Flutter |h.s|

18

Grace

Versailles is unreal. Every room is so magnificent and over the top. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like when kings and queens lived here. It seems like nobody should touch anything, let alone live among all this extravagance.

We've been walking around for a while now, just touring the palace and asking the employees who were stationed around questions about the history. It's been so fascinating learning more about this piece of French history. My head is just about spinning, imagining all the different movies that could be filmed here. It's the perfect backdrop.

We walk down the Hall of Mirrors, just in awe of it's sheer beauty. I've seen pictures of this room before, but they do nothing to capture the way this room looks. Every centimeter of this room is decorated beautifully. It's hard not bumping into the people in front of me because I'm stuck with my head facing the ceiling, looking at the intricate paintings covering it.

The camcorder in my hand is trying to document every part of this room, which is probably an impossible task. It's probably not even worth it anyway since there's no way it's able to accurately depict how stunning this room is.

Holly and Elias walk ahead as Harry keeps up with me. I'll admit, I'm taking my time admiring this beautiful palace. Holly already complained that I'm walking too slow, mostly because we're so used to walking super fast in the city. I'm just trying to slow down in more ways than one.

Life has always gone so fast for me. It's time I stop to smell the roses.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Holly and Elias walk into the next room. I glance over at Harry, but barely since I don't want to miss a second in here. "You could go ahead with them. Sorry I'm going so slow."

"No, it's okay. I'll keep you company." His voice reaches my ears, but I'm barely listening.

When we reach the end of the room, I take one more glance behind myself, smiling as I view the room as a whole, before going with Harry into the next room. But instead of slowly taking in the next room, Harry's grabbing my hand and rushing me out of the room, right past Holly and Elias.

"What's wrong? Did someone see you?" I ask, my heart racing a bit in fear for his safety.

But he ignores my question, continuing to guide me through the palace, his head turning in search of something. He finally finds what he's looking for. The exit.

We walk outside of the building, still in a slight rush. "Harry, what's going on?" I ask again.

This is the longest we've ever held hands. He has a firm grip on mine, completely overtaking my small hand. This time is different than when he held my hand in the apartment to bring me to the room. He's laced his fingers in with mine, his rings feeling cool between my fingers. I know I'm probably gripping onto him just as hard as he is, but he's essentially dragging me around Versailles.

He finally stops once we reach the garden. I wish for once this man would tell me what the hell he's doing before doing it. It's like he enjoys making people feel like he's about to kidnap them or something.

"Harry. Why are we here? We didn't even finish looking at the palace."

Harry smiles over at me, a bright, beautiful smile. "Well, I thought we could see the garden early. I noticed it was still on the emptier side and wanted you to get nice pictures and videos of it before it was covered in people."

He really is thoughtful.

"Well in that case." I say, taking my phone out and snapping a picture of him. He's caught a little off guard, but chuckles when I show him the picture I took.