Nicky immediately looked away or the hurt in her chest would’ve exploded. Why must she always be unfortunate? When she was starting to hope for more, hope that they could be something better…. then her heart gets shattered all over again!
Becky didn’t have feeling for Jeffrey. She told Nicky and Nicky believed her. She still believe her because seeing her and Leonardo together, she was obviously moving on! She gave Nicky hope to confess to Jeffrey and Nicky was gonna do it and damn the consequence.
But now, Nicky felt stupid to think that since Becky didn’t like Jeffrey, he’ld forget about her and move on and maybe like her… but… but she was obviously wrong and had hurt herself… by herself!
Tears stung her eyes so much that Nicky couldn’t see clearly anymore. Her head was spinning and she felt tired all of a sudden. Tired of everything!
“Guys! I didn’t know you were out there.” Becky beamed as soon as she spotted them after letting go of Leonardo.
“Um… yeah. We came to see how you’re doing. You’re good, I see.” He muttered and she smiled.
“Why don’t you guys come in? I can barely see you two.” She offered, squinting her eyes but Nicky knew better.
“No!… no worries. I… I have to rest. It’s good to know you’re feeling better. I’ll see you later?” She didn’t wait for a response before rushing out.
~ …. You’re good, I see. ~
Why wouldn’t she be better, huh? Must you be the one to make her feel better?! Nicky hated herself more than ever. Ricky was right from the start.
She had to leave.
Staying was only gonna cause her continuous pain. One minute, she tries to let him in but then the next, she finds out he’s not ready to be let in!
Violent tears slid down Nicky’s cheeks as the wind blew strongly. It was about to rain. She was grateful for it. She hoped It’ld wash her pain and stupidity away!
Nicky was aware of someone calling out to her but she couldn’t care less. She was more than ready to walk into the dark woods to die or the ocean to drown.
She was in such a hurry and her tears was so blurry that she bumped into someone. She muttered a cold apology and was about to leave when the person held her back.
“Nicky? Hey, why are you crying? Did you get hurt?” It was Staniel. Nicky raised her teary gaze to his worried ones, words refusing to come out. She let her tears fall more when he held her in a comforting hug gently.
But the next minute, someone pulled her away from him and she whipped around to face Jeffrey.
“Hey, why are you crying? Did the idiot hurt you??” Jeffrey palmed her face.
“Woah! Back up dude. Don’t get me into this.” Stan scowled at him.
“Well it probably wouldn’t have happened if your annoying ass was elsewhere!” Jeffrey glared back, the drizzling rain becoming thicker.
“Watch it, man! We’re not on the field and there’s no rule to breaking that pretty nose of yours.” They took aggressive steps closer to each other. Students started to turn their heads now.
“Great! Because I’ve been waiting to mess up that charm on your pretty little face!” Jeffrey shot and they shoved each other. The audience tripled in number and some even started a video. Nicky suddenly looked up, getting out of her trance.
She violently wiped her tears and ran to their middle.
“Stop it! The both of you please quit acting like kids!” She snapped, looking at the two of them.
“And you, Jeff! Stop bothering yourself with me. I’m fine as you can see, so thank you!” She tried to keep her anger in control. Nicky didn’t need his pathetic concern when he was the one hurting her the most!
Jeffrey’s eyes softened as he moved closer.
“But you were crying and the freak was…” Stan scoffed indignantly behind her.
“I WAS. Stan had nothing to do with it! So pretend you saw nothing and stay away! To be precise, let’s not cross paths again, please!” She yanked her hand from his grip and stalked away as the drizzle morphed into a heavy downpour.
The crowd shrieked and stumbled to their various tents but Nicky could still feel Jeffrey’s gaze boring holes in her back.
The hurting strawberry blonde was sure that her heart would never EVER forget the look in his eyes when she yelled at him to stay away. But it was for the best. HER best.
Nicky comforted herself as new tears rushed out of her eyes again…
***
Natalia took in a deep breath, slowly waking up from her troubled sleep. She was weak and lazily concluded to catch some more sleep before Elva came in with the royal maids to dress her up for the day.
When she felt her aching bones, the princess had a change of mind and opted to ban anyone from walking into her room till the next twelve hours. And with that thought in mind, she snuggled more into her oh-too-warm bed.
Since her right hand was strangely restricted, Natalia slid her left hand up her ‘warm’ bed to her pillow and snuggled her neck comfortably in it.
When did she get a furry pillow? Did Elva switched it during the night to prank her?
But the Royal was loving it!
She moved her legs to get more comfortable and felt similar ones underneath hers. Didn’t Elva go to her room after dinner??
But she was too lazy to open her eyes.
Natalia breathed in again and picked up the faint smell of a male’s cologne. When did the naughty girl start using boys’ stuff? Nevertheless, the drowsy princess allowed sleep snatch her away to dreamland.
But at that point where she almost dozed off, she felt a smooth warm hand cascade up and down the bare skin of her back, tangling her long hair in the process. Sensual tingles reverberated within Natalia, emitting a shudder of electricity between her body and….. who again?
Natalia slowly surfed back to reality as her senses awoken. She felt the steady heartbeats below hers and the feathery breaths fanning her left hand, then the slight movements on her legs which was entangled with another’s!
Natalia bulged her eyes.
The movement on her back which had stopped earlier, started again from underneath her hair down her back. Natalia’s breath hitched as she raised her head to see she was far from home! Although cozy, the house looked small and old. It looked like some treehouse in a jungle.
She looked down at the ‘warm bed’ and her eyes fell off!
A gorgeous French with messy raven black hair and pale skin laid peacefully under her!
She gasped when she noticed he was almost nude, yelped when she discovered she was lying directly on him and shrieked when she saw she was also naked with only a blanket barely covering her!
A larger duvet laid on the both of them but Natalia didn’t want to imagine what was underneath! What she thought was a furry pillow was actually his curly hair which her fingers were currently fisting!
At that point, sunlight penetrated the room and Natalia saw his face clearly.
Arian!
She screamed and flew from the bed in a second, clutching the duvet to herself. Arian De’ Argent jerked awake at the piercing noise but the female continued to scream as she scrambled away to a corner.
“Okay already! We’re lost in the woods and screaming is only gonna get us killed faster!” He desperately blocked his ears.
“What did you do to me last night?! And how dare you touch me!” Natalia yanked back.
Arian looked up and his eyes did a slow crawl over her body. The unhidden desire in his gaze made her shrink and loose hold of the blanket. Natalia gasped and clutched it back tighter before glaring at him.
“Oh.” Arian breathed and spent the next few minutes explaining what happened.
“You have a pretty terrible view about me.” He ended with a slightly disappointed look, remembering the last time she thought he’d uploaded some nasty shit about her on the school blog, whereas it was only a picture some student took of the both of them together.
Natalia felt terrible!
Terrible for thinking the worst about him for the second time and for being a weak burden.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered. Her cheeks flushed hotly and she looked away, feeling his stare at her which only made her blush increase.
Natalia heard him toss the duvet aside and stand up. She slowly looked up. Her sinful eyes followed him to the fireplace where their clothes were and watched him dress up.
All of a sudden, Arian turned and she swiftly looked away, using her messy hair to cover her face.
Stupid girl! What was she doing?! She inwardly cringed.
“I’m gonna head out now and try to pick up our trail even though the rain must’ve washed them away. I’ll be back.” He said but Natalia only turned when the door closed.
Natalia breathed out and slid down the wall, landing on her butt. She really needed to see a psychologist!
It took the princess two minutes to dress up and wait for Arian to come back. To pass time, she did some cleaning and arranged the house better than they met it. Arian returned and she wore her waist bag and kept his phone inside before they left.
Thankfully, they managed to find their way back to the stream. And Arian carried her over like before without hesitation then they continued walking. They made use of their memories and found themselves at the locals’ village.
Camp was just at the other side of the beach!
Natalia chirped excitedly as some kids wore them flowers again. She made a personal promise to visit the island in the future and help the villagers.
They walked back to camp holding hands. When they came into view, the teachers were the first to run over, asking if they were alright!
Arian De’ Argent, back to his cold and smug self, pocketed and simply walked away as they made way for him to pass. He had that ‘You’re all gonna get it!’ look.
After being buried with hugs and kisses, Natalia had a thorough shower and some coconut milk because she wasn’t yet hungry. Then she crawled into her tent and drifted off into a tired sleep…
Chapter 64