Chapter 23: The Day Before Departure
Alex arrived not long after Will and Ren joined Sia in the cottage. They went out for a picnic as planned and then came back to the cottage as it started raining.
Will soon came from upstairs and placed a chess board on the table. Sia looked attentively when he started setting it up and she couldn't help but squeal at what she saw,
"Wow! Such an exquisite Chess Set! Can I take a closer look?"
Will naturally nodded at her, enjoying the childish enthusiasm with which she was observing the set. He kept on observing her every move and every expression. He loved how she didn't try to artificially control her body language. She handled every chess piece carefully but excitedly as if she was holding a treasure in her hands or was taking care of a baby. She didn't try to follow the manners according to which she shouldn't have shown so many emotions and so much interest in something that wasn't considered to be feminine. Her facial expressions were another sight to behold. The way her eyes sparkled when finding something interesting or beautiful reminded him of the brightest stars in the sky.
He loved her earnestness, wits and tactfulness. The more he got to know her, the more he realised how smart she was. Unlike most of the girls her age, she knew when and what to talk and most importantly when to back off. He appreciated how she could read the situation, and how she was able to take the situation into her own hands whenever she liked.
More importantly, he loved how straightforward she was. She would sometimes act all coy and cutely, but one could tell that it was her way of having fun. She wouldn't shy away to express her honest thoughts, and if she didn't like something she would either say it or stay silent. She seemed like someone who would never fake her opinion. Like earlier, when Ren asked how she found the exterior of his company headquarters that he was so proud of. Instead of saying that she liked it like almost everyone did, she said how she was more into medieval gothic architecture, and that personally for her, his company looked like another modern building.
"But just because I don't find it special doesn't make your company any less beautiful for people who like modern architecture," she concluded tactfully.
This was what he called shrewdness: she truthfully told Ren that it wasn't to her liking, but made sure not to offend him or his likes in any ways. He wished everyone at his company could be as sensitive as her, but that was just his wishful thinking.
Will himself couldn't believe that he could fall for someone so hard in such a short time. He realised how with every passing moment he was falling all over for her.
'I have finally found my love where I would have never supposed it to be. And she is right in front of me.* There is no way I will ever back away from conquering her heart. Even if it takes me to fight the devil himself, I will never give up.'
"Can you play the chess?" coming back to present, Will asked, walking to Sia's side.
Her scent hit his nostrils when he stopped next to her. It was so captivating that he wanted to get even closer to her, to touch her, to feel her...
'Take it slow Will! Control yourself,' he reminded himself but still wasn't able to hide his feelings.
"Yes, I can! I guess you also play, right?" she said happily turning to Will.
Alex on the side felt like kicking some sense into the girl. This was actually one of Sia's shortcomings that he noticed since earlier: whenever she was interested in something she would completely ignore her surroundings. If she paid even little attention, she would have noticed the burning gaze with which Will was looking at her.
"Yes, I do. Shall we play together?" Will said with a smile on his face.
"Sure, let's do it," Sia answered with a smile of her own.
On the side, Ren didn't know how to feel about the whole situation. He was truly happy for his friend who had finally fallen in love. But he was scared of the consequences this love could have. Going against Cain was no joke even for someone as powerful as Will. And more importantly, having a lot of experience with girls, he could easily tell that Sia viewed both Will and himself as friends and nothing more. And she constantly made her standpoint clear. It was really nice of her to not give any encouragement whatsoever to avoid any future complications and heartbreaks. Only, the problem was that Will seemed ignorant to her obvious hints. Instead, he could feel how his friend was starting to loose control of his emotions with every passing second.
Alex was also mindful of all of these, and he actually felt like patting Sia on her back for knowing how to reject without hurting. But he couldn't fathom Will's infatuation. Sia clearly was someone unique with so many good points he couldn't start to count. But, that still didn't explain how Will was visibly going crazy for her: it was like he could see nothing but her. He didn't like where this whole thing was going.
He considered himself blessed to have a cousin like Sia, but he was starting to get worried about her and her influence on the powerful and authoritative men around her. He knew of only two, and those were already at loggerheads with each other. But what if there were more? This type of men were always very possessive: didn't that mean that she could be in danger just because each of them wanted her for their own? He needed to protect her from those men. As a start, as Sia didn't like Will he would help her to push Will away from her by all means.
Ignorant to his friends' thoughts, Will was more and more in awe for the girl, who turned out to be one of the hardest opponents in chess he ever faced. In the short time he knew her, she never stopped to beautifully surprise him. And with every surprise she gave, his determination to make her his was only growing stronger and stronger. He knew that he was now at a point of no return.
So, on the day before her departure, while Sia was simply enjoying the chess match, Will couldn't help but admire her more and more, unaware of his best friends that were thinking of ways to stop him from doing so.
*I was listening to the song 'Amber Run- I Found' and couldn't help but write the beautiful lyrics down
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