Chapter 331: Where are we going?
"I don’t think Gilbert is that kind of person. He wouldn’t mock her for being honest about how she feels." Viola said, watching as he turned his head back toward her at her words.
"Hmm, you are so familiar with him now, aren’t you, sunshine?" He said with a soft laugh as he reached out and pulled her closer. "I suppose you are right, he won’t dare mock her feelings, because he will have to answer to me. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is going to hurt her." He paused, then whispered into her hair, "Hold me. I want to feel your arms around me." And just like that he lost the battle he had been quietly fighting against himself all evening, and when she wrapped her arms around him, he found a peace in it that nothing else had given him all day.
Viola let out a quiet sigh of relief, telling herself that if he was holding her like this then there was nothing wrong and she had been reading too much into things again. But being held wasn’t quite enough, she wanted him to kiss her, and he didn’t, and she settled for what she had, convincing herself he was simply too exhausted for anything more and that tomorrow was another day.
She pressed a kiss to his hair and closed her eyes, smiling at their bedtime conversation about his sister that made them seem awfully like parents talking about their daughter.
Sleep wasn’t restful that night, though, even with Sebastian’s arms around her. She had gone to bed hungry without saying anything about it, and in the middle of the night, her stomach began to ache a little. Still, she endured it in silence.
When she woke the next morning it was to an empty bed and a note on the pillow that read: "Get ready and meet me outside. We’re going out. S.K."
Going out? Viola read it twice, her eyes settling on the initials that made it unmistakably from her husband. But a quiet unease crept in alongside the curiosity, the note was too curt, stripped of any warmth, and it felt nothing like him. What was going on with Sebastian? What was with the off and on mood around him?
She barely had time to sit with the feeling, or with the hunger still gnawing quietly at her from the night before, before she made her way into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and dressed in an orange spaghetti-strap dress with short heels.
She had sent Nick a quick text the previous night explaining that she hadn’t been able to leave because something had come up and apologizing for it, and he had replied this morning, but she left it unread, too tense about Sebastian’s note to give it the attention it needed. She would get to it once she knew where they were headed.
She left the building, which felt noticeably emptier than usual after half of the Kade relatives had been sent away to their ancestral lands.
The air outside was slightly chilly despite it being the middle of August, and she immediately regretted not grabbing a coat. Sebastian’s car was parked out front waiting for her, and he was standing beside it, holding the door open.
He was dressed casually, baggy black trousers and a long-sleeved off-white shirt that made him look younger somehow, more relaxed, and she felt a flush of embarrassment for having dressed as formally as she had in a fancy dress.
"Good morning." She greeted him, expecting, for some reason she couldn’t fully explain, a kiss, and receiving only a reply.
"Good morning." No how was your night. No how did you sleep, the way he usually asked.
She got into the car carrying her confusion and the small, quiet sting of it, and he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. He started the engine, and when she shivered, he turned the heat on and rolled the windows up without a word, but he still said nothing about where they were going, so she asked.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere. You’ll see when we get there. I have a surprise for you." He said.
A surprise. Viola turned the word over in her mind and felt the knot of unease in her stomach pull tighter, because he hadn’t said it with any warmth or excitement, he had said it with that distant, unreadable expression that sent a quiet dread settling into her chest. She could only sit with it and hope, very quietly, that it was a good surprise.
They barely shared a word beyond that initial greeting, and Viola spent the entire ride staring out of the window with dread sitting heavy in her stomach, until the car rolled to a stop in the parking lot of one of the largest restaurants in Silver. She stared at the sleek building through the glass in confusion. As she sat there trying to make sense of it, he came around and opened her door, and she had no choice but to step out.
He walked ahead of her without a word and she followed silently behind, clutching her purse like a lifeline, her legs feeling wobbly underneath her with every step. She regretted the heels.
When they stepped inside the restaurant, Viola got the shock of her life. Every single table was empty, not a guest in sight, and a sign on the screen outside had read "Closed For The Day." She looked around warily, trying to keep up with his strides. Why were they here if the place was closed? What was going on with Sebastian?
He led her into a private room despite the restaurant being closed and pulled her chair out for her like a gentleman before sitting down across from her, that cold, aloof demeanor still firmly in place, the kind that made her wish they had simply stayed home and eaten there, if a meal was all this was about.
"What is it, Seb?" Viola decided to ask outright rather than continue suffering through his hot and cold treatment in silence.
He leveled her with a flat look and arched a brow. "What do you mean?" He asked, as though he genuinely had no idea.
Viola shrugged. "You. You are acting strange. Have I done something to upset you?" She decided to come out with it directly and hear whatever it was. She couldn’t take this anymore, it was twisting her stomach into knots.
Sebastian pressed a button on the table to summon their meals and then replied, "Tell me something, do you think there could be a reason behind my behavior, Viola? Is there something you want to tell me? Some secret you might be keeping from me?" He asked, watching her eyes carefully as he said it, looking for a flicker of something that would give her away. Either she was exceptionally good at hiding things, or she genuinely believed she had nothing to confess.
Viola felt more confused than ever. "What secret? I am not hiding anything from you." The words were out before she caught herself, because she was. She was hiding one thing. The fact that she was connected to the creatures of the sea. But there was no way that could be what this was about. Could it?
Sebastian gave a single, unreadable nod. "Then let’s find out, shall we?"
"Find out about what, Sebastian? You are starting to frighten me, please just tell me what this is about." Viola said, unable to hold it together any longer, but at that moment the waitresses arrived with a trolley, moving efficiently around the table and beginning to set down their meals, lifting the lids off the larger bowls one by one. And when Viola’s eyes landed on what was inside one of them, she felt everything inside her drop and her heart clench tight.
No way in hell...
