arms around his neck and running her fingers softly through his hair. 

"Yes, but it turns out I didn't have to go very far to find your little present," he said while standing up straight so that he could look at her while his thumbs continued to trace soothing circles on her wet skin. 

"I don't get to know what it is, do I?" She asked while rinsing the rest of her hair that she hadn't gotten to because of how she had been interrupted. 

"Of course not," Fred smiled as he pulled her with her away from the water, turning them around so he was underneath it, and he squeezed out a bit of conditioner before massaging it into her hair. Rae leaned forward, her head landing on his chest as she relaxed completely from his touch. 

"I love you," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around his torso and pressing him into her. She never wanted to be anywhere else than by his side. Her worries went away with him, he calmed her, and suddenly there wasn't a need to worry about her dad or what might happen. 

"I love you too, darling," he smiled, wiping her forehead of soap before pressing a kiss to it. 

Rae was pretending to read a book on the most recent discoveries in the world of magical plants and herbs, but in reality, she was watching Fred. He had just gone for a swim and was now sitting on the balcony still in his swimming trunks and with wet hair while strumming the guitar he had brought with him.