Chapter 24 Kissed by mistake
Joana sat at the library sulking as she stared at the books in front of her. She couldn’t believe that she had to go back to reading again as Dana, Derick and the other coven members didn’t know where to find the other three ingredients except the pixie dust, and of course, her immortal blood. To make things worse, she had been having a lot of strange dreams about her and Derick, she tried everything within her power to make them stop. She tried to avoid him as much as she could and even suspended her training with him but none of these seemed to solve the problem. She had already spent so much time on her quest, and at this point, she didn’t know what to do anymore.
She was so deep in thought that she didn’t even notice when Derick entered the room.
“Hey,” he said, startling her. “Have you been able to find anything?”
“No,” she said. “It’s like whenever I see a solution, like the pixie diary or the supreme council, I go for it thinking that I’m one step closer to returning home, only for me to realize that I’m farther away from it than I thought. It’s frustrating honestly.”
“Yes, it can be. I remember how it was for Marylin, even though she acted like she didn’t need us, deep down I could feel her pains whenever she thought that she found a solution, only to be drawn further backwards. She didn’t give up though, she made sure she got to the final solution, if it’s what you really want, then nothing should stop you. I’ve seen you do it before, and I know you can do it again.”
“Hmm, thank you,” she said, trying to avoid his gaze. “She didn’t want him to see the look on her face or anything that would make him tempted to read her mind.”
“Would you like to go for a walk?”
“Excuse me?”
“I am inviting you to join me for a walk, I know you have a lot to do, but I think you should take your mind off things for a bit. Besides, getting to enjoy some fresh air would help you and give you some fresh ideas.”
“I don’t know,” she said a bit reluctantly.
“Please just come,” he said. “I promise we won’t take long.”
“Ok, so where do you want us to go?”
“Not far, just round the palace, you know I never really gave you an official tour of this place.”
“Ok then let’s go.”
He held her hand and took her round the castle, touring the rooms, the halls and the outside. He showed her everything that Dana’s father, the great vampire lord had achieved, as there were a lot of paintings in the palace that depicted his victories. He took her to the outside; she didn’t even know that the castle had a beautiful garden that was decorated with statues. And he ended the tour in the biggest balcony, where they could see the view of the big mountain where the castle stood. He was right, she just needed a good walk and some fresh air, and now she felt more ready than ever to continue on with her research.
She didn’t notice Derick had been staring at her while she was into her thoughts, until she turned to look at him and they caught each other’s gaze. She didn’t know why she couldn’t look away; it was like she was stuck, and all she wanted was to keep looking at him. She noticed he didn’t look away too, maybe he was also stuck, and then before they both knew what was happening, Derick leaned forward to give her a long kiss.
***
“What are you doing?” She said angrily as she pulled away from the kiss, pretending his lips hadn’t tasted so good just now in her mouth.
“I’m sorry, I thought you…”
“Thought I what Derick? Wanted to kiss you? Here, well let me answer that for you. No, I didn’t want to kiss you. I have a fiancé Derick, and in case you haven’t noticed, I am trying to see that I return to him but here you are, distracting me!”
“I’m sorry,” Derick said. “I didn’t know what came over me.”
As soon as she heard this, she decided it was now time for her to let the cat out of the bag.
“Look I know you and Marylin were lovers, ok? Edmund told me and begged me not to tell you but I can’t keep hiding it anymore, I need for us to know and respect our boundaries with each other and things like this were exactly what I was afraid of. I need you to know that I am not Marylin, and even though I look like her, and I don’t want you ever confusing your feelings for her with me, ever!”
Derick was at a loss for words, Joana waited for him to say something but he didn’t. She saw the sad look in his eyes, the one she had been seeing in her dreams, and she almost wanted to feel sorry for him, she wanted to let him know that it was ok, everyone has feelings, but she cautioned herself. He needed to know the truth, he needed to know that she wasn’t his former lover and he needed to know it the hard way.
“I’m sorry, I don’t want something like this to happen again, I have someone else I am in love with and if it weren’t for the circumstances surrounding the situation, I would have been married to him by now. I don’t want this getting in the way of my relationship and I think we should stay away from each other from now on.”
