Limerance

Chapter 55

"Why did you let him know we burned the house down?" Ichigo asked, relaxing back in his seat, his eyes trained on the sky outside the airplane window.

A slight smirk appeared on Ethan's lips. "That's how I tell them that I'm coming."

Angelica, slightly impressed by the man beside her, found herself intrigued. She was almost never impressed by men, but Ethan was different. There was a raw confidence in him that set him apart.

"Now we save Sayuri," Ichigo commented, mentioning your cousin who was being held in Georgia.

He would turn every stone, burn every building. He would free anyone as long as it gave you the chance to escape. As long as you were safe. Ethan was willing to cross all lines to keep you out of harm's way.

. . . . . . . . .

Your eyes widened in shock, but before you could process the information, the TV abruptly shut down.

Subaru stood in front of you, the remote in his hand and a calm but stern expression on his face.

"That's enough TV for now," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

But you weren't the type to listen. Your eyes narrowed as you squared off against the intellectual male. You adopted a menacing stance, but his only response was a calm, discerning look, as if he were scolding a hormonal teenager.

"That was Yukio's house. It got burned. That's why he wasn't there. What happened to Angelica?"

Subaru sat down on the couch, slightly massaging his forehead to relieve some tension. Then, with a smile, he replied.

"She is safe. She was not there," he lied smoothly.

You had no way of knowing the truth, but his demeanor made you uneasy. Despite his calm exterior, you couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

What if.....

With a gentle touch, he pulled you down to the couch with him. For a moment, you thought he was going to say more about what you saw on the news, but the route he took shocked you.

You were surprised to see the most secretive person in the group open up.

"When I was eight, there was an accident. With my elder sister," he began, his voice steady, but his eyes seemed buried in a distant past.

"I was in the park, playing football, when I realized how lacking I was in that department." He squeezed your hand slightly. "It infuriated me to no bounds. So, I kicked the ball, and it ended up on the road."

Your heart quickened as you mentally predicted where he was going with his story.

"She protected me. Pushed me out of the way. My sister. She died with a smile on her pretty face." At this point, you could see tears in his eyes, threatening to fall.

"Blood. There was so much blood. Her pure white dress was stained with a dark red tint." A slight reminiscence occurred on his face as he winced internally.

This explained why he got sick upon seeing Lily's dead body in her pure white dress, tinted red, reminding him of his sister.

"This is why you are so scared of blood?" you asked, waiting for the obvious response. He nodded, interlocking his fingers and trembling slightly.

You brought him closer, his nose burying in the crook of your neck. He smiled.

His smile wasn't that of a boy who had tragically lost his sister; it belonged to someone using tragedy as stepping stones to dismantle your emotional barriers.