Forever.

Chapter 26: Tied.

It was heavenly. They had finished the pasta and were now making smoothies. Veronica had helped Seb cut the strawberries before tossing them into the blender and had gotten some ice cream out of the freezer. Opening the tub of French Vanilla, she let herself grab a spoon and dig into the ice cream, forgetting that she was supposed to give it to Seb for the smoothie.

"Veronica?" He paused as he turned, looking at her having the ice cream; he laughed, quickly taking his phone to click a picture of her while she ate the ice cream. She was the definition of adorable. Her eyes widened when she heard the camera click, eyes snapping in Seb's direction. She saw Seb holding the camera, grinning at her cheekily.

"Delete that, now!" She said, flustered, pointing her spoon at him threateningly.

"And what if I don't?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her smiling lopsidedly. She sucked a breath; she said, "Or... I'll-" She cut herself off midsentence and started running in his direction, it wasn't like he was a long way apart, and she could catch him easily. Startled because of her sudden attack, Seb didn't get any time to move, but he wasn't going to give up; as soon as Veronica came closer, he hoisted his hand up in the air, causing her to scowl again.

She jumped and tried snatching the phone away from him, but that didn't help. It wasn't like Veronica was short. She was pretty tall, around 179 cm to be precise, and still, there was a 7-inch difference between their heights. And even though she adored the fact that he was so tall, at the moment, that was not helping at all. She glowered at him, still trying to take the phone out of his hold.

They were so close, not that either of them minded or noticed; Sebastian was practically glued to the counter while Veronica tried taking his phone. She gave up on jumping and decided to climb on the counter. So, she positioned her right leg between his legs to ensure he didn't escape her. She mounted on the counter with the help of her left, not realizing that her right leg would lift up and possibly hurt Sebastian somewhere it shouldn't.

Seb's eyes widened as soon as he realized the situation; he was fast to place the phone down and push it away from them so she couldn't take it; now that his hands were free, he held Veronica's waist, and picked her up such that he wasn't hurt. She didn't slip off the counter. He placed her on the counter right in front of him. He couldn't stop laughing at her cute pout. She rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help the smile that made its way to her lips. She was happy at that moment because his smile made her heart tumble.

He stopped laughing and smiled at her as he saw the slight smile on her face; it made him feel so giddy. He smiled back at her, and they just stayed there for a while, smiling at each other. His hands were resting on the counter beside her thighs, standing between her legs; they both stared at each other. It was surreal, like... something too good to be true.

The noise of a phone buzzing disturbed Veronica. She groaned, opened her eyes, and returned to her senses; she heard faint voices. She wasn't able to make out what they were saying, but the reality did hit her.

It was a lie; it was a dream. They weren't fucking making smoothies and having fun with each other at the beach house. She didn't know where Seb was, to begin with. She felt her eyes tear up at the thought of separation; what was happening? What had happened to Axel and Luca? Why was she even called? Was this all planned? Who were these people?

As many such questions made their way to her mind, she couldn't help but softly sniffle. Half opening her eyes, trying to figure out where she was, she realized she was traveling and was in the backseat of a car. A quite muscular guy was driving. She heard him cussing on the call. Taking a deep breath, she tried getting up, but just as she tried making a move, she felt pain shoot up through her ankles and wrists; she was tied up. She groaned at the sudden jolts of pain, causing the driver to turn his head to her, and saying that she was shocked would be an understatement.

Her being went numb when she saw him. She was shocked to see him, but it wasn't his face that made her shrink; it was the sinister smile that rested on his face and the emotions his eyes held, those eyes that had comforted her one too many times, eyes that once had so much warmth and platonic love for her now held some devilish look in them, they held something that made her highly uncomfortable. An emotion in those beautiful brown orbs was unknown. It only made the alarms go off in Veronica's head. It screamed something that made her squirm in her place, some sort of obsession.

Taking a deep breath, she gulped, her voice nearly trembling, "What's happening, Axel?"

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He got back to driving without answering her. After a long silence, he said, "We're here."

He turned back again and stared at her with an unreadable expression. It didn't make her squirm somewhat; it confused her. He was staring at her intently like he wanted her to understand something, or was it just her inner self overthinking?

She wasn't ready for whatever was to come. She just wished that this was all a bad dream, that she could escape it peacefully, and that after waking up, she'd be with Sebastian.

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Unfortunately, some wishes never come true.

--x--

Hi there <.3

Its literally the break of dawn atm, and I haven't slept at all; screw my sleeping schedule, yay. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! If you did, don't forget to vote and comment <3

Thank you for reading, take care, byee <3

Love,

Estrella <3