“You have been anticipating me?” I ultimately murmur, confused.

“I had hoped you’d come. I requested Wint, the consumer, to see to it that we might get you right here one way or the other. I imagine he referred to as in some favours together with his girlfriend to get certainly one of your new colleagues to convey you right here tonight.”

Lou. The witch. She knew precisely what she was getting me into tonight! I ought to…most likely thank her for it, in all honesty.

As we stand there, wrapped in one another’s arms, the noise of the membership dims to a murmur. It’s as if we’re cocooned in our personal little world, the place previous grievances and misunderstandings maintain no energy.

I lean into Lycus’s embrace, feeling a wave of aid wash over me. In Lycus’s arms, I realise that possibly forgiveness is feasible. Perhaps redemption is inside attain.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper once more. “I ought to have trusted you. I ought to have stayed and listened to your aspect of the story.”

Lycus pulls again barely to have a look at me, his gaze mushy but intense. “It’s okay, Angelica,” he says gently. “All of us make errors. I’m sorry too. There’s so many issues I remorse, however that night time at ‘Depraved Temptation’ with you shouldn’t be certainly one of them. I ought to have instructed you who I used to be proper from the very begin at work. I ought to by no means have riled you up and exchanged barbs with you when all I needed to do was reveal my id. However I used to be apprehensive you’d deal with me in a different way in the event you knew I used to be the boss, and I beloved that you just have been the one one who didn’t fawn and fall over me.”

He takes a deep breath earlier than persevering with with a wry smile.

“I miss your reducing barbs. I ought to have revealed myself that night time on the membership. As quickly as I walked in and noticed you ready for me, I ought to have requested you to take away your blindfold so we might speak. However once more, after wanting you for thus lengthy, I didn’t need to present you who I used to be and have you ever run away or reject me. I fully perceive that what I did that night time was incorrect. Such a breach of the belief you positioned in me, however I used to be completely powerless to do the appropriate factor within the face of lastly getting a style of the one factor I’ve all the time needed. Which is why I can’t convey myself to remorse it.”

A way of bittersweetness washes over me as I take heed to Lycus’s phrases, feeling a mixture of remorse and longing. His phrases resonate deep inside me, stirring one thing lengthy buried in my coronary heart.

“I ought to have discovered a option to get a message to you after the accident. I ought to have contacted you whenever you handed in your discover. I by no means ought to have blocked your job interviews – that was so fucking low of me, I’m sorry. I simply hoped it might convey you again. I realise now that I by no means ought to have allow you to go both, and I don’t simply imply within the office.”

The burden of our shared errors hangs heavy within the air, however there’s additionally a glimmer of hope flickering between us. Perhaps, simply possibly, we will discover a option to transfer ahead from this tangled mess we’ve created. I meet his gaze, seeing a vulnerability in his eyes that mirrors my very own.

“Lycus,” I start, my voice wavering with emotion. “I don’t know the place we go from right here, however I need to attempt to make issues proper. I need to begin over…in the event you’ll let me.”

He searches my face for an extended second earlier than a small smile performs on his lips. “I’d like that, Angelica. I’d like that very a lot.” His hand reaches as much as gently cup my cheek, his contact heat in opposition to my pores and skin. “However within the curiosity of honesty, there’s some extra issues I ought to let you know.”

As Lycus’s phrases cling within the air, a knot of anticipation types within the pit of my abdomen. What extra might there be? What different secrets and techniques lay hidden beneath the floor of our tumultuous previous? I search his eyes for any trace, any clue to what he’s about to disclose.

He takes a deep breath, his fingers tracing a sample on my cheek.

“There’s one thing you have to know, Angelica,” he begins, his voice tinged with a mixture of apprehension and willpower. “I’ve stored this from you for much too lengthy, and I can’t bear to cover it any longer.”

My coronary heart kilos in my chest as I look forward to him to proceed, the noise of the membership fading into the background as all my focus is drawn to him. Lycus takes a step again, his gaze by no means leaving mine, after which he speaks phrases that shatter every little thing I assumed I knew.

“I’m fully in love with you,” he confesses, his expression pained. “I’ve been since my first day on the firm once I noticed you within the elevator and I’ve been ever since. I made it my mission to be taught every little thing about you, all your likes and dislikes, all your favorite issues and all your hopes and desires. I watched you from the day I moved in till the day you disappeared and not using a hint.

“I used to be fully obsessive about you from the beginning. However it was after we went to the States collectively that I fell head over heels for you. And I’ve been making an attempt to maintain tabs on you, to look out for you and watch over you although I do know I had no proper to do this. I do know you’re not completely happy in your new job, and I do know that you just secretly lengthy to fulfil that dream you retain working away on, the one which’s hidden in your sketchbook.”

A rush of feelings floods by means of me at Lycus’s confession, his phrases hitting me with a power I by no means anticipated.Love. The phrase echoes in my thoughts, reverberating by means of each nook of my being.

How might he love me after every little thing that has transpired between us? The burden of his emotions settles on my shoulders, each a burden and a balm. Is that what I’m feeling too? Do I like Lycus?

I do know I finished hating him a very long time in the past, however is that this love? The sensation of vacancy with out him in my life, the void in me that nobody else has been in a position to fill, the sting his betrayal tore by means of my coronary heart…was all of it so brutally painful as a result of I’d fallen for him too?

My coronary heart races as I contemplate the right here and now. Studying that Lycus didn’t betray me, feeling…hopeful…that we will make things better between us, the crushing realisation that it is likely to be too late, he might need moved on already, is likely to be right here with another person.

I gasp, ache lancing by means of me. Does it harm as a result of I like him?

As I attempt to course of his phrases, recollections of our tumultuous previous flicker in my thoughts like a film reel. The fights, the misunderstandings, the heartache… And but, amidst all of it, there was one thing unstated, one thing that lingered within the silences between us.

I attain out a trembling hand to the touch his, the heat of his pores and skin grounding me on this second of vulnerability and fact. He nods solemnly, his eyes locking onto mine with unwavering depth.

“I do know I ought to have mentioned one thing sooner, however I used to be afraid. Afraid of shedding you for good. Afraid of pushing you away even additional. However I can’t hold it hidden any longer. I like you, Angelica.”

Tears effectively up in my eyes as his phrases wash over me, a tempest of feelings swirling inside my chest. Love. A phrase that after felt like a distant dream now stands earlier than me, uncooked and unfiltered. He mentioned lovenotloved, previous tense. Does that imply…is there an opportunity…?

“Lycus,” I lastly handle to say, the burden of his confession hanging heavy within the air between us. “I don’t know what to say… I by no means anticipated…”

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