Chapter Thirty-five

"How many things are you taking?" Leon asked, staring at my bag.

"Since you won't tell me where we are going, I packed for all weathers." I packed the last of my clothes into my bag.

"You do know we are going only for two days?" Leon walked into the room and picked up one of the jackets I had packed.

"I can tell you that you won't be needing such a thick jacket. We aren't going far enough for the weather to be so cold."

"And you only tell this to me now," I said flatly, as I started unpacking all the warm clothes I had packed.

"We have to leave in exactly-" Leon glanced at his watch, "ten minutes."

"What?" I asked, shocked at how fast the time had passed.

"If we don't leave in time then we will never reach there on time." I turned around to get my shirt that was on the chair but when I turned around I saw that Leon was closing the bag.

"What are you doing?"

"You have packed enough of clothes. Remember we are going on a two-day trip not a fortnight. I am taking the bags down to the car. I'll meet you at the lobby in ten minutes." Leon lifted the bag with ease and left.

I ran my fingers through my hair and glanced around the room, making sure I didn't leave anything behind. Once I made sure I had everything I had grabbed my handbag and rushed out of my room.

As I waited for the elevator to come up I wondered about the transfer of the Defesta. I wondered if anybody knew what would happen once the Defesta would be transferred. Would I change after the Defesta is removed from me? Would Leon change after the Defesta is transferred to him?

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the familiar chime of the bell that indicated the elevator had reached this floor. I blinked in surprise when I saw Julie standing in a corner.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in a few days. How are you doing?" Julie has a big smile on her face, unobvious to the shocked look on my face.

"Hey! I am- well- doing great," I stuttered out, unsure if I should lie to her to keep her safe or tell the truth and she might get involved in everything going on.

"That's good! We should meet up sometime. We have a lot to catch up on!"

"We should, but I am actually going away for the next few days and when I come back I will be busy catching up on everything I missed." I regretted my words when I saw Julie's smile dip a little. "I will message you when I am free."

Julie seemed happier with that answer. The elevator reached the ground floor and Julie and I exchanged our goodbyes. I didn't have to look around a lot to find Leon as the lobby was empty. As I approached him, I noticed that he was talking to the headmaster.

"Hi, a pleasure to meet you again Ashley!" The headmaster and brought out his hand, which I shook.

"Hi, the pleasure is all mine!"

"Ashley, I was just informing Mr. Jarven of our situation." I nodded in understanding. "Well, we should get going. We will chat later." Leon and the headmaster exchanged a quick but firm a handshake.

"Are you even allowed to park your car here?" I asked when I saw his car was parked right in front of the stairs.

"No, but I won't get in trouble. One of the many benefits of my dad being good friends with the headmaster." I shook my head in disbelief. As Leon had already put all the bags in the car, we got into the car and drove towards our destination.

***

"I never imagined you to be a person who slept through short car rides," Leon remarked as he unbuckled his seat belt. I blinked my eyes a few times, waiting for my vision to clear. When it did finally clear I was amazed at the sight.

There was a big cottage in front of us and there were trees surrounding it. There weren't enough trees to make it look like a forest, but enough to show that there weren't other buildings nearby.

"Where are we?"

"I own this cottage. This belonged to my mother, who gave it to me as a twentieth birthday gift. This cottage holds a lot of memories, especially of my childhood. We used to come here almost every winter." Leon got out the car and motioned for me to follow him.

"Here is the key to the cottage. Just open it, while I get the bags."

"Okay." I held the key in my hand as if it was gold. I surprised at the weight of the key. I climbed up the stairs to the door. The door was big and it had some designs on it. I inserted the key into the key slot and turned it a couple of times before the door finally opened. Unlike the external part of the house, the inside of the was modern and sleek.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Leon whispered in my ear, causing me to jump in shock.

"This is beautiful."

"Come on, let me give you a tour of the cottage." Leon dropped the bags by the stairs and took my hand in his. The cottage had four in suites, two sitting rooms, a big kitchen, and a study. All the rooms were modern but had a comfortable feeling to them.

"Are you hungry?" Leon asked taking out a bottle of juice from the fridge.

"Yes, I am. What are we having?" I asked when I saw Leon taking out things from the cupboards.

"How does pizza sound?"

"Pizza sounds perfect."

"Woah." We both said when we looked at the mess the whole kitchen was in. "I don't think we are supposed to make such a big mess when we make pizza."

"Definitely, let's just hope the pizza tastes good though." I nodded in agreement. I didn't waste one hour making a pizza for it to turn out to be not tasty.

"Here," Leon handed me a cloth to clean the mess. Together we started cleaning up the mess. I squealed in surprise when I felt something thrown in my hair.

"Did you just put flour on my hair?" I glanced at Leon, who was acting like he didn't what I was talking about.

"You must have touched your hair with your hand that was covered with flour." I shook my head at him, but I couldn't help but let a small smile appear on my face. I grabbed some flour that was on the floor and threw it at Leon.

"Fine, fine! Now we are even." He put his hands up in surrender, acting as though he was scared. I chuckled at him in response.

"How much longer will the pizza take?" I asked, looking at the pizza that was in the oven.

"A few more minutes. Do you want some wine?" Leon asked, taking out the

"Sure. So what are your parents doing currently?"

"My father owns a couple of restaurants around the city and my mom does some part-time jobs."

"Do they know of what you are going to do?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does! Who knows what will happen once the Defesta has been transferred? You have to at least prepare them just in case something happens."

"No!" I jumped at his booming voice. "No. If they found out what I was doing, they would try to back me out of it. And I don't want to back out of this." Leon pulled me against his waist and leaned in slowly. His eyes never left mine. As his lips touched mine, the oven's bell rang, telling us that the pizza was ready. I pulled back slightly, unsure of what to do next.

"The pizza is ready," Leon's voice was deeper than usual. I felt an involuntary shiver run through my body.

"It is." My voice was barely a whisper. Without another word, Leon smashed his lips onto mine. I ran my hands through his hair. His teeth bit my lip, causing me to open my mouth. He backed me against the counter, his hands on either side of me, trapping me. When we did pull apart, out breaths were ragged and our lips were swollen.

"I'll get the pizza," Leon said, pulling apart.

"Where are we going to eat?"

"Let's eat by the lake."

"There's a lake?" I asked in disbelief.

"Come on let me show you."

*_______________________*

Hi everyone!

This chapter has not been edited so feel free to point out any mistakes!

I hope you liked this chapter!

Next update – 27 February – 7 March

Vote, Comment, Follow, Share

TTBMBFF