Chapter 16: catch you if you fall
In Mrs Lawrence' house, Lydia sat in the room they had been sharing with jade for a year. She seemed to be very worried as she kept on tapping the edge of her bed's headboard. It had been almost three and she had not received any letter from her best friend which made her wonder if she was doing okay. Ever since they were young, they had always told each other the truth and if something bothered one of them, they would always find a way out together but in the last days before jade left for the border she seemed to be stressed up about something in which Lydia did not push her to speak up. As she was still thinking about her friend, the door was knocked and as she opened it, she was surprised to see Joseph. He rarely talked to her. What would have been the problem? Lydia asked herself with raised eyebrows.
"Joseph, h_how can I help you?" She asked confusedly. As she stepped aside so that Joseph could get in but he didn't. He still stood on the same spot one of his hands in his slacks pocket. "Have you received any letter from jade yet." He asked and Lydia only shook her head. "I think she might be in danger. I heard from one of the village men that the vampires have been killing people at the border. God forbid but what if something bad happened to her. I think that we should go look for her. That place is not safe for us humans." Joseph's words made Lydia even more worried. She had tried to convince herself that nothing bad would happen to her friend but she was not sure about that after hearing what Joseph told her.
"Yes Joseph. We should go look for her. I will notify the school's headmistress about my absence." With Lydia's reply, Joseph was about to leave when she stopped her. "Joseph wait....Why are you so worried about my sister? All this while you barely talked to her." Lydia asked. "It's because I am in love with her , Lydia. Mother was asking if you could help her to garden her flowers." Joseph strode away after saying those words leaving shocked Lydia. "When did the serious Joseph fall for jade?"Lydia asked herself and at the same time, she left her room so that she could help Mrs Lowrence.
As both Lydia and Mrs Lowrence were busy pulling out weeds from their small garden, Mrs Lowrence could note how Lydia had become awfully quiet. Between the two girls, Lydia was the most talkative but as they were busy weeding Lydia had not spoken much. Maybe she misses her sister. Mrs Lowrence thought as she continued humming a song.
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The darkness had started to cover the lands of Avianna and both people and animals had started to go back to their shelters. Some birds could be seen flying away in flocks while the frogs could be heard croaking as people wrapped up whatever they had been doing under the sun. Jade who had been sleeping without covering herself woke up and sat on the bed. Since she felt a little bit relaxed, she started walking around the room where she saw a door that led her to the bathroom. There was a large tub at the corner filled with water and without thinking twice she closed the bathroom door undressed herself and dipped herself in the warm water which she did not expect.
Jade who had been in the tub for almost an hour finally got out and covered herself with a white cotton clothing that was hang behind the door. As she looked around to see if she could see her clothes, she did not see her luggage anywhere which reminded her that they were in the king's room. How could she go to the king's room without clothes. With the way he kept on talking about his interests on her, she knew that going to his room with only a piece of clothing around her would be a mistake. Not knowing what to do she moved towards the door and started to knock loud enough so that the king would hear her her, but with several attempts, nobody answered. Jade slowly and consciously opened the door and fortunately, there was no one in the room which made her sigh in relief.
As she looked around while still standing near the door, she saw her luggage that was on the couch and she slowly tiptoed to get her stuff but as she was about to go back to the room that she was given, Alvin appeared out of nowhere holding some parchments. "Your highness!" Came her quick words since she did not expect him to appear right in front of her. Alvin's unreadable face did not change even after seeing how frightened jade was. He had wanted to see more of her but he did not think that it would be this soon. The white clothing only covered her chest up to her mid thigh leaving the rest of her body open for him to see. As he came out of the courtroom, he did not expect to find half naked jade in his room. He was used to seeing her covering her body completely with those long skirts but with her without those clothes she looked like a seductress. Her hair which was still wet was let out to flow on her shoulders and her natural fragrance was enchanting. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Jade felt as if she would run away and never look back, but she still stood glued in one place as she looked at the handsome man who looked without butting an eyelid. His expressions were unreadable and as she still stared at him, she noticed something that she had never seen before. His eyes were not dark brown as she had thought. They were dark maroon which almost looked like black, but if someone looked at him without being keen, you would think they were dark brown in colour.
"Are you done staring?" Alvin's question brought her back in reality. "I had come for my clothes. I should get going.'' Jade said with a small bow and as she tried to walked as hurriedly as she could, her foot slipped whereby she almost fell but Alvin's strong arm held her by the waist firmly before she could fall. "Be careful!" Alvin said so that he could break the awkward silence and helped her to stand properly. Jade who was totally embarrassed walked carefully until she reached her room and locked the door behind her with a small thud. "I will always be here to catch you if you fall." Alvin said to himself after Jade left.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone