Chapter 2
He doesn’t fall as I expect; his own weight pulls him downwards when he looses his balance without a door to lean on, but he quickly regains it back, stumbling slightly. His shocking blue eyes search for my own, amusement clear in them.
‘’That wasn’t very nice now, was it?’’ His tone is light and playful. Dimples punctuate his cheeks as he straightens himself, turning his body towards me.
‘’Cornering a girl isn’t nice either, yet you are lecturing me.’’ I cross arms over my chest.
He follows their motion then slides his gaze down my body. ‘’Not to mention the staring,’’ I add, my tone irritated.
He lifts his gaze up and meets my eyes. ‘’You’re not wearing your jacket.’’
I tighten the grip, pressing my crossed arms more into my body as if trying to shield myself from him. ‘’So?’’
He says nothing, there’s just a knowing glint in the pools of bright blue.
I turn as if to examine a painting that hangs on the wall on my right, desperately trying to avoid his look; it feels like he is undressing me beneath it. ‘’What now?’’
I can hear his gravely like laugh. ’’You tell me, Lila, you came here seeking for me. You said that yourself.’’ There’s that weird emphasis he always puts on my name. I hate it.
From the moment we met he called me that way – and yet, lately, I can’t get rid of the feeling that I met him way before that. What was that what he said to me when he tricked me to come into the gym?
I’ve had my eyes on you for a long time. I know everything about you, it’s as if we are old friends.
But Valentine isn’t his brothers. He isn’t like them, simple and straightforward. No, he speaks in codes, plays mind games. Leaves hints.
And the sentences that leave his mouth always have a double meaning.
It’s as if we are old friends.
When we were in a sim together he asked me what my earliest memory is. Later it turned out he gave me a hint where the hearts of the zombies are, using the first place I remembered as a place to hide them.
But he couldn’t have known that; he couldn’t have known that the memory of the cave near Malibu beach is my first. He is not Mino, he can’t read minds. He must have hidden the hearts there to cover up his curiosity. No other explanation is there.
There is something else too. When I answered him, there was sadness in his eyes. Maybe just for a second, but it was there. Was he hoping for a different answer? Is there a different answer?
Could have I actually known him from before?
But that’s absurd, he was trapped in the sim at the time. I assume he escaped recently, when I started getting all those letters from Cupid’s Matchmaking Service. That was when the match was made, that was when he put Cupid in the system. I couldn’t have known him from before that, he couldn’t have been my earliest memory.
But his actions, the way he’s always treated me, the fact that I’ve always known that he would never hurt me… So I dare ask myself right now and here, do I actually know this man? Because everything that he has ever done points directly at that conclusion.
And the worst part is that I actually start believing it, no matter how impossible it may seem. I know Valentine. I don’t how, but somehow I do.
We have a connection, don’t we?
’’Will you sit down, Lila? You are making me nervous.’’ My gaze snaps back at him. His broad frame, his cocky posture despite his words, his incredibly blue eyes, the kind of eyes a person could never forget even if they wanted to.
No, I could not know this man. If I did I would have remembered him.
But you do remember him, small voice in the back of my mind says, your soul remembers him. You know he will do you no harm.
I push it away.
I should not know him, I should not remember him, I should not care about him.
He is dangerous and he needs to stay in the Underworld after I get the box.
Valentine stands in front of me, his thick, dark eyebrow raised in question.
I uncross my arms, letting them hang loose on my sides as I take a long breath to compose myself. It doesn’t go unnoticed by him but he doesn’t comment on it.
‘’Yes, I will sit down.’’ I make my way to the throne like chair sitting in the corner of the room.
There is so much I need to talk to him about and I don’t know where to start. I find I am secretly glad Cupid and Cal aren’t here to stop me from talking to their older brother and I feel ashamed. But Valentine is the one who has answers to almost all my questions. His brothers may only speculate. Besides, Cupid’s idea that whole point of Valentine’s existence is to get back at him for whatever reason there is, is absolutely ridiculous. Stupid. And Valentine isn’t a stupid man. He wouldn’t dedicate all his life to that.
I make myself comfortable in the chair as Valentine sits at the foot of his bed facing me. He is slouched, his legs slightly spread, his elbows resting on them as he lets his hands dangle in between his knees.
This is going to be a long night (at least it’s always night for me here.)
A/N: This is the first time Lila’s thoughts were this productive I think, hahaha. I also wanted to address the problem of how the hell could he know what is her earliest memory so he could hide the hearts there. I will try to explain everything that was left unexplained and confusing in the book.
Sorry for the short and ‘actionless’ chapter (no, I don’t mean on anything dirty, get your mind out of the gutter right now, young lady!) but I wanted to write something quickly, something that would make you stop stressing over your exams, at least for a bit. Next one will be longer and more satisfying, I promise.
And sorry if there are any mistakes, there is nobody to proofread now.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter Megs. Have a nice day x
