A Soulmate's Love

Chapter 56 - Left for Wandering

"You don't have to come, babe, I'll be perfectly fine." Today I would be going out to Hogsmeade with Roya to go shopping, and George here was insisting he go along for my 'safety'. I hated the idea of him thinking he had to protect me at all costs, and becoming a responsibility for him to take care of was not on the top of my list. 

"Love I won't let you go alone again." His decision up till now had been unwavering, and despite me having an underlying fear of a repetition of last time's events - which he would never know of - him taking time out of his day for a trip to Hogsmeade was an action I had never asked him to do. 

"George." With a hand on my right hip and an earnest expression, I stood my ground as well.  He wasn't the only strong-minded one in this relationship.

"Althea." He copied my exact movements, and I rolled my eyes, frustrated with his stubbornness. 

"Nothing's going to happen to me you know?" I sighed, wanting him to give himself a fucking break. I wasn't some fragile piece of glass that he had to constantly keep safe, and knowing that I had never purposefully given him the reason to assume such a job, I insisted that he let go.

"I'd like to be the one to make sure of that darling." I went to go put my jacket on and in what I'm guessing was an attempt to sway me, George took the layer and went behind me to put it on. He draped his arms around my back after doing so and breathed deeply which was in his language code for, 'I'm not going to give up so stop resisting'.

I imitated his dramatic sigh to prove to him that it wasn't working, "It's not just about the trip George and we both know it." I leaned my head back so that it was now resting on his shoulder and I could look at him, "I can take care of myself, and I hate that you think you need to." 

He shook his head before his eyes flashed in question, "Do you feel I see you as a burden?" Although his tone was incredulous in the way that he couldn't believe his own words, there was a tinge of accusation.

I huffed before looking back ahead, "If you're worried about that waiter I'm sure he's gone." I hated arguing with him and avoided it at all costs, but for this matter, he had to know that I wasn't his responsibility. I knew that my past experiences when he wasn't there were his motivations to persevere and that he was being an amazing guy for wanting to protect me from anything else, but being a devoir to my soulmate was a position I refused to be in. 

He briskly turned me around so that we were now facing each other, "Do you think I'm doing all of this because I'm bloody obligated to?" His voice had raised but never went above the limit, and matching his exclamation, I contested.

"What other possible reason could you have?" I ran a frustrated hand through my hair as I looked around the room, "You've taken it upon yourself to make sure nothing happens to me and I don't know why you insist-"

"-Because I fucking love you!" My eyes locked with his passionate ones and widened, "How could you forget that everything I do isn't because I have to, it's because I love you, Althea Jane." His words were so entirely genuine that all previous frustration went out the window. 

I truly had forgotten the fact. 

"You love me..." I whispered more to myself than him, the reminder a much-needed one. "Oh." I didn't know how the thought hadn't crossed my mind, after all, I was known for finding every possible reason and excuse for happenings, and yet, I had never considered that love was a sufficient rationale. People can only love me if I do things worth their affection, that's what my mom had always told me anyways, and throughout my life, I had been confirmed the fact again and again. 

I vividly remember her words to a thirteen-year-old me, 'Chérie si l'amour est ce que vous cherchez, vous devez travailler pour elle. Je t'aime pour tes réalisations et d'autres t'aimeront pour tes académices, et penser que l'amour est une évidence est un produit de ta naïveté.'