Corrupted

Chapter 9

I stood there staring at this perfect man speechless. Deep down, I knew my arguments were weak and invalid; however, I needed to give my heart the benefit of doubt.

-"Look, I'm sorry. It seems that this is moving faster than it should. It's all overwhelming for just one day. I'll leave you to think about it, specially that from the looks of it our feelings, or whatever you want to call them, aren't mutual, but just be careful around Kroos, would you?"

My heart sunk as I heard his faint voice. It was tainted with a hint of pain, and I was the reason. He turned his back not expecting me to answer and started walking away. I panicked. What was I to do? For the first time, I admitted to myself that I liked the man. Should I hold him off, or let him leave and properly think about it?

But it hit me. I never think about stuff; I'm naturally impulsive. Helena was the careful one between us though that did not make any difference; the outcome was still the same, so why start thinking now?

I opened my mouth to shout his name, but my tongue felt numb, and I couldn't make up the letters, so instead I just ran towards him with as much speed as my legs would offer but clumsily tripped over and knocked him down. I reached out for the closest thing to steady myself but ended up wrapping my hands around him. The difference in height was not to my convenience, but to his, given that I undeliberately hugged his lower area.

My whole body stiffened. I put my hands on the ground to try and stand up but the defeaning sound of his laughter weakened my hands, and I couldn't help but fall over him again.

He gasped in surprise and continued his fit of laughter. That's when I rolled over. I was mortified but managed to whisper, "Don't go."

His laughter disappeared and my heartbeats followed. He turned to his side so we were facing each other. With a grinn still mounted on his face, he told me softly while caressing my cheek, "Well, you have an odd way of showing your desires Miss Levi."

I fought hard to contain my smile. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me fall for him; I've already fell on him, but something in his gaze told me that he already knew.

He stood up, stared down at me for a couple of seconds with an annoying smile on his face then offered me his hand and raised me delicately. 

He walked me back home, and this time I went in. After I checked up on my mother, I went to the guest room to tuck Lars in bed, but he was already asleep. The light in the barn was dim which led to the conclusion that Kroos was still awake, so I headed towards the barn. It's still exactly as I remember it, old and smelly, and I kind of felt sorry for Kroos for having to stay there. I don't know why dad had kept it since we obviously didn't have any animals left after the war. 

-"Cosy in here, isn't it?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm.

-"and smelly too." 

-"I'm sorry, but it's the best I could do."

-"It's ok, it's still better than the room Brenn had set up for me. Plus, it's obvious I can't stay in the house."

-"I'm sorry about that."

I walked towards him and sat next to him. 

-"I don't mean to be rude, but isn't your family going to be worried about you?" I asked

-"No, I don't know what happened of my family during the war. After the whole massacre was over, I started working with the people of my village to help with the renovations. Helena was the only steady thing in my life."

I looked at him with compassion.

-"You loved her?"

-"More than you can imagine," he answered while tears streamed down his face. "I promised I would marry her someday. I was going to ask her for the chance to meet your parents."

-"I'm sure they'll love you as much as she did."

-"What's the point now?"

-"I guess there's no point after all. You should just be happy because you had the priviledge of knowing her, loving her and sharing all those sweet moments with her."

He looked at me with suffering.

-"Can I ask you an invading question?" I blushed whilst saying

-"Go ahead."

-"Did you two ever get...intimate?"

-"Ha! I did not see that coming, but are you going to be judgemental?"

-"No," I innocently replied.

-"Yes we did, and are you going to ask for details?"

-"Would it be too weird?"

-"Kind of, but I don't mind. Talking about her is the closest I'll ever get to her again."

-"Ok, my first question is: Where?"

-"You're not very bright are you? Does asking stupid questions run in the family?" 

I laughed at his humour.

-"We did it at the well, and since I know you're going to ask about the nature of our act, I'll just skip ahead and please you not to because that'll be too weird."

-"No, no, I got what you meant with 'it". Where you each others first?"

-"I was hers, she was mine."

I felt happy for her, she deserved all the best, even though knowing those small details about my sister's private life made me a bit uncomfortable.

-"So, what now?" I asked.

-"Now, we wait. Sleep, wake up, help with the investigation. Will we find something? I don't know, but at the moment I suggest we hold on to every single bit of hope we have left."

-"Goodnight, Kroos." 

As I put my hands on the matress ready to lift myself up, he answered with a sweet calm voice, "Goodnight, Helena."

He did not seem to notice what he had just said, but I sure did. I decided to ignore it and walked out of the barn back into the house and up to my room where I slept deeply.