OUR FOREST OF THORNS | tbosas ✔️

015 || Something, Anything, Everything

CHAPTER FIFTEEN -        Something, Anything, Everything ..

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          Thankfully for Coriolanus, the conversation didn't stray back to the two of them for the rest of the meal, thus allowing him to finally appreciate Daphne's initial warning to not engage into conversation with anyone there — her family was in fact very much deserving of her wrath and her vengeance, there was no doubt about that left to him.

His hunger had helped his appetite's return too, surprisingly and almost shamefully fast, so by the time he had to rise from the table, Coriolanus had managed to satisfy the growls of his stomach to such a degree that he knew he could have never reached at home. He had chosen, out of respect for Daphne to also drink water that night.

"She used to be a ballerina," she explained to him with a whisper, hooking her arm to his and stepping closer into his side — just a little closer than usual, he noted. In the middle of the free space of the dining room, the mute old lady was dancing without even a hint of music playing her a rhythm. From the armchair by the cold fireplace, Albert was glaring daggers at both of them, sight that, upon noticing, urged Daphne to get them to start walking away.

"I'm not afraid of your brother," Coriolanus argued quietly with her decision to have them retreat into the hallway.

"I know that," Daphne nodded, hoping he could hear in her tone just how much she admired that about him. This had nothing to do with his capabilities, but much rather with her own. "But my head feels like it's about to explode and the dessert is not going to be brought for a while now. I thought you'd like to join me outside, even if you don't smoke."

"Felix is outside with his mother too," Coriolanus noted, causing Daphne to abruptly stop walking. "They passed by me after I stood up from the table. Something about getting some air."

"You've got to be kidding me," she pleaded exasperated, looking back at the dining room over her shoulder and confirming that Fleix's dad stood alone, watching over the scene. The yard and the property itself were large enough to host a hundred walking pairs, however, even a one percent chance of having to deal with someone else outside of Coriolanus disturbed Daphne deeply, enough to consider she really had only one place to hide away with him for a quiet break from the chaos of the dinner. "Fine, then we'll go to my room."

With very little time left for objections unless he was willing to risk getting left behind, Coriolanus found himself allowing Daphne to grasp his hand and drag him along. He couldn't presume to know how her splitting headaches overflowing with sound felt, so he didn't dare complain about her eagerness to get the relief of a cigarette either.

Either way, he had bigger problems on his mind than how many cigarettes Daphne smoked to cure her brilliant mind's torturous state of existence, for example: he was about to be invited into her room, something he couldn't help but feel as a truly personal place to allow anyone into.

In a matter of minutes, they were both going down a narrow corridor at the very end of which was a single old-looking door. Daphne pushed it open and her heels clicked once again on bare floors as they had in the business wing of the manor.

She wasted no breath. From the second she found herself back in the confines of her room, Daphne slipped off her heels — up to that point during the night, Coriolanus had noted that her choice in shoes had almost made her stand as tall as him, meaning that now, at long last, she returned to the height from where he could easily rest his chin on top of her head should he wish to, an ability he very much preferred to have. Barefooted, Daphne hurried to open the window behind her desk, casting a quick look to the right, at the typewriter-like device. Its paper had about five question marks printed on it, one more than when she had left the room.